I did it!

Well, I could go on and on for this post, but I essentially just want to PRAISE THE LORD for His goodness, mercy, and faithfulness. As many of you know, I just went through my first year of teaching. Wow, God taught me so much. God teaches us a lot when we are tired, stressed, confused, frustrated, and down-right mad. Being a teacher of nineteen 4th graders has been one of the most rewarding and difficult experiences in my life. I'll try to recap a few lessons-learned through some stories.


1) What is the most important thing in your life? We were reading the novel Because of Winn-Dixie early on in the year, and we ended up having a great class discussion about "the most important things" in our life. There were the typical answers like "family, friends, school, etc." Some students even mentioned God and Jesus, which gave me an instant opportunity to share my faith and how my relationship with God was the most important thing in my life. Hey, they brought it up, right?!
However, I was quickly enlightened as the conversation shifted and several (over half) of my students began sharing about how they could relate with certain characters of the story. One student commented: "I can relate with Opal [the main character of Winn-Dixie] because she doesn't have a mom." Other students immediately chimed in saying, "Yeah, me too" or "Yeah, but I don't have a dad." I was nearly in tears as I realized that most of my students were coming from unimaginable circumstances, and I had the opportunity to encourage them and love them. I realized that teaching goes way beyond curriculum and text books. I pray that I was able to show these kids love and encouragement throughout the year. How incredible it is that God used 9-10 year olds to teach me of his extravagant love and intricate plan to glorify himself.


2) A spontaneous Clothing Drive and an old t-shirt. I learned from a mentor teacher back in student teaching that it is always important to teach your students that they can serve and help others. I remember praying for an opportunity to show my students that no matter how bad they think they have it, there is always someone worse off, and there is always and opportunity to help. Then the earthquake in Haiti happened. We started having a discussion about how Haiti was already an impoverished nation who desperately needed help BEFORE the earthquake occurred. We couldn't imagine just how horrible it might be after being hit by an earthquake. As we were looking at the world map, some of them locating Haiti for the first time, my students started coming up with all kinds of ideas. "Mrs. Yarbrough, we could send them stuff!" "We could collect old clothes or toys for the kids." "I have some old shoes I need to get rid of." My students were so excited at the thought of helping the Haitian people. Within about an hour, we had planned a Clothing/Shoe Drive for our entire school. My very creative and smart student, Nikki, typed up a letter and we passed it out to all of the classrooms. Over the next 2 weeks, students began bringing in BAGS of stuff! Wow, it was incredible! I was so proud of my kids and their initiative to get the whole school involved. I was most touched by one of my students who came with one old t-shirt. "Mrs. Yarbrough, I looked through all of my things, and this is what I want to send. It's cute isn't it?" Wow, I was instantly reminded of the widow who gave 2 coins.  Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on." Mark 12:43-44.  This is one of my favorite memories of the entire year. 

3) Failure. So, I knew that I would have difficult students, but I guess in my mind, "difficult" would mean a kid who is always getting into trouble, being mean to others, distracting the class, or just shouting out. Don't get me wrong, I had some students like that, but that didn't seem to get to me... there's always detention and parent calls for that kind of behavior. No, the most difficult student I had was the one who did. not. do. anything. at. all. Wow, it became the biggest struggle of my entire year. This student was one who would come to class, sit, and maybe, if we're lucky, turn in one assignment, half completed. It was like pulling teeth day, after day, after day. I tried everything I learned in school: incentive plans, rewards, discipline, detention, parent conferences, isolation, grades. Still, no effort. Nothing, nada. I sought after wisdom from other teachers and friends, and still no results. This situation began eating away at me, and I was so discouraged by it. It lasted all year, and I finally had to give up what "control" I had on the situation. 

It seems like right when you let go of something, God slaps you in the face with a lesson to learn. He reminded me that I am so much like my frustrating student who would come to school everyday, sit and do nothing she was asked to do, care nothing for what was going on, or show no interest in anything I tried to teach her. Huh? Yes, he put me right in that very desk. So many times I will go throughout my day or week without a care in the world about what God wants to do through me, what he wants to teach me, or how he wants to use me. I just sit there and do as I please. Oh the irony! God taught me, through the toughest part of my First Year, that although so many times I am unfaithful, disobedient, and apathetic... He LOVES me! He LOVES me! I cannot say it enough. This has definitely been the most powerful and painful lesson to learn. I can't describe the frustration and impatience I had with my student, and to think of the frustration God should feel for the entire world! Yet, he LOVES us. He rescues us from our sin and redeems us. Praise God. I am thankful that I had to endure such a tough lesson. I pray that I would always be humbled through these tough times to look to the cross and constantly remember his immense LOVE.  

Back to the student. No, she didn't have a radical transformation at the end. In fact, it got worse. She will be doing 4th grade again, and yes it is hard as a teacher to see your students fail, but I can tell from experience that some of the greatest times of growth in my life have been through failure. Isn't it incredible that God gives us all a second chance? 

Yes, I learned a gazillion other lessons this year, but those were some of the greatest ways God taught me more about himself. 

I'll end with a short video that I showed my kids before they left for the summer. They were an awesome group of kids!

"The LORD your God is with you,
       he is mighty to save.
       He will take great delight in you,
       he will quiet you with his love,
       he will rejoice over you with singing."

Zephaniah 3:17