Raise your hand if you knew me in Kindergarten? How bout 8th grade? Anyone from my senior year of high school?
If you answered yes to any one of those questions, you likely remember my pencil box. No, it was not the same pencil box from K-12. Yes, I do admit to being the girl who carried a pencil box in high school.
But what's the point? Did I really name my blog after an embarrassing item that followed me through the years? Partially, yes. But there is more to it. Hear me out!
My pencil box was my security blanket. Some kids suck their thumbs til they are 5. Not me. By 5, I had already lost my dad and would learn to cope by having routine and structure. In part, the pencil box brought me that. The security of knowing I would always have my supplies when I lived in a very uncertain world.
Fast forward about 25 years. I'm in a teaching program working on my Masters and Credential. I'm on my second quarter of long term subbing when I get offered a job as a 4th grade teacher! I'm filled with excitement, but I need to decorate this classroom in a matter of a week. Enter my iconic rainbow wall.
What started as some simple mesh fabric my first year, evolved into not only my zoom background of my third year, but the adult version of my security blanket. This evolution included my new tag line "Mrs. Muscha's class is a RAINBOW of possibilities!" A reminder not only for the kids, but for me as well.
One may conclude I just combined a memorable item from my childhood with an artifact from my first fews years and teaching and, BAM. There was my blog title. You're partially right. But I want you to take a moment and follow me with the word Prismatic. Obviously, prismatic's root word is prism and a prism's beautiful outcome when light hits it is a rainbow effect. But there is much more behind the word prism.
A prism is in the shape of a pyramid. If you google what a pyramid symbolizes, you will find many deep meanings. One of my favorites is "higher consciousness of strength and energy." From a biblical perspective, the rainbow itself is a symbol of "God's faithfulness and mercy" most specifically after the storms of the flood. But what really rings true to me is the prisms representation of "an integration of self and soul." That's what this blog will be for me. An opportunity to not only chronicle my thoughts as a teacher, but to integrate those thoughts with my whole person. It will be a self-help endeavor as I not only strive to be a better teacher, but a more in-tune wife, friend and daughter. One that not only falters in my teaching journey at times, but falters in my faith journey as well. Ultimately, however, this blog will detail how I pick myself back up and rebuild myself. How I continue to strive to be better in all aspects of my life, while I genuinely stumble along the way.
As my wise aunt once said, a prism is "simplistic beauty, firm foundation." That's what I hope to bring to you with "The Prismatic Pencil Box." May you laugh with me through my stumbling. May you relate to my process. And may you see colors of the rainbow, especially after the rain.
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