Back to school for the kids while their Mom begins teaching 12th graders

Back-to-School Day (aka "Meet the Teacher" Day) for us was on August 1.  After spending most of that day there meeting my kids' teachers and then meeting my students, I was anxious about beginning a new profession/ministry as a teacher of 12th graders the following Monday, but I was also very excited for I felt specifically called to work with 12th graders. I wanted to reach that age and help equip them to stand firm in the faith while statistics say that 70% leave the faith when they go to college.

Our kids were less than excited about donning their uniforms once again and resuming one of the four positions at any given time during their school day.  They were not looking forward to all the work (at least this school has a no homework policy - Gift #690), all the testing, and the limited time available to actually talk with their friends.  While the Rhetoric school where I work is less nit picky and more focused on fostering a lifelong love of learning, the Phonics and Grammar schools put heavy emphasis on training in discipline to always give one's best.  Thankfully, both of our kids have funny, entertaining teachers who balance out all the structure and discipline with fun hilarity and sweet prizes. (Gift #691)  Like her mom, our daughter will work diligently if chocolate is the prize.

Our daughter is moving into the tween phase, so I was not surprised by her facial expression when I asked her after school how her first day went (see photo below at far left).  When I begged her to smile for the camera, she gave me the look shown in the middle photo below.  Thankfully, she did eventually give me a real smile.  She was frustrated with her teacher assignment because she wanted to be in the class with the class pet, a guinea pig, which was the same class all her friends from last year were in, and she does aspire to be a vet.  However, this year will provide her an opportunity to meet more people at the school and make new friends, so I think her attitude is much better now as she is making new friends (Gift #692).

Our son loves his teacher as I knew he would.  She has the same dry wit he's accustomed to hearing from his mama, so he feels right at home in her class.  She does a great job (all the teachers do really), but she was our first choice.  He doesn't have any of his old friends in his new class either, but he's making new friends and adjusting beautifully (Gift #693).

Despite some technical difficulties in my class,  I had a great first day (Gift #694)! My class became quite popular, so I have continued to add students.  The class is now over 2.5 times larger than it was in the beginning.  God must have plans to really display his power, because He is entrusting a lot of students into my care, and I don't know what I'm doing!

I have just completed my second week of teaching and will be administering my first major unit test tomorrow.  I have also already added two tutoring students for this semester in a subject I haven't tutored yet, trig, so I feel like I am getting into the full swing of things now.  I have recorded some of my thoughts on teaching and personal discoveries thus far below.

God has given me a teacher's heart.  Who knew?  Teaching energizes and exhilarates me!  The word most often used by students and other teachers to describe my teaching is "passionate".  I feel greatly privileged to have this opportunity to impact students' hearts, and I am trying my best to be faithful.  I have an inner drive to give them my best that has me working a crazy number of hours for considerably less pay than I could make babysitting as a 12-year-old.  Minimum wage would be about a huge pay increase at this point.   Clearly, this drive is from God.  (Gift #695)

The photo below was taken at a friend's surprise birthday party for her 40th.  The photographer captured my expression as I was answering a dear friend's question, "So, how do you like teaching?"  I can't remember when I've smiled that brightly, and I was bone tired...severely sleep deprived after a full week of nightly insomnia.

 

Teaching is a LOT of work (as noted above). Granted, I am working more than I probably need to and pray I will find the right balance, but the work is never done.  It keeps me up all night as my mind races over new ideas to reach the students' hearts through the lessons.  And some of the material I am teaching I haven't seen in over 20 years.  Other material I have never seen.  I have to study all the time.  There is a literal math genius in my class who asks me tough questions, but I'm thankful for him because if he ever misses a problem, then I know I better recheck my answer key. (I write the questions and the answers, so it helps to have a 2nd eye looking over my answers.)  There is no text either, so I am writing one as I do my own learning, and that makes me nervous. I guess God sent the genius into my classroom to make sure I don't lead them astray!  The primary teaching manual for this school upon which we are evaluated is The Seven Laws of Teaching.  The first law is that the "teacher must know the lesson or truth to be taught."  That is the toughest law for me, so I am studying diligently for the students' sakes.

I'm loving so many aspects of my newest "vocation/ministry", but the best part is getting to pray for and with my students in the classroom and privately after class when there is a specific or personal need.  (Gift #696)  Not only does prayer infuse the power of the Almighty into the lives of students, but it also shows them that they are loved and valued. As the politicians battle over the Common Core standards and what will replace those standards in NC, let them not forget to give teachers time and freedom for the greatest standard of all, love. 

The way God is revealing Himself and His truths through such an unlikely subject as statistics has me in awe (Gift #697)!  It's as if He is writing the curriculum, not me, to impart truths about himself in the midst of the academic lesson. His power is manifest in our weakness! God's hand in all of this is so obvious to me it overwhelms me.  Will the students see it too?

