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Learning
What an exhausting week! I don't think I could ask for a better one, though.
Yesterday I received my semi-annual evaluation. It's actually a 3-day process, but yesterday was the last day of the process for the spring semester. I know that most people truly despise evaluations, but mine I generally look forward to. My evaluating administrator is always so full of wisdom and good advice; she keeps me sharp and always wanting to improve. She has a way of creating a desire to succeed. Even the students that I have sent to her have come out with that same desire (although they are also threatened by Saturday Morning Detention).
Today just started on a good note. I was able to have a student's schedule changed because we just were not getting along and we were never going to get along. If he were teachable, I would have kept trying, but I was scared that I was going to commit murder and people typically frown on that kind of behavior. (On a side note, I am really surprised that we don't hear more stories in the news of high school and middle school teachers just losing it in their classroom and killing students. I mean, really, try dealing with all those adolescent hormones and behaviors in a single room.) Also today I gave a test; probably over the second most challenging topic that I teach all year. My students ROCKED! Their efforts these past few weeks have been remarkable, and when that is the case, I am a happy person.
The one thing that I've learned this week about "Learning" is that in order to learn something we must abandon the idea that we (as the learner) know anything. There must be trust that the person teaching us really is smarter than we are. When I reflect, I see this in my students and their success on this challenging chapter as well as in me and the success that I am experiencing daily as a teacher. Maybe this kinda goes along with what Paul was talking about when he said that only when you lose your life that you will gain life. Maybe if I ever truly figure out that God is smarter than me, then I will trust him more and really learn about life.
Yesterday I received my semi-annual evaluation. It's actually a 3-day process, but yesterday was the last day of the process for the spring semester. I know that most people truly despise evaluations, but mine I generally look forward to. My evaluating administrator is always so full of wisdom and good advice; she keeps me sharp and always wanting to improve. She has a way of creating a desire to succeed. Even the students that I have sent to her have come out with that same desire (although they are also threatened by Saturday Morning Detention).
Today just started on a good note. I was able to have a student's schedule changed because we just were not getting along and we were never going to get along. If he were teachable, I would have kept trying, but I was scared that I was going to commit murder and people typically frown on that kind of behavior. (On a side note, I am really surprised that we don't hear more stories in the news of high school and middle school teachers just losing it in their classroom and killing students. I mean, really, try dealing with all those adolescent hormones and behaviors in a single room.) Also today I gave a test; probably over the second most challenging topic that I teach all year. My students ROCKED! Their efforts these past few weeks have been remarkable, and when that is the case, I am a happy person.
The one thing that I've learned this week about "Learning" is that in order to learn something we must abandon the idea that we (as the learner) know anything. There must be trust that the person teaching us really is smarter than we are. When I reflect, I see this in my students and their success on this challenging chapter as well as in me and the success that I am experiencing daily as a teacher. Maybe this kinda goes along with what Paul was talking about when he said that only when you lose your life that you will gain life. Maybe if I ever truly figure out that God is smarter than me, then I will trust him more and really learn about life.
posted by Becky Davis | 9:47 PM
2 Comments:
"I am really surprised that we don't hear more stories in the news of high school and middle school teachers just losing it in their classroom and killing students. I mean, really, try dealing with all those adolescent hormones and behaviors in a single room."
You are NOT kidding! Even a person with the patience of a saint would eventually crack under the pressure of teenage attitudes. Being pregnant has only made it worse--not only do they have their hormones that make them smart-alecks, I have my hormones that make me intolerant of stupidity, irresponsibility, and disrespectfulness!
Wow, I really like what you said about abandoning the idea that we know anything. I think you've really got something there. When I am actually able to do this, I find that it lights a fire under me, a greater desire to learn than I had imagined previously. It's an experience in humility, really...the idea that I am not greater than my teacher and I am not beyond my subject matter. No matter how much I know, there is an uncovered vastness still waiting to be discovered. And it is only when that mental block is removed--when we place that trust in the one who is greater--that we can continue to move higher and deeper.
Wouldn't it be amazing if we would really relinquish our mistrust and believe that God is smarter? Imagine the paradigm shift that would occur.
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