Category Archives: August 2018

Tomorrow is my first day of Student Teaching!  I’ve met my host teacher, seen the classroom, and I’m ready to go!

In honor of this first day, I’ve decided to post a poem that I wrote a few months back, after a successful practicum (an hour or so that I would spend at a local school) day.  I had been working with a student when the regular teacher wasn’t there, and I had been complimented by the sub on how well I helped the student.

There is still a small part of me that is in awe of what it means to be a teacher.  It is not a position that is easy, nor is it a position to take lightly.  Some children are at school more hours than at home; they may see their teacher more than their parents on a given day.  In that sense, being a teacher is powerful.  But there is still a part of me that remembers being a student in high school, middle school, and elementary school.  I remember how certain teachers could capture my attention, and how others made me bored or uninterested.  I remember how uncertain I felt at times, about my image and identity, and how nice it was when teachers saw and encouraged my talents.

If I have formed any kind of opinion on what my “philosophy” of teaching is, it is that when a teacher forgets what it was like to be a student, he or she loses an edge that is extremely crucial.  This empathy and remembrance helps teachers to refine their lessons, teaching styles, and way of interacting with students.  It should be a constant reference point to help teachers understand what their students are dealing with.

So, without further ado, I present:

TEACHER

Let us go boldly into the world

Pretending, and then cautiously admitting

That we are powerful

And clever

And brave

And wise

That we are listened to

That our advice matters

That we can change the direction of a life

With one word

With one breath we have the power to heal or to harm

Make clear or confuse

Bring joy or despair

We are the molders of lives and the kindlers of dreams

The future depends on how well we do our jobs

But let us never forget what it was like

To be neither powerful nor wise

To not feel brave or clever

To speak and not be listened to

To give advice and have it scorned

To have our lives swerve to the beat of

So many clashing words

To be healed or harmed; confused or enlightened

To be forever tossed between joy and despair

When a student is full grown, he will be like his teacher

When a teacher is full grown

They will not forget the part of them

That was once a student

 

 

When I was a kid, I wanted to have an adventure.

I didn’t know exactly what that adventure would look like.  But I knew it looked something like the many books I poured over, and less like my everyday life going to school.  I knew there would be daring and intrigue and mystery, and people that needed help.  It would take place far away from middle class America, somewhere like the Thailand or Nigeria of my mom’s childhood stories, or the India and China of my favorite missionary biographies.  It would involve DOING THINGS, with definitely no sitting around at a desk all day, trying to hide from the teacher that I was reading yet another book.

I think most people want to have an adventure.  But the funny thing about adventures is, they aren’t “all pony rides in May sunshine” as JRR Tolkien wrote.

As of this writing, I have been to places as far as Myanmar and Nepal, and as close as my own city.  I have served, loved, learned, and laughed with so many different people.  And I have learned that, in the end, I am not the author of my life.

Someone else is the orchestrator of my story, and He has a far better plan than anything I could possibly have imagined when I was a nine-year-old playing “orphanage” with my dolls, or dreaming of travel to fantastic destinations.  He has been there for every joy, heartache, confused rant, and moment in between.

And now, He is calling me to another adventure.

In May 2018, I walked across a stage and was handed a rolled-up piece of paper, declaring that I have completed my education at Liberty University.  I still have student teaching, but for all intents and purposes, I have finished college.  Now comes…adulting.

*AHHHHHHHH!  RUN IN HORROR!!!*

(My thoughts on that phrase/the mentality behind it may come later…)

I have seven weeks of student teaching in America, and then another seven weeks in Thailand, where I have been hired as an ESL teacher for 2nd and 3rd graders.

On one hand, this is everything I’ve been dreaming of for over a decade.  On the other…well, I can’t stop thinking of another quote from something Tolkien related.

Gandalf: “You’ll have a tale or two to tell yourself when you come back.”

Bilbo: “Can you promise that I will come back?”

Gandalf: “…no.  And if you do, you will not be the same.”

Life has taught me that Gandalf is exactly right.  Big experiences change us.  Adventures take us out of our very comfortable lives, and until we are on the brink of adventure, we often don’t realize how good our lives are.

A ship in harbor is safe.  But that’s not what ships were built for.

So as I head out on my “maiden voyage,” I hope you’ll join me.  I hope my thoughts and experiences can be an encouragement, challenge, or just a good laugh for you.  And I hope that along the way we can all catch a glimpse of how God is glorified in the crazy, beautiful, heartbreaking, amazing lives of His people.

I guess I can say that, for the next however long…

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Posts should be  at least bi-monthly, with varying themes.  Hope to see you there!