  
Right up at the top of my "best part of teaching" list is the opportunity to teach valuable life lessons to students at a time when they most need to be reminded.  (Gift #698)  As God opens His truth to me through the lesson planning, I am able to weave those truths into the academic lessons, but only by His revelation and equipping.    For example, the theme for our first week of class was taken from Colossians 2:4 as I stressed the importance of knowing how to read statistical displays with wisdom and discernment so as not to be deceived.  That week, I showed the students two graphs I pulled directly from recent media posts representing the exact same data from the U.S. Health Dept.  One graph was used to support abortion while the other conveyed a pro-life message.  The students were taught how to analyze the graph and look for the flaws in one or the other to discern the truth.  The 12th graders loved it, and I was pleased that they did in fact discover that the pro-life graph was a more accurate representation of the truth while the pro-choice one distorted the title, truncated the time line and left off important information to slant the information to support their viewpoint.  The students left feeling wiser and more alert to the lies of the evil one all around them. 

“I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments.”    (Colossians 2:4)

The following week, God gave me a burden to warn the students about the folly of materialism and of making anything the world offers an idol in their hearts.  So I translated Matthew 6:19-20 into a series of investment graphs (homes, cars, checking/savings, stocks, etc.) without labels, and asked the students to choose which investment they wanted.  Many showed rapid returns and fast growth followed by an eventual plummet to zero value.  The graph the students chose showed very little gain in value at the beginning but exponential growth at almost a vertical slope after the point the other investments tanked with an arrow at the end indicating no end point.  It's returns increased forever.  Then I introduced the verse from Matthew and let them compare/contrast different worldly treasures vs. eternal ones.  I showed them an image I created of a gray heart stuffed with nice homes, expensive cars, multiple advanced diplomas, a corporate ladder, and all the things the world offers but does not satisfy.  The Ferrari inside the gray heart did have a fish sticker on the back as a symbol of  the tendency that is so common in private Christian schools  of thinking a Christian label will make them feel better about worshiping worldly things.  That fish sticker doesn't make them a true follower a Christ.  It only makes them a hypocrite.  Then I showed them a graphic I created of a clean white heart filled with spiritual treasures with all worldly things outside of the heart.  Christians can possess earthly things, but they must stay outside of the heart.  Once we feel like we would not be content with whatever earthly thing we treasure, we are no longer satisfied in Christ alone.  We cannot serve both God and mammon.  

“The acid test of materialism is not how much I have or don’t have but my preoccupation and concern over it.” - Chip Ingram

That earthly treasure has then displaced God in our hearts.  I talked about how much potential I saw in that room to either stuff their hearts with lots of material wealth and academic degrees.  Or they could choose instead to use whatever earthly things God gives them (wealth, education, or experience) as tools to help change the world for eternity.  I reminded them that they are seniors, so the choice will soon be entirely theirs.  Would they fill their hearts with things that rot, or invest in that which lasts forever?

Matthew 6:19-20 (NIV)

19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.

We joke around a lot in my class.  We have fun, and I try to instill a life long love of learning by building enthusiasm mixed with hilarity in the classroom.  But during that presentation I was serious, and every eye was transfixed.  They were listening.  (Gift #699) That was not what they expected to hear from the spunky new teacher. One at risk student (and I mean AT RISK!) finally broke the silence.  She said, "I always knew the teachers here really care about us, but you just showed us how much."

That one statement was the best gift I could receive all year. (Gift #700)  If only they knew that many of the teachers work there for incomes below poverty level simply because they care about these students and want to invest into their hearts and souls.  Academics are secondary.

Next week we are studying statistical position....variance, standard deviation and z-scores.  So our theme and Bible verse will be from Deuteronomy 5:32-33.  We will discuss the findings that 70% of students leave the church after high school and list those factors that pull students away from being centered in Christ.  We will discuss divergent forces such as humanism, postmodernism, me-ism/ entitlement mentality, materialism, social pressures, and the deception of this world that will pull and tug at their hearts to make them deviate from God's central plan for their lives.  They will measure their own variance and standard deviation and be reminded how to stay centered in Christ.  I pray that message will be received with as much attention as last week's.  Each week, I wait with expectation for God to reveal his message for the following week, and I already have the message for week 4.  (Gift #701)  There is no greater than joy that seeing God at work in and around you, manifesting His strength in our weakness. (Gift #702)

Deuteronomy 5:32-33 (NIV)

32 So be careful to do what the Lord your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left. 33 Walk in obedience to all that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess.

While I love all these aspects of teaching, I do not love the way lesson planning has begun to take over my life. So on August 7,  I prayed for balance.  During my planning time that day, friends we haven't seen in 9 months dropped by unexpectedly. Helping the mom get started with homeschooling and watching our two girls reconnect was the gift of perspective I needed to restore balance. I may have lost 3.5 hours of planning time, but I gained the gift of rekindled friendship. (Gift #703)  As my high school classmates and I are grieving the untimely death of one of our beloved friends/fellow alumni this past week, we consider how much we would give to have one more chance to reconnect and spend time with her.  Her visit reminded me to cherish the people God brings into my life. (Gift #704)

Reconnecting with a friend

My children seem to like having me there at their school with them (Gift #705), except when I need to stay later and they get bored waiting for me. As proof of my daughter's delight over my new job, that right-brained child who cannot organize her room to save her life, sneaked into my office with my label maker one afternoon and labeled my notebooks for me. I guess there are worse things she could have called me than "Mrs. Math Lady."

Teaching has reminded me that the best way to overcome materialism or any other sort of idolatry is to serve and to give....lavishly out of love for Christ!  (Gift #706)