Ignorant Historian

Just a handful of searches that lead to this very blog:

“obsessed with my past wedding”

I can’t help but think that that’s not healthy for a marriage.  Unless you’re Miss Havisham, and then well, it’s just not healthy, period.

“lipsmaker ingredients”
Crack?

“Lord Ignorant”
I prefer to be called “Lady Ignorant,” thankyouverymuch.

“quotes on dealing with ignorant females”

Sure WOMEN can be ignorant just like men, but at least we don’t call you all “males.”

“why my sil will be sleeping hard”
Amanda, care to chime in on this one?

I love my teaching profession
As opposed to a teaching hobby, I suppose. (Wait, I DO have a teaching hobby.)

lunch detention for tardies worksheet
Don’t be a tardy!

“wedding uno”
But it takes dos to wed, and THEN you’re uno. (Dare you to yell out “Uno!” at the next wedding you attend.)

“easter r dress”
Ummm…

“how to grow gernamiums”
I hear they respond better when you get their name right.

“edward is”
“Stalkerish,” “creepy,” and “not hot” would all fit that blank.

Bing search: “major points for pro-choice”
For all their hullabaloo about being the better search engine, they certainly got this one wrong.

Today is Teacher Appreciation Day, and I can’t help but wonder if it’s intentionally scheduled for the beginning of May to get teachers through the home stretch.  I grew up with a teacher, so I know that it’s a lot of hard work (and usually thankless).  Today I’m joining Christa at The Dark Side of the Chalkboard in showing my appreciation for the hard-working teachers out there.

The teacher that I want to highlight today is the primary person responsible for my desire to be a math teacher one day.  Her name is Mrs. Reeves, and she was one of my high school math teachers (I’m thinking it was Algebra III..but that hardly matters).

Math was always a subject I enjoyed, but since it’s something that comes easily to me, I wouldn’t usually try very hard.  There’s a reason why the only F I’ve gotten on a test was in a math class…I tend to take pride in my grasp of the subject, and as we know, pride comes before a fall.

But Mrs. Reeves wouldn’t let me get away with it.  I remember one time getting an extra credit question on an exam marked wrong, even though I had the correct answer.  I wasn’t too happy with that.  I certainly didn’t need the boost to my grade, but that wasn’t the point…I wanted to be right.

When I approached her about the issue, she told me she marked it wrong as I hadn’t used the method we had learned in that chapter to solve the problem.  She told me to solve it this way, and she’d give me back that point. (And yes, I did and she gave me that point.)

By challenging me, she was helping me to not only practice the skills I was learning in her class, but also to improve my problem-solving skills, something that would outlast my academic career.

Mrs. Reeves worked hard to reach all kinds of students.  We had to do in-class labs (I’ve never enjoyed group work or hands-on things, but I know many kids do).  She shared with us creative ways to remember mathematical rules (like a man (Y) can have more than one woman (X), but a woman can have only one man…this is the definition of functions, but a poor rule of society).  She showed us practical applications of the math we’re learning by graphically showing us the distribution of grades.

I’m thankful for Mrs. Reeves and all the other excellent teachers I’ve had over the years.  I hope to be among their ranks some day.

I know I’ve mentioned it before, but I’m a teacher at heart.  One of the many things I’m passionate about teaching is geography/culture.  I think we Americans fall WAY behind in our knowledge that indeed, there are other people in the world besides us and perhaps their culture isn’t funny/weird but actually contains things of value to us.

Anyway, one way that this passion comes out is that I teach the kindergarteners at church geography when we learn about missions and the like.  They all know where Turkey is, no problem, but the use of our world map has interested them in learning about more places.

This past Sunday, a couple of boys were eagerly looking over the map and finding places that they knew.  One boy astonished me by finding Bulgaria on the map and saying, “Hey, you could go there when you’re in Turkey since it’s so close.”  I believe I’m above-average at geography, but even I only knew that Bulgaria was somewhere in Eastern Europe.

Later, they showed their childlike eagerness again and said, “Look!  We’ve found China!”

Only problem was that they were pointing at Canada, hehe.

So, I gently corrected them, told them that China was in Asia, and pointed out the big area that was Asia.  On their second try, they identified the right country.

I just love that they were excited to find the places they’ve learned about.  Later in the lesson I took some time to show all the children pictures of my past visits to Turkey so they could get an idea of what the country is liked.

Seeing the women with their hair covered, one little boy asked in all seriousness, “Are the women bald?”

Oh, to have the eagerness to learn like a child.

Photo by ToastyKen

One of the biggest compliments I’ve received (and I get this one frequently) is actually a question:   “Do you teach?”  I also get the similar statement, “Oh, I thought you taught school.”

I get this primarily from parents of children I have or have had in the past in my Sunday school class.  They’ve seen my passion for the children and may know about what I do behind the scenes as well, and have reasonably assumed that I do this professionally as well.  I don’t–I don’t have an education degree–but I love getting this question, because that means that my passion is visible to others.

I love the opportunities I get to teach now, both at church and occassionally through my job.  It’s an area that I’m constantly growing in…I still have so much to learn.

