Saturday, September 08, 2007

To be a teacher ...

I'm awfully proud of my sister. She is teaching 6th graders this year - after 20 years of running a print shop. She finished her second bachelor's degree last spring and was ready to leap into the classroom. Leap she has! And in many cases, she's feeling pretty overwhelmed! But, she's doing great!

I offered to help her grade some of her papers. Am I nuts? I love that stuff! (grading papers). When I was in upper elementary, I remember helping some of the younger grade teachers grade their papers. I always wanted to teach.

She brought me a week's worth of math papers to grade. Whee!!! This is stuff I do well - the math is still fun for me! And I love coming up with ways to help the kids figure out why they gave an incorrect answer. Just working through these papers, I'm seeing how their little minds work. It's fascinating!

I love that she lets me help her out with this stuff. I wish I could be more available to get into the classroom to help her, but goodNESS I stay busy during the day. She really needs people to be in there with her. She has an incredible number of 'tough' kids in that classroom. Kids that desperately need personalized time - time that she doesn't have when dealing with 23 kiddos all at one time. Boy, if anyone ever wants to spend 45 minutes a week in a classroom - she'd certainly love it! And I'm betting you would too!

And I'm going to start praying for mentors for her. Of course I'll check out Teammates - we'll see how that all gets set up. But, she definitely needs at least 3 mentors in the classroom. For one little boy whose father beats the hell out of his mother. This little kid has picked up on that abusive relationship and has no concept of what a healthy family looks like. He's bright, but will probably fail throughout life because he can't function in a proper manner around other people. A little girl whose father is in prison, and whose mother is either dead or in jail - they just don't know. Now, how do you prepare a little girl like that for a successful life? Her grandmother is doing the best she can, but this little girl is just angry all the time - do you blame her? Or another little boy whose father is in jail and whose mother can't hold anything together. They're about to lose their home and he see no reason to try to succeed. He doesn't understand the concept. How do you encourage him to do work in the classroom - why should he bother?

The other sixth grade teacher in her school has been there for years and years - and is a terrific teacher. But ... she pretty much chose the kids she would have in her room, leaving Carol with a lot of trouble. In fact, there have been outsiders walk into her classroom, see who is in there and offer much support and sympathy. It seems Carol has the worst class in the entire school. Now, that just cracks me up! She's naive enough to believe that she can handle it. She's old enough and strong enough to make it happen and offer success to as many children as possible.

I look forward to supporting her this year. Not because I want her to be successful, though that will be a bonus. I want to see these kids that she is falling in love with be successful throughout their junior high and high school years. Can we touch 23 kids and change the world? Not alone, we can't. But, God can. I can't believe the amount of time I've put in to prayer for these children. Individually as Carol tells me about their lives and corporately as I pray for the classroom.

Do you have a teacher you should be praying for - or a classroom of kids that you know?

I was talking to my nephew Matthew today - he's 18. If he lives to the age of 88 - that's another 70 years. That makes the year 2077. That's 100 years after I graduated from high school! My nephew will more than likely be alive 100 years after my high school graduation. These kids are the future of our world - what kind of world and life will we give them.

This is why I pray for these kids. They can transform things. God can transform the world through them. Don't believe for a moment that God is not in control of this world. I'm thankful for the power of prayer and the amazing power of God's grace.

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