January 5, 2014

Well, I failed. I didn't write a post yesterday, but here I am now. Maybe that's part of the "secret to success"? If (or when) you fall, you get up and keep going, even if it's a step or two. Something about that analogy rings true with me. I've been noticing lately in my reading, the same idea keeps popping up. "God, are you trying to tell me something?" :) I know as a teacher that just because I say something, doesn't mean my students hear me. Their little minds may be a million miles away and I'm just Charlie Brown's teacher wah wah wahing away in the distance. God has to repeat himself until I'm listening. UGH! I'm starting to think that maybe I'm asking the wrong questions. Instead of coming to God with, "What should I do?", I should ask, "What would you have me do?". Or instead of "Why won't you make this situation stop?", I should come to Him with "What do you want me to learn from this?" or "What is your purpose in this?" So now I'm thinking... instead of focusing on why I should quit teaching (which I won't do anytime soon, not until at least the end of the school year), I'll create a list of the Top Ten Reasons Why I Teach. It changes the focus a little... kind of like those pictures we used to have to look at a little off-focus so we could see the 3-D image hidden inside of them. If you stared right at them, they didn't make any sense. Maybe seeing the positives will help me to see more clearly why I'm doing what I'm doing as a teacher... 10. I get paid to do it. 9. It provides our family with health insurance. 8. It keeps me busy so I don't get bored. 7. It allows me to keep learning, to exercise my brain, so hopefully, I won't get OLD too soon. 6. It gives me the opportunity to know and to work with so many great people (my co-workers are wonderful). 5. It challenges me to make something hard or complex or complicated to be simple enough and meaningful enough for my students to understand. 4. It makes me a part of a group of people who are trying to make a difference in the world. 3. It lets me work with children, who still love life and learning and me (3rd graders are that way). 2. It can be so much fun when the students are engaged and focused! 1. It's where God has placed me right now in my life... at this school, with these children. That actually did work! I think I'm going to print out this list and refer to it periodically as a reminder. On those days when I forget (which happens too often!), I'll tell myself, "Remember now? So get up and get dressed and get in the game!".