I'm currently in the process of threatening a cat I have only ever met via Skype. This does not bode particularly well for my sanity, does it?
So this week I start the short practicum of my degree. I get to spend the next four weeks with my SA getting to know the students and teaching a few English 11 classes. I have spent the last week designing lessons on narrative writing based out of Lord of the Flies (which means I had to reread the novel... ugh). After sending my first few lessons to my SA he responded with feedback so I have been spending this weekend revising them (in my head, anyway). When not doing that I have been playing World of Warcraft with either my brother and sister-in-law, or my father (this would be why Charming refers to me as his "Geeky Girlfriend"). Oh, I have also made up some Christmas cards, watched cheezy Christmas movies, and looked into applying to the Ontario College of Teachers for when I move out that way next year.
All in all, I would say it has actually been a relative productive weekend. But also relaxing, which is nice given the gnawing stress and tension in the pit of stomach with heading into my school!
This last week I spent a few days at home (by order of my FA--and yes, I know the acronyms are a little much... trying being in this program!), and spent some of that time working on the rough copy of my teaching credo which I will have to present in January at some point. As student teachers our credos are our belief statements about education and are supposed to be driven by our passions. For some people in my class, this is social justice while for others it is music.
At this moment in time, my driving statement is: "I believe in life-long learning based in thoughtful collaboration." Sounds hokey, I know, but coming out with this point and several supporting statements has helped me realize something.
I like a lot of things. I love to read and write or to act, and I thoroughly enjoy video games and music. But I am passionate about meaningful relationships. When I taught grade 5/6, my classroom became its own community and it was incredible. I made so many mistakes that year, and if I could go back there would be so much I would change. But I wouldn't change the relationships I was able to forge with my students. They could be completely honest and transparent with me, and I could be quirky and honest with them. Because of this relationship they were willing to learn from me.
Realizing this annoyed me a little at first. See, there are two universities down here that offer Teacher Education programs. The one focuses a fair bit on curriculum. The other focuses on the students and on forging relationships that will allow you to understand how best they learn so that you can better help them understand the curriculum.
I am in the latter of those two programs. And it has a reputation for fluffiness. I have spent most of this semester better understanding myself and how life has shaped me so that I can understand how similar forces shape my students. I have done a lot of chalk pastel drawings and spent far more time in reflection that is probably healthy (yes, I am saying all of this with a touch of sarcasm in my voice). And sometimes the fluffiness drives me nuts. That's why, when I realized that relationships and community were the driving force behind my credo annoyed me because I felt like I was simply spouting off the program line.
By the end of this week I had started to respect that this was, indeed, my passion. Then I read something interesting in my devotions today. I finished The Everlasting Man by Chesterton last weekend and started on The Jesus Way by Eugene Peterson this week.
I am almost done the first chapter which touches on how Jesus in the Way with reference to his temptations in the desert. I want to share with you an excerpt that really struck me.
"Each of the devil's temptations has to do with the way that Jesus is the way, the way he will go about his work. Will he reduce and depersonalize the way by imposing his will on the rocks, using them to provide for human needs, first taking care of himself and then feeding a lot of people? Will he put on a circus spectacular, demonstrating the miraculous, ever-present providence of God to the people on the street by never dealing with them as persons? Will he rule the world by means of a faceless bureaucracy, efficiently enacting justice and prosperity without getting his hands dirty?
"Jesus said no to each one in turn. Jesus gave a definitive, Scripture-backed no to each temptations. And why? Because in each case it would have been an impersonal way, a way abstracted from relationships, a way disengaged from love, a way imposed from the ouside. It would have been a way ripped out of the comprehensive story of salvation, and therefore ripped out of participation in people's lives... The way of Jesus is always exercised in personal ways... It is never an impersonal interference from the outside."
At another point, Peterson states that "Jesus is not interested in diverting us from life, but in revealing the "more" that is in life beyond what we can cobble together on our own, dimensions of beauty and challenge, depths of gladness, our mouths 'filled with laughter' (Psalms 126:2). What is more impressive than the miracles that Jesus performed is that he performed so few of them... The way of Jesus is not a sequence of exceptions to the ordinary, but a way of living deeply and fully with the people here an dnow, in the place we find ourselves."
Jesus is passionate about relationships.
Today the pastor in the church I have decided to attend spoke on unity among Christians, about being united in purpose and caring for each other.
Sometimes I so utterly fail at this. As passionate as I am about relationships, I still fail... a lot. Like yesterday afternoon. I went for a walk and was quickly turned around by the vast amounts of rain. On my way back I passed a girl who was also making her way along the same path, only she was doing so on crutches. Now I realize I couldn't have done much to help her aside from somehow carrying her and her crutches. But I could have offered my umbrella. And, to be honest, I felt like I should have.
But I didn't.
Instead, I kept right on walking because I was too embarassed to ask if she wanted to share my rather large umbrella.
And the rest of the way home I felt horrible.
But I didn't turn around. Because that would have been even more embarassing.
I want to follow the Jesus Way. And to do so, I need to follow the way Jesus did things. Jesus cared about people.
I don't want just my career as a teacher to be a reflection of the ways of Jesus... I want every part of my life to be an image of that. Even if it means stepping out of my comfort zone and offering my umbrella to a stranger.
