As my 5th / 6th Grade Class Goes, So Goes the Nation?

How exciting to be a US History teacher on this day! I couldn't let the day pass without whooping it up . I wore red earrings, white pearls, and a blue dress. I took my camera. I was going to hold a mock election after a grammar test. (Priorities, priorities!)

On the board we hung signs that read "Election Day N0v 4, 2008" and signs about McCain vs. Obama. My co-teacher, Mrs. Ruiz, was dressed in a red top and blue denim skirt. We set the kids in front of the signs, found a willing student to take pictures, and posed on this historic day. After the group shots, I snapped individuals. Man, these guys ham it up, pointing 2 thumbs up toward amd raising high, happy eyebrows at their candidate of choice.

The kids kept begging to vote. So I tossed red and blue plastic tablecloths over a spare desk and called it the voting booth. Then I gave them each a slip of paper, invited them up one by one, had them crawl into the voting booth with paper and pen, cast their secret ballot, and crawl out. (Let's just say it was more ballot than secret.) Of course I had my camera in hand.

In the last ten minutes of class, we prayed for the election, the candidates, the voters, and ourselves. It was precious to hear the kids pray. Politics took a back seat to petitioning the Lord for His will and for our willing acceptance of the outcome of the election. When it came my turn to close in prayer, I was choked up, foremost because of the incredible privilege I have of praying aloud in my school, second because such freedoms have come at a high price, and third because they might not always exist like this. For the first time in my personal history, I felt a gripping sensation in my throat that this freedom to pray in public anywhere may be taken away from this young generation. But overshadowing it all was a calm peace that God is sovereign and I can trust Him no matter what.

P.S. At dismissal the students greeted their parents with the news that McCain won their election. I think there should be a new saying, "As Mrs. Zubrowski's class goes, so goes the nation."