It is hard to believe that I have survived and enjoyed yet another week at school. The past few days have been completely filled with "teachery" things, such as, Parent-Teacher open house and fellowship, athletics meeting, testing, and lots of grading! Essentially what that means is that the "honeymoon" stage (as my mom so affectionately calls it) of my relationship with Riverside is being seasoned with a bit of hard work and long meetings! This week I got a chance to meet some of the parents and although I was very nervous for some reason, things went so well. I got some much needed positive feedback from parents who were dying to meet me, the teacher "whom their student could not stop talking about". It was fun talking to parents about my teaching style and what they can expect from me in the future. Another event of the week was the sports coaches meeting. I was in attendance at this meeting not only because I am the female chaperon for the Cross Country team but I will also be the assistant girls basketball coach! I am so excited for both of these opportunities mostly because it is such a great way to connect with some of the girls on a deeper level. Those two events were good encouraging events however, the fact that some of my students took their first tests this week was a little disappointing. I had pretty high expectations for them and although some did very well the excellent results that I was hoping for were not across the board. This was more of a reality check than an upsetting incident. I realized that the one thing I need more training in is working with students who have different learning styles or even who are struggling learners. I am working now to try to adapt my teaching style to some of the needs of my students. This is not a quick fix though, I realize that it is going to take me a while to figure out how to test, how to judge if they are retaining the content, and how to make it all fun. See so like I said...teachery things!
I am getting thrown into being a high school teacher full force and only just now am I realizing what my title means. The more and more I get involved with the students I am finding that being in a high school no matter what size you become more than just a woman in a classroom. This thing called being a entails more than just standing up in front of the class and grading papers and those teachery things I talked about. Teaching has come to mean being a confidant for a girl who has no where else to go. It means treating everyone like they are something special because some kids are dying for anyone to notice them. It means showing the love of Christ no matter how frustrated you might be. Finally it means being the very best version of yourself so that the girls and guys in the classroom have something for which to strive.
One last thing before I close for the week...if you think about it pray for my knee. I did something funny to it yesterday at Cross Country and it is bothering me. As well as, Saturday the Cross country team is having a car wash and bake sale so be praying that it goes well. We are wanting to buy team shirts as well as finance a team camping trip.
"Let the words I say profess my love...Father let my heart be after you". -NeedtoBreathe-This has been my prayer this week when often I want to let my words get away from me either with a student or other teacher. I have just been trying to let my words profess the love that is in my heart.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Called According to His Purpose
Hola Friends and Family!
What a week. My first full week of teaching is over...gotta love Riverside "Fridays"...and it flew by! I would love to tell you all ever detail of each day but trust me that would take entirely too long so I will just stick with some basics and lots of rejoicing!
I began this week, or really ended last week with a trip home for a great party! It was so good to see family and friends and just feel the love and support of all those who are excited about what God is doing in my life. Each person there was so genuine in their excitement and was ready to hear all about Riverside. I got to share the needs of the school as well as tell about my experiences so far. Talking to people first hand about my ministry here was absolutely priceless. As much fun as the weekend was I was ready to get back to my apartment to catch up on rest and get ready for the busy week that was ahead of me. Monday came so quickly but I was ready with lessons and activities for the kids. I think they were anxious as well to see if I was going to be as excited as I had been the first two days of school. Each day brought new challenges to overcome, power points to create, new ideas to implement, and relationships to grow. Throughout the week it has been such a blessing to start to get to know the students. I think many of them are starting to truly feel comfortable with me. They see teachers come in and out of Riverside and to have a face that they know they can count on is so valuable. My goal is that they know just how much I care about them. I want each kid who comes into my classroom to see the love of Jesus through me. I want them not only to learn the content of their classes but to be growing as men and women of faith. I feel so privileged that I am teaching at a school where Christian development is the goal of every faculty member for every student inside and outside of the classroom.