So this week I start the short practicum of my degree. I get to spend the next four weeks with my SA getting to know the students and teaching a few English 11 classes. I have spent the last week designing lessons on narrative writing based out of Lord of the Flies (which means I had to reread the novel... ugh). After sending my first few lessons to my SA he responded with feedback so I have been spending this weekend revising them (in my head, anyway). When not doing that I have been playing World of Warcraft with either my brother and sister-in-law, or my father (this would be why Charming refers to me as his "Geeky Girlfriend"). Oh, I have also made up some Christmas cards, watched cheezy Christmas movies, and looked into applying to the Ontario College of Teachers for when I move out that way next year.
All in all, I would say it has actually been a relative productive weekend. But also relaxing, which is nice given the gnawing stress and tension in the pit of stomach with heading into my school!
This last week I spent a few days at home (by order of my FA--and yes, I know the acronyms are a little much... trying being in this program!), and spent some of that time working on the rough copy of my teaching credo which I will have to present in January at some point. As student teachers our credos are our belief statements about education and are supposed to be driven by our passions. For some people in my class, this is social justice while for others it is music.
At this moment in time, my driving statement is: "I believe in life-long learning based in thoughtful collaboration." Sounds hokey, I know, but coming out with this point and several supporting statements has helped me realize something.
I like a lot of things. I love to read and write or to act, and I thoroughly enjoy video games and music. But I am passionate about meaningful relationships. When I taught grade 5/6, my classroom became its own community and it was incredible. I made so many mistakes that year, and if I could go back there would be so much I would change. But I wouldn't change the relationships I was able to forge with my students. They could be completely honest and transparent with me, and I could be quirky and honest with them. Because of this relationship they were willing to learn from me.
Realizing this annoyed me a little at first. See, there are two universities down here that offer Teacher Education programs. The one focuses a fair bit on curriculum. The other focuses on the students and on forging relationships that will allow you to understand how best they learn so that you can better help them understand the curriculum.
I am in the latter of those two programs. And it has a reputation for fluffiness. I have spent most of this semester better understanding myself and how life has shaped me so that I can understand how similar forces shape my students. I have done a lot of chalk pastel drawings and spent far more time in reflection that is probably healthy (yes, I am saying all of this with a touch of sarcasm in my voice). And sometimes the fluffiness drives me nuts. That's why, when I realized that relationships and community were the driving force behind my credo annoyed me because I felt like I was simply spouting off the program line.
By the end of this week I had started to respect that this was, indeed, my passion. Then I read something interesting in my devotions today. I finished The Everlasting Man by Chesterton last weekend and started on The Jesus Way by Eugene Peterson this week.
I am almost done the first chapter which touches on how Jesus in the Way with reference to his temptations in the desert. I want to share with you an excerpt that really struck me.
"Each of the devil's temptations has to do with the way that Jesus is the way, the way he will go about his work. Will he reduce and depersonalize the way by imposing his will on the rocks, using them to provide for human needs, first taking care of himself and then feeding a lot of people? Will he put on a circus spectacular, demonstrating the miraculous, ever-present providence of God to the people on the street by never dealing with them as persons? Will he rule the world by means of a faceless bureaucracy, efficiently enacting justice and prosperity without getting his hands dirty?
"Jesus said no to each one in turn. Jesus gave a definitive, Scripture-backed no to each temptations. And why? Because in each case it would have been an impersonal way, a way abstracted from relationships, a way disengaged from love, a way imposed from the ouside. It would have been a way ripped out of the comprehensive story of salvation, and therefore ripped out of participation in people's lives... The way of Jesus is always exercised in personal ways... It is never an impersonal interference from the outside."
At another point, Peterson states that "Jesus is not interested in diverting us from life, but in revealing the "more" that is in life beyond what we can cobble together on our own, dimensions of beauty and challenge, depths of gladness, our mouths 'filled with laughter' (Psalms 126:2). What is more impressive than the miracles that Jesus performed is that he performed so few of them... The way of Jesus is not a sequence of exceptions to the ordinary, but a way of living deeply and fully with the people here an dnow, in the place we find ourselves."
Jesus is passionate about relationships.
Today the pastor in the church I have decided to attend spoke on unity among Christians, about being united in purpose and caring for each other.
Sometimes I so utterly fail at this. As passionate as I am about relationships, I still fail... a lot. Like yesterday afternoon. I went for a walk and was quickly turned around by the vast amounts of rain. On my way back I passed a girl who was also making her way along the same path, only she was doing so on crutches. Now I realize I couldn't have done much to help her aside from somehow carrying her and her crutches. But I could have offered my umbrella. And, to be honest, I felt like I should have.
But I didn't.
Instead, I kept right on walking because I was too embarassed to ask if she wanted to share my rather large umbrella.
And the rest of the way home I felt horrible.
But I didn't turn around. Because that would have been even more embarassing.
I want to follow the Jesus Way. And to do so, I need to follow the way Jesus did things. Jesus cared about people.
I don't want just my career as a teacher to be a reflection of the ways of Jesus... I want every part of my life to be an image of that. Even if it means stepping out of my comfort zone and offering my umbrella to a stranger.
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