My new room at the apartment...yes, there is sunshine coming in my (gasp!) WINDOW!
Birch Bay...always beautifulSo, it's been awhile. And I have nothing brilliant to say except that I'm completely discouraged as a teacher. I just finished grading Bible tests. One of my questions was "How can the adults in your life better support your relationship with Christ?"
Most of my kids made suggestions like, "Don't lose your temper. Don't blame all of us for something only one person does. Stay calm. Be patient. Be a good role model. Trust us...we aren't all bad kids. We aren't all selfish." The more I read, the more discouraged I felt because I have failed in all of these areas. What business do I have teaching these kids? I'm tired and discouraged and sick to death of teaching because I say the same things and run into the same problems every hour of every day. I feel like a complete hypocrite because my goal should be to model Christ to my students, and I have utterly failed in that area. How can I encourage the kids to have faith and be Christlike when I can't even do it myself?
8 comments:
encourage while admitting that you aren't perfect either.
stick with it.
i'm with paul on that one. be honest with them. tell them you read their answers and be straight up. tell them you're trying. ask them to try, too.
your room looks happy - I hope you got everything done you needed to yesterday!
Andrea,
I just have to say that I empthazize with you! I had that same struggle last year with teaching bible to middle schoolers. You can let them see weakness in you and model how you over come those weaknesses. I found it effective to give examples from my life. I have also come to the conculsion that middleschoolers are not yet at a point where they can take themselves away from focusing on them. So they write about what is seemingly unfair and often take oppurtunities to write such things down in response to journal questions. don't let it get you down! you are doing a great job and you are an amazing women of God! And they are simply middleschooles, they will eventeullay grow out of it!
Honey...I know exactly what you're going through! I asked my communications class to tell me how they best learn, based on a learning profile test they took. I had one student write a page on how much they hate taking notes. Needless to say, it feel like an attack on my teaching ability. I'm trying not to dwell on it (as hard as it is). The student does need to re-do the assignment since they did it incorrectly.
I hope that you're February is getting better. I think that maybe we need to meet up in B-ham and have a "therapy" session....
i have no teaching advice for you...sorry.
i really just wanted to say hello.
Hang in there!
You know, Paul (the one in the Bible, not Mr. Krygsman) didn't get it all right, either. And he was probably one of the people who was closer to God than most. That's something I get encouragement from. Take this, from Philippians 3:
"I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, beoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."
Now, I think Paul (Mr. Krygsman, not the one from the Bible) did get it right: "stick with it." :)
I know you're an awesome teacher and i also believe your kids look up to you. recognizing that you're not perfect is a good thing. but beating yourself up about it isn't the way to deal with it. i've been there. you teach these kids because you love these kids. and that love - the love of Christ - will shine through...just be willing to keep pressing on toward that goal.
Hi Andrea!
Probably everything of relevance has already been stated, so I'll just give you a little *butt squeeze* and say what's up? How's life?
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