I do hope to teach more full-time some day.  My first preference would be to teach my own children, but if God doesn’t have that for me, then I’d like to teach in a public classroom likely teaching math.  I’d already be working towards this goal if it weren’t for the fact that I’m not ready to give up my current job (teaching isn’t the only thing I’m passionate about!).

So for now, I’m thankful for the passions that God’s given me and the opportunities I have to exercise them.  Will I be a full-time teacher one day?  I don’t know, but I sure hope so.

Photo by S Baker

There are a few times of the year I really like, and I have memories associated with them.  My favorite is probably Christmas time…I can see my childhood bedroom decorated for Christmas, only lit up by the lights on my minature tree.

Another favorite time of year is May, as everything is ending.  That’s when there’s more fun to be had at end-of-the-year bashes and the days are starting to get long and warm.  When I think of this, I picture myself leaning over the side of our backyard play area fort as I’m eating ice cream with my Girl Scout friends.

A third favorite time of year is definitely back-to-school time.  When I was in school, it was preceeded with my favorite type of shopping: school supply shopping.  Everything was fresh and new, from the clothes I was wearing to the pencils and notebooks I was using.  Then there was the difficult night-before sleep, delayed with anticipation and excitement.  As I got older, school supply shopping was less important, but book-shopping and syllabus-reading filled those first few days with joy (I don’t think I need to add the disclaimer that I’m a nerd, do I?).  When I worked at Walmart, I enjoyed checking out school supplies because they were so small and usually organized.  I could always get the best items/minute count during those days.

When I graduated for the last time, I knew those days were behind me.  I really thought it’d be hard to not be a student, but it suprisingly wasn’t.  Since it’s been 8 months, it shocked me that I finally reacted emotionally yesterday, and was at the point of tears.  Just for a moment…and then the moment was gone.

I’m thankful that I still get to participate in small ways in this time of year.  I get the new beginnings in Sunday School and AWANA.  A teacher friend lets me help her shop and make posters for her classroom (and rumor has it she’ll even let me help her set up her paper organization system…a treat for me, really).  And I even went on a small shopping spree for clothes (more because of the raise, than the time of year).

So, whatever your role in this time of year: student, parent, teacher, parent/teacher, I want to wish you a Happy Back-to-Schooling!

Photo by D. Sharon Pruitt

I do love to teach, but it can be very convicting at times.  Actually, as a teacher/leader I find myself more often convicted than I do as a student/learner.

Sunday at an AWANA leaders’ meeting we were discussing how we wanted the students to not merely memorize the verses, but to really take them in and apply them.  That’s when it hit me: how often do I do that?

I’m a student, always will be.  I do like to study and learn.  Yet I know I don’t spend as much time in the Bible as I should.  Probably spend more time in God’s Word than many, but what does that matter?

But even if I knew the Bible backwards and forward, it means nothing if I don’t apply it.  Once again, I’m not the worst at this, but I’m certainly not doing the best that I can and should, especially when you consider the resources I have available to me, the biggest two being the Holy Spirit and the Bible itself.

So, as we get ready to start a new year in Sunday school and AWANA, I’m committing myself to digging deeper into the word and seeking to apply it more and more.  I suppose what’s really made this hit home to me is I’ve been reminded in a few different ways that this life is not about me.  I’m a part of something bigger, yet why do I spend so much time playing around?

“No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.” – 2 Timothy 2:4 (NAS)

Photo by Army.mil

I teach Sunday school to kindergartners.  Though it’s not my profession (perhaps it will be someday), I love it.

When their eyes are drawn to the object in my hand, I love teaching.

When they let me play with their hair, I love teaching.

When their mouths hang open in disbelief at something neat and fascinating I’ve shared with them, I love teaching.

When they joyfully welcome a new friend they just met, I love teaching.

When I get to practically apply one-on-one what we’ve been learning to their personal struggles, I love teaching.

When they hang on every word and get frustrated when I pause or switch gears, I love teaching.

When they start making connections demonstrating they’re really getting the lesson, I love teaching.

When they draw a picture showing they get the lesson, I love teaching.

When they see me down the hall and can’t wait to give me a hug, I love teaching.

When a parent tells me their child has chosen to follow Christ, making what I’ve been teaching them their own, I love teaching.

Photo by Lilivanili

Yesterday was our first day of Vacation Bible School. By the end of the night, I was full of exhaustion and joy. Being around children at the same time energizes me and wears me out.
This year I am co-teaching the kindergarten class. We had 19 kids there the first night, but we would love to have 30. We have plenty of help to handle the kids as well as provide lots of opportunities to interact with the children in a one-on-one or small group basis. We were expecting some disaster or problem to come up, but nothing did (praise God!). The kids were reasonably attentive and generally quite well-behaved. I’m praying that God will take the truths that they are learning and put them in their hearts.
The theme this year is “Arctic Edge.” We decorated part of our classroom to look like a lodge, and it is so cute! We also had an igloo for the children to climb through, a winter wonderland, an animal wilderness, and a train track. We were so blessed to have great helpers willing to work on anything who helped put the ideas we had into action.
God is so wonderful. He has taken care of the concerns that I had for the week, and in an overwhelmingly wonderful way.