Teaching For the Sake of Learning

When playing games and make-believe while growing up there was one thing that I never really enjoyed, playing school. I did not want to be the teacher of our little classroom, and when I was a student I was "that" student while playing ("that student" being the one that got sat in the corner of our pretend classroom for disrupting the "class"). For me teaching was too difficult. It was to difficult to meet everyone's needs and struggles. I was learning myself, and learning is something that I love to do, but teaching was always a nightmare. Whether it was trying to convey my own understanding of something to someone else, who has a completely different way of learning and understanding or the complete lack of respect that some people show towards teachers and authority figures. I would rather sit in a quiet library and learn things, than have to instruct others on how and what to learn. I realized at a young age that I was not gifted to be a teacher. God did not prepare me to stand in a corporate classroom to teach and mold the minds of the future. Instead God is preparing and shaping me to be a teacher in and of the world.

With that being said, teachers are a God-sent. It takes a certain type of demeanor, temperament, patience, and authority to be a teacher. Someone who is a good listener at both words spoken and unspoken. Above all someone who is willing and able to put the betterment of the individual student over the collective whole. Far to often I hear stories of students falling through the cracks, being left behind in their studies, being pushed into remedial or special classes because their learning style and capabilities are different then the collective whole. I remember sitting in certain classes thinking to myself: this impossible to do, I don't understand what is going on; but when I got together with friends or family or sat down and taught myself I was able to figure it out or grasp onto an understanding. I was a fortunate one though. I had a great at home support system to help with the math that I will NEVER understand, and the spelling words that were just to complicated for me. I was surrounded by people who encouraged me to learn, not just memorize and regurgitate for the sake of testing and collective standards.

While in school I was more annoyed by the structure of the learning environment. My parents specifically chose our schools growing up because of the learning environment. My older brother and I transferred schools half way through elementary schools because of the classroom environment and teaching styles of the different schools in town. While one school was open classrooms and larger class sizes, the other was smaller class sizes and closed individual classrooms. My parents knew their kids learning styles and knew that open classrooms and  easily distracted kids, don't bode well together. Now that I am out of the public school system and getting to that time in my life where raising kids and making decisions (for these hypothetical children we have), is terrifying and confusing. Now as an adult and (one day) future mother, these decisions for the well being and the LEARNING of my future hypothetical children, confounds me. Some of the better options I can find out there, come with a "better" price tag as well! Social media allows for a window into different cultures and their teaching successes. It allows for venting and confrontations of our own teaching methods and models. Social media allows for ideas, conversations, and platforms for teachers and parents alike. Social media however, is not a "fix-all" button (as badly as we would like it to be so).

A friend of mine posted this on Facebook and it left me really pondering and thinking. We can put our education system up on trial, but then what? What are we going to do about it? How are we going to fix it? Is there a way to fix it? I really began thinking over this conundrum...

Stepping into the rolls I do at the church, I realize that I have, in a backward sense of a way, become a teacher. As I direct and lead the youth, I am teaching them about the word of God, teaching them about Christian maturity and a holy life style. WOW! Never thought I would be doing the one thing I never enjoyed doing. But I love it. However, I have the "classroom" size to spend time one-on-one till the light bulb moment happens, I have the time to slow down the curriculum till everyone is on the same page, and I have this amazing dialogue and network with the youth and their families for support and resources.

So I admit, I have become a teacher...what is terrifying though is that I have become a teacher of something that is SO un-comprehensible, misunderstood, and confusing. However, there is this beautiful forgiveness from God: named Grace. Grace allows us to make mistakes, do over, try again, and most of all LEARN from what God is teaching us.

Blessings & Joy