Names On A Wall

I love classroom traditions. This is about one of mine. It's from August 16, 2010.
For roughly six Sundays in a row, excluding the five I was in China, I've heard the same song as I drive home from morning worship. The tune? David Allen Coe's country music hit, You Never Even Called Me By My Name. Twice in a row would be interesting but six in a row is phenomenal. My only conclusions are that the station (97.1) has a very limited play list or the Lord is sending a message to me over the airwaves. I'll let you decipher the meaning. The song is sort of funny. Coe's ex girlfriend calls him by the name of many famous singers but never by his own. One reason it sold so many copies, in my opinion, was the addition of a final verse which, while unrelated to the theme of the song, contained the topics which country songs MUST touch on to be considered authentic: momma, trains, trucks, prison, and getting drunk. David Allan Coe's conclusion; You Never Even Called Me By My Name is the perfect country and western song. I do know this. It still gets air time each Sunday in Houston!

I will agree with Mr. Coe on one point; a person's name is vitally important to himself/herself. I tell my students that the sweetest word in English is Jackie or Tara or Jared or whatever their name happens to be. Each year, on the second day of school, I have all my students sign a giant banner in my room. I tell them to write their name and something about themselves; a jersey number, a Bible verse, a birthday, etc. It's amazing how much thought some of them put into that little circle or square that encloses the moniker bestowed by their folks. Today, I wanted to give you a peek inside my classroom and the initial assignment of my 100+ students for the 2010-11 school year. It's going to be a great one!

Applicable quote of the day:

''Tigers die and leave their skins; people die and leave their names.''
Japanese Proverb

God bless,

Steve

Luke 18:1

www.hawleybooks.com

E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com