First Day of School

This little scene popped into my head months ago and I've been holding it close. I can picture these precious people in their standard public school classroom so clearly and I hope I've given them justice. The beginning of this school year in the States was anything but ideal. But we can still do small …

Light

"This is the message we have heard from Him and proclaim to you, taht God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all." - 1 John 1:5 Light means everything as it actually is out in the open without shame. Nothing dark or scary or hidden exists in the light. God doesn't do …

We are lovely and loved

I'm supposed to be on my way out of the house right now to run various errands, but I've been watching the new season of Queer Eye all morning and I have to write some things down. If you haven't watched Queer Eye, the overarching message of the show is, "you are lovely and you …

Here’s the thing about asking for help

In addition to learning how to say no and learning how to stop apologizing for things that aren’t my responsibility, I realized this week that I am in the midst of learning how to ask for help. I’m not talking about asking for help doing things I don’t know how to do. I learned that …

First day of school!

Most teachers like to get out of their classrooms during their break. They go to the library or an empty specials classroom or the cafeteria to get work done or to do something that is not at all school related. I, however - and this is the homebody in me - love to be in my classroom. …

Moved to Act

A few weeks ago in First Grade A we studied the time when Jesus turned five loaves of bread and two fishes into enough lunch for thousands. I have so enjoyed teaching Bible for the first time. I was nervous, as I have mentioned here before, but armed with my Jesus Storybook Bible and the …

The Easter Story (as told by a First Grade Teacher)

For the first time in my educational career, this year I have been responsible for teaching my students Bible. Unfortunately I don’t have a Bible curriculum, but I do have a bilingual Jesus Storybook Bible and a random Bible activity book that have been doing us just fine. For the most part I have been …

We Need Help

At the beginning of the year I set some goals for 2017. One of the big ones was to start an English school at my house. God put the idea on my heart towards the end of 2016 as a way to get to know and serve the kids in my neighborhood. Then, a friend …

The Desires of My Heart

Yesterday I was in Target and, as one does, I took a stroll through the clearance section at the front of the store. I thought, "I should see if there's anything that would be good for my classroom." Then I thought, "Holy smokes! In two months I'm going to have a classroom again!" This past …

Being a teacher

The thing about being a teacher is that no matter how successful I am, I fail. The thing about being a teacher is that I have 19 students in my care at one time. That’s 19 little human beings with their own personalities and preferences and learning styles and likes and dislikes and lengths of …