A Classroom on the Deck

We’ve had intense classroom learning in the afternoons on the railing of our condo deck. Adult swallows are teaching their young the art of swooping through the air to catch bugs. The first step is helping the young find motivation. Ken took this picture of five young lined up, watching Mom and Dad while waiting for their dinner.

Notice how plump they are. They’ve been well fed while Mom and Dad have been taking care of them. The adults are sleek. They’ve been working hard.

Ken patiently waited to catch a picture of Mom feeding a live bug to one of her babies. He wasn’t fast enough on several occasions because the exchange took only a moment and required a quick response. Finally, he captured this, not quite full contact and a bit blurry, but I still think it’s an exciting picture.


We’ve also had other classrooms on our minds. Two of our grandchildren are high school seniors this year, one a freshman, one a second grader, and one a first grader. I’m happy they’re all happy to begin another school year.

Of the remaining two grandchildren, one is almost two and the other one month. They, of course, are learning faster than anyone in the family right now. Ken brought that up when we talked about a new school year.

Education is a major interest for us. Ken was a teacher by profession before retiring and I taught as a temporary fill-in for several years.

I’m convinced all creatures want to learn—especially human creatures. A swallow that doesn’t learn to feed itself will live a short, unhappy life. And if children don’t learn, they won’t be happy, either.

In the classroom I primarily taught English 101. One of my colleagues would say at the beginning of the year, “English is the subject they love to hate.” And it was true. I always felt I had to begin by convincing them they would benefit by learning my subject material.

For some that meant learning to identify and then compose a sentence. Many learned they could when they tried, and the skill brought confidence and freedom. For others it was organizing ideas. And for some it meant broadening their perspective through literature.

The gaps in learning were interesting. Some students had astounding logic, could organize ideas incredibly well, but had trouble with sentences. Others wrote perfect sentences but had trouble with literature. Some loved stories, intuitively picked up literary themes, but couldn’t explain why. There were all sorts of configurations of skills and appreciations.

I firmly believe all children love to learn. Learning is interesting—like watching swallows on the deck railing. As a teacher I had good days and lesser days, good class groups and lesser class groups. Some students were convinced they couldn’t learn and wouldn’t try. But no one—not even the toughest dudes who wanted to downplay the subject—ever regretted it when they did learn something new or when they learned to do something new. Isn’t that interesting?

So, kids go to school, adults learn new jobs, neighbors learn to make room for neighbors, families learn to accommodate changes, and young swallows learn to catch bugs for dinner. It’s all part of God’s master plan.

I’m grateful for the swallows. They provide an opportunity for us to observe nature now that we live in the city. I know they’re a rather messy bird, but they have a lovely body shape and they look graceful when flying through the air. They’re fulfilling their purpose. That’s my prayer for our grandchildren.