Teaching is wonderful and had someone told me five years ago that I would actually be enjoying being around high school students all day I would have laughed. In fact I might have cried, see I have never had a desire to teach. I have never really liked kids much either and so putting those things together would have been the furthest thing from my mind. I am finding out slowly though, that God calls us to do crazy things, he calls us to do hard things...really hard things, yet he always promises to never leave us. How encouraging! I suppose there are some things that God wanted me to learn that he could only teach in Kentucky! One other amazing thing God is teaching me is that not only does he know way better than I do about what is best for me he also knows what I am like...totally and completely. He constantly puts my fears to rest and opens up doors of possibilities where I least expect them. Let me explain, there are some things that I told God I needed when I came here; one of those things was a good support system. And what do you know, I am surrounded by a group of amazing individuals that have been pouring into me daily. Secondly, when I came down I was nervous about my inadequacies as a teacher. I thought that I would be totally unqualified and bad at what I am doing. But I get to be the loudest person in the room all day long, and as exhausted as I feel at the end of the day I am so completely fulfilled! God truly does equip us for what he wants us to do.
Romans 8:28-And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
Thank you so much for your prayers you do not know how much of a blessing you are to me!
What a week. My first full week of teaching is over...gotta love Riverside "Fridays"...and it flew by! I would love to tell you all ever detail of each day but trust me that would take entirely too long so I will just stick with some basics and lots of rejoicing!
I began this week, or really ended last week with a trip home for a great party! It was so good to see family and friends and just feel the love and support of all those who are excited about what God is doing in my life. Each person there was so genuine in their excitement and was ready to hear all about Riverside. I got to share the needs of the school as well as tell about my experiences so far. Talking to people first hand about my ministry here was absolutely priceless. As much fun as the weekend was I was ready to get back to my apartment to catch up on rest and get ready for the busy week that was ahead of me. Monday came so quickly but I was ready with lessons and activities for the kids. I think they were anxious as well to see if I was going to be as excited as I had been the first two days of school. Each day brought new challenges to overcome, power points to create, new ideas to implement, and relationships to grow. Throughout the week it has been such a blessing to start to get to know the students. I think many of them are starting to truly feel comfortable with me. They see teachers come in and out of Riverside and to have a face that they know they can count on is so valuable. My goal is that they know just how much I care about them. I want each kid who comes into my classroom to see the love of Jesus through me. I want them not only to learn the content of their classes but to be growing as men and women of faith. I feel so privileged that I am teaching at a school where Christian development is the goal of every faculty member for every student inside and outside of the classroom.
Teaching is wonderful and had someone told me five years ago that I would actually be enjoying being around high school students all day I would have laughed. In fact I might have cried, see I have never had a desire to teach. I have never really liked kids much either and so putting those things together would have been the furthest thing from my mind. I am finding out slowly though, that God calls us to do crazy things, he calls us to do hard things...really hard things, yet he always promises to never leave us. How encouraging! I suppose there are some things that God wanted me to learn that he could only teach in Kentucky! One other amazing thing God is teaching me is that not only does he know way better than I do about what is best for me he also knows what I am like...totally and completely. He constantly puts my fears to rest and opens up doors of possibilities where I least expect them. Let me explain, there are some things that I told God I needed when I came here; one of those things was a good support system. And what do you know, I am surrounded by a group of amazing individuals that have been pouring into me daily. Secondly, when I came down I was nervous about my inadequacies as a teacher. I thought that I would be totally unqualified and bad at what I am doing. But I get to be the loudest person in the room all day long, and as exhausted as I feel at the end of the day I am so completely fulfilled! God truly does equip us for what he wants us to do.
Romans 8:28-And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
Thank you so much for your prayers you do not know how much of a blessing you are to me!
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
My New Kentucky Home
I can hardly believe that I have been a resident of Kentucky for a week now. Every minute since I arrived has been full of hard work and many surprises so I will start from the beginning. When Kelly Ann, Dad, and Matt dropped me off on Tuesday of last week they helped me unload and stayed the night in my, at that time steaming hot apartment. It was hard to see them go the next morning knowing that I would have to organize and unpack my apartment by myself. I guess it wasn't the work that really had be down but saying goodbye to three people that I really love. Don't get me wrong, I thrive on new starts, but it was more seeing one chapter of my life really end and another truly beginning. Although I have lived by myself at college for the past two years that was nothing like living on my own here. Over the next few days I had to figure out how to cook, stay current on housework, what temperature to set my air conditioner, and how not to lock myself out of my apartment. I have to admit that I really loved organizing all the rooms and adding my own personality to the place. I was not only dealing with cleaning and organizing my apartment but I was also cleaning and organizing my second home...my classroom!
My room at school was a disaster! It looked like it hadn't been cleaned in four years. There was trash, old text books, dirt, dust, and grime everywhere. Honestly I tried not to seem overwhelmed on at first sight. Miraculously, by Friday not only was my apartment clean and organized but so was my apartment!!! I cannot tell you have it all got done in 2 days but I am so glad that it was.
On Friday we had teachers meetings and orientation. As a new teacher there is so much to take in on those days and it seemed like teachers meetings could almost be more draining then school days. I finally felt ready to start except for one important thing...Lesson Plans! If any of you are teachers out there you know what I am talking about. For me, Lesson Planning has been the greatest challenge. Without the kind of training that forces you to be efficient in planning lessons and using the book I had no idea where to start, but with a little help from Matt I began to dig into my text books and get going.
Between planning lessons and trying to cook I also got a chance to meet some really great people. Riverside has been blessed with an incredible staff of people who love Jesus and want to serve him with all their hearts and the people who are here have already been such a good support system for me. I have been able to get to know the younger teachers and staff as well as some of the young people who live close to Riverside. I have already been to a carry-in dinner and on Sunday we sang I'll Fly Away! It doesn't get much more friendly than that!
The Lord has also been doing some amazing things in my life even since being here. I am learning, and will continue to learn, to lean on him for every need. He has been faithful to get me this far and I know that he will be faithful to continue the good work he has started! Since Jesus and I are constantly working on trust in our relationship he reminds me daily of Jeremiah 17:7+8 (my favorite passage):
"But Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD; whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in the year of drought and never fails to bear fruit."
Hopefully you can see why I chose 'planted by the water' to be the title for this blog. Not only is it a good metaphor for constant trust in the Lord but it is also need because of the location of my apartment. Just this morning before I went off to my first day of school, I was looking out my kitchen window. I realized that from my window all I can see is trees that grow along the bank of the Troublesome Creek. I was floored by how great God is and how much he wants me and everyone to know that when we trust in him, no matter what the outside conditions, the thirst of our hearts will be quenched by his abounding provision. I hope that by reading the posts on this blog you will be encouraged by the God who will plant you by the water!
My room at school was a disaster! It looked like it hadn't been cleaned in four years. There was trash, old text books, dirt, dust, and grime everywhere. Honestly I tried not to seem overwhelmed on at first sight. Miraculously, by Friday not only was my apartment clean and organized but so was my apartment!!! I cannot tell you have it all got done in 2 days but I am so glad that it was.
On Friday we had teachers meetings and orientation. As a new teacher there is so much to take in on those days and it seemed like teachers meetings could almost be more draining then school days. I finally felt ready to start except for one important thing...Lesson Plans! If any of you are teachers out there you know what I am talking about. For me, Lesson Planning has been the greatest challenge. Without the kind of training that forces you to be efficient in planning lessons and using the book I had no idea where to start, but with a little help from Matt I began to dig into my text books and get going.
Between planning lessons and trying to cook I also got a chance to meet some really great people. Riverside has been blessed with an incredible staff of people who love Jesus and want to serve him with all their hearts and the people who are here have already been such a good support system for me. I have been able to get to know the younger teachers and staff as well as some of the young people who live close to Riverside. I have already been to a carry-in dinner and on Sunday we sang I'll Fly Away! It doesn't get much more friendly than that!
The Lord has also been doing some amazing things in my life even since being here. I am learning, and will continue to learn, to lean on him for every need. He has been faithful to get me this far and I know that he will be faithful to continue the good work he has started! Since Jesus and I are constantly working on trust in our relationship he reminds me daily of Jeremiah 17:7+8 (my favorite passage):
"But Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD; whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in the year of drought and never fails to bear fruit."
Hopefully you can see why I chose 'planted by the water' to be the title for this blog. Not only is it a good metaphor for constant trust in the Lord but it is also need because of the location of my apartment. Just this morning before I went off to my first day of school, I was looking out my kitchen window. I realized that from my window all I can see is trees that grow along the bank of the Troublesome Creek. I was floored by how great God is and how much he wants me and everyone to know that when we trust in him, no matter what the outside conditions, the thirst of our hearts will be quenched by his abounding provision. I hope that by reading the posts on this blog you will be encouraged by the God who will plant you by the water!
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