Whisper Box

When I got my first teaching job in Rainier, Washington, I was excited about the prospect of the upcoming year.  Ideas were generating in my head, and with the help of my family, we designed an amazing classroom.  There were three units displayed throughout the room.  A rainforest theme in the reading area, a space theme in the presentation area, and an ocean theme where students first walked through the door.  The one creation I was really proud of, though, was the “Whisper Box.” 

The "Whisper Box" was designed with a shoebox and construction paper.  It was an idea I got from my mentor teacher during my student-teaching experience.  Years earlier, this teacher got the idea when he was teaching primary education.  Being sick of all the tattles the younger kids would tell, he designed a "Tattle Box," where students would go if they felt the need to tattle.  What a brilliant idea!  Not only did kids have fun with it, but soon they left him alone!  I knew I would implement this idea in my teaching somehow.  I was waiting for the right time. 

That time came with my first primary teaching job.  Always assuming I would be teaching the middle school age, being hired as a 1st/2nd grade teacher and then a Kindergarten teacher really had me dwelling on my inexperience with that age group.  Anticipating the possibility of crying and other young issues, I took my mentor teacher's idea and molded it.  Instead of just focusing on tattles, I expanded the idea to include any issue students may potentially have.  Students were told that whenever they had a problem or felt "bad," they could go over to the “Whisper Box,” whisper their problem into it, and their problem would go away.  How successful this was!  I watched as young kids would go over to the "Whisper Box" if someone or something bothered them, whisper into the box, smile, and run off and play again.  The students went from "feeling bad" to pure joy in just seconds.  As the year progressed, I asked the students, “What if you don’t have the ‘Whisper Box’ near you when you’re feeling sad?  What if you were out on the playground or at home?”  One kid, pondering, quickly answered.  “My parents said you can just send it to the ground.”  Wow!  What a realization.  Another student suggested that they could send it into the air.  Students were coming up with various ways to get rid of negative feelings.  Throughout the rest of the year they used these various ideas, and soon the "Whisper Box" just sat on the shelf. 

A kindergartener whispering into the "Whisper Box."

The “Whisper Box” became an alternative way of getting rid of concerns, a symbol.  Why is it that as adults we have such difficulty "letting go" of our concerns?  How is it that a child who is capable of getting upset any second can simply "let go" and change from sadness to joy?  Maybe this is why Jesus told us to observe children, the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.  When we go from childhood to adulthood, our minds develop in magical ways, and our analytical thinking increases.  Our ego becomes stronger, and our minds take center stage.  In our minds we create stories about certain facts, whether true stories or not.  When an event occurs, our ego makes a judgement, and our minds dwell on that thought.  We soon identify ourselves with our minds, believing the mind is who we are.  Our minds become primary, and the pathway to our inner self becomes blocked.  It takes years and years of unnecessary hardship and suffering for us to finally realize the distinction between our minds and that which observes the mind, our true self.  It takes the experience of darkness to finally "let go" and become one with our true self:  Love.  When the barriers are broken, when this passage is finally open, our lives will flourish with tremendous joy and endless possibilities.