"Teachery" Things

           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.