2 Comments

  1. Anonymous says:

    One thing I am beginning to learn about teaching–>teaching is a “Planter” for the Kingdom of God. What am I really teaching: a subject, a concept, a specific aspect of the body of knowledge? What outcome do I really want: to measure up to my ideal, to achieve a standard that would make other teachers stand up and take notice, for the students to have fun?
    No, to all of those. I am really teaching them about God and the subject I teach is my vehicle, really a parable in which my Truth about God is revealed. The outcome I passionately desire is they my students come to a more intimate knowledge of God. If they didn’t know Him when we started, then I want them to have a recognition of Him. If they had bee bruised by those who claim to “know god,” then I want them to realize the picture was distorted, God is not like that. If they have the slightest interest in “knowing God” I want to fan that interest to help it become a raging all consuming flame. My interest in my subject will help propel that.

  2. The best part of teaching is the exchange of learning between a teacher and the students. I agree that the type of relationship varies year-to-year with each different group of students. Some years it’s easier: the students click with each other and you. Other years it’s a constant push to maintain that collective, collaborative energy. I’m only 5 years in (I bow to your years of experience!) but one of the things I so appreciate about my kiddos is their willingness to start each day anew. If I feel like the students are spiraling into an apathetic, zombie state, it’s easy enough to throw in something creative and challenging to get them jazzed up and excited again. Another thing in elem. ed (and this could be very different w/ high schoolers) is that the kiddos absorb my attitude, so I have to be constantly vigilant – even on my most exhausted, don’t-wanna-get-out-of-bed days. If I seem excited and motivated to teach, they want to learn. This even works with commas and colons… seriously.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *