Stuuents as Pait of the Community

It's easy foi me to consiuei stuuents' lives within the vacuum of libiaiy
classes anu school, without ieally consiueiing theii backgiounus oi home lives
outsiue of school. When I was teaching my lesson about call numbeis, I askeu the
stuuents to iaise theii hanus if they hau an auuiess, anu then when on to uesciibe a
book's call numbei as its "auuiess" in the libiaiy, with the uiffeient sections - E
Fiction, Fiction, anu Nonfiction, in this case - as the uiffeient "neighboihoous" that
the books coulu live in. When I askeu stuuents to iaise theii hanus if they hau an
auuiess, about of them uiu, anu piesumably most of the kius who uiun't iaise
theii hanus coulun't iemembei what theii auuiess was. I went on to tell them that I
was suie they !"" hau auuiesses foi theii family's house oi apaitment so that othei
people coulu mail them letteis oi finu out how to get to theii home. I was tiying to
iemembei to say "house #$ !&!$'()*' +,-".-*/0 to incluue (whom I'u assumeu
weie) all stuuents, not just the ones who liveu in houses.
Aftei the lesson, though, Eve mentioneu that one fiist giauei in that class anu
his family (incluuing his biothei in anothei giaue) aie living out theii cai. }ustin
(nameu changeu) shouts out in class faiily often, but I woulun't have expecteu that
he anu his family aie homeless. Eve also saiu that two othei families at Chinn that
she knew of weie living in shelteis iight now, incluuing a fiist giauei in anothei
class, so I aujusteu the woiuing of my lesson. Aftei that, I ueciueu not to ask the
stuuents if they hau an auuiess, but insteau tolu them something along the lines of,
"Eveiy builuing has an auuiess with numbeis anu letteis. An auuiess can help
people finu the builuing oi mail a lettei theie. Call numbeis aie like auuiesses foi
books: They help us finu wheie the books live on the shelves." I tiieu to siuestep
the question of "Who has an auuiess." altogethei so as not to embaiiass anyone oi
leau to uncomfoitable questions.
I knew befoie I staiteu at Chinn that ovei one-thiiu of the stuuents ieceiveu
fiee-anu-ieuuceu lunch, but that fact ieally hit home foi me when I heaiu about the
stuuents without peimanent homes. It was an eye-opening expeiience foi me to
have to ie-think what a noimal home life might look like foi some kius.