Since, honestly, there are things about this semester of teaching that are hellish, I've been thinking a lot about God's classroom and how it's often in the Wilderness, both with the Israelites and with us (in the midst of struggle) that we learn best.
This is a season of Wilderness for me. When I taught at Dade County and James Irwin, I was happy just about every single day on the drive to school, just contemplating the love in my heart for my kids and the fun plans I would share with them that day. After a year hiatus (including a summer of leading Drama at the Boardwalk Chapel and my new marriage), I am back to teaching. But this time, on the drive to school, I usually feel like crying and quitting. Classroom Management is hard right now, and I so wish I could re-do some conversations with Colorado friends, showing them more empathy and giving them less advice having faced this difficulty myself now (Sorry Amy Verner. God will give you a jewel in your crown for listening to me when you should have yelled at me to be more sympathetic.God bless you for putting up with my "rhymes with brass.")
North Davidson is a great place. But teaching public school rather than Charter is hard. Teaching Seniors rather than Freshman is pretty hard. Teaching regular kids and not Honors JI students is really hard. And, honestly, teaching from more of a place of Brokenness is extra difficult too. I used to feel like I had everything together in the mornings. Now I'm lucky if I can delude myself into believing I can even make it through the day (which I am only able to do through prayer and faith).
Anyway, suffice it to say: Season of Wilderness at my job. So reading this portion of the book about God's Wilderness Classroom was encouraging. I started to see lessons, parallels, and truths about teaching in the Old Testament which I hadn't noticed before. So, here they are. There are some which I probably take too far or too literally, but overall, I hope this brings you hope and encouragement in your teaching endeavors as it has mine.
I have included the first 3 on this post. The next ones will follow.
1. The Lessons are Bigger than the Details: It's about teaching your students something larger, something about life!
The truth is, when Israel was in the wilderness, God was teaching them BIG lessons! He taught them lessons about trusting Him to provide rather than always leaning on themselves. He taught them lessons about not wanting too much or being selfish with what they had. And he taught them these things through stuff like "manna" which literally means "What is this?" (very fitting for how we feel trusting in God rather than ourselves sometimes). The manna itself was a beautiful act of faithfulness but it was what the manna produced in the Israelites which mattered, arguably, even more: a dependence on God rather than themselves & a spirit of peace, rest, and contentment with what was enough.
It's important to remember when we teach, that the daily lesson plans, correct assessments, classroom discipline, etc. are not the point. The point is to direct students to something larger: to teach Generation Me to stop being so selfish, to teach students to look beyond immediate circumstances and feelings in order to find truth, to direct students to Christ. It's not about just the "tool;" it's about what we're communicating in the process.
This is encouraging because even God's students, the Israelites, didn't always get His methodology or use his "tools" correctly, but He was still changing their hearts. That is what is important. So, if you exist in the classroom and are communicating truth, God's truth, to students, you are already, by definition, doing what is most valuable.
2. Calling Your Students to be a Contrast People is Hard and Will Produce Frustration & Struggle. It's Normal.
When reading the Old Testament, it's clear that God is calling Israel to be a peculiar people. He desires for them to be different (welcoming, God-followers, who rest sometimes and actually set slaves free...weirdos!) Israel has a hard time with this. They want to be like the nations around them. They fight Moses about it. They fight Joshua about it. They fight the prophets about it. They fight with God.
If you're a good teacher, you expect and desire for your students to be counter-cultural. You want them to be world-changers and not just "go with the grain I exist in your classroom and sleep in a state of ultimate apathy" people. Since this is your desire, your rules and ideas (much like God's) will reflect this, and that will be hard for your kids just like it was hard for Israel.
Going against the grain, being respectful and not entitled, being kind and not self-involved, being truth seekers and not people pleasers, is hard. Since you're the one that makes the rules and expects the counter-cultural behavior, you are the one, much like God & his prophets, who will bear the brunt of your student's wrath and frustration. It's okay. It doesn't mean you're a bad teacher. It means you're good. It means you're asking your kids to be better and that this frustrates them at times. Frustration, by the way, usually can happen in changing and developing hearts. (I am not speaking of exacerbation. That's different)
Think of it this way. If a parent doesn't allow a child to eat a butt-load of MSG and caffeine and sugar, this may be counter-cultural; it may cause the child to be frustrated. Does this action, this not allowing the child to eat bad things, make that parent evil? No. It makes the parent a good parent.
It's simply hard for Israelites, children, students, and people in general to rise above. When things are hard, we can lash out. Be ready for your students to do this, and stop feeling like it makes you bad at your job.
3.Teaching Your Kids that they aren't Big Deals in a World that's Fighting that, Makes Discipline Difficult (Elaboration on #2):
We all feel like we're a big deal when we're born. We're a kicking, screaming, bloody-mess of self-focus, and from that first day, God is working to help us look beyond ourselves. When people remain in the state of feeling like they're a big deal and that feeling gets even worse, they start to push others down. People show they're big deals through things like achievement, bullying, knowledge acquisition, etc.
When you, as a Christian, step into a classroom, you are entering a room of people who think they're a big deal. Just like God's job is to show you that you are not the center of the universe and that He's the real big deal and not you, it is your job to show students that the world is full of people (including you) who they will need to respect and honor because they are NOT the ultimate big deal.
Since this is the 21st Century, Generation Me, and since there are tons of studies about adolescents which honestly, give their behavior excuses when used incorrectly (as they often are), it's hard to fight this. Most students these days have taken the good phrases like "Shoot for the Moon. Even if you Miss you'll Land Among the Stars" as "I am the business; Listen to Me because I am da' best and smartest. I don't even need school." Fighting this in a world full of adults who believe they are big deals and in a world full of students who have been shown that they are big deals, is challenging. (Side Note: Part of the problem is that we have become obsessed with raising people's self-esteem rather than their esteem of others!)
When you show people they are not the center, they get mad. Expect to get anger when you show students that they can't be the center. Be ready for this to make discipline difficult. Selfish human nature is not necessarily you're fault, so don't even think about taking on student backlash as something that makes you a failure.
Keep showing students truth even when they vomit it back on you. It's what God does with us everyday.
*Some of my beautiful, very SELFLESS students from Student Teaching
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