Going to war

Here's what they don't tell you when you sit in classes at ACU for four years - every day you go into the schools, you go to war. Battle by battle till you make to the end of the day. Some battles you win and some battles your students win, but you never stop fighting. You face battles against what your student experiences at home and what they are expected to behave like in class. You faces battles like you wanting your student to learn and them wanting to do something else. Sometimes you have battles of you feeling exhausted and your students needing you to be 100%. But you never stop fighting to win those battles, because you know that winning these battles means making a difference in the world. Battle by battle, war by war.

You are faced with overcrowded classrooms, ever-tightening budgets and increased expectations. Nevertheless you must forge on. Instructing, disciplining, guiding, coaching, and inspiring in order for every little soul in your classroom to fulfill their potential.Teaching social studies and social skills, self-esteem and spelling, citizenship and science, tolerance and typing. You have to create a fire in them, an enthusiasm, to want to chase learning for the rest of their lives. You also have to make sure the achieve content mastery, even in areas they struggle in.

You have to be a counselor, mentor, friend, surrogate parent, disciplinarian, classroom control expert, group dynamics facilitator, learning disabilities specialist, motivational speaker, cultural torchbearer and coach, as well as a master of all knowledge over every subject. You have to package your lessons in creative and dynamic ways to hold the attention of a large group, as well as tailor your teaching to individual students with a myriad of different learning styles. It is the most challenging and the most rewarding career in the whole world.

Sometimes I ask myself, "Why Elizabeth.. Why couldn't you have just picked a nice desk job. Where you can drink your coffee and go pee when you want to. Where your daily work load and hours are somewhat predictable. Why did you do this to yourself?" and immediately I'm comforted by the knowledge that God designed me for this.

I went to a conference last week where a seasoned teacher told us that there will always be reasons to get discouraged in the field of teaching. There will always be fellow teachers who spew negativity into your school atmosphere. There will always be a flaw in the system. We must always guard ourselves against those things. Always guard yourself against the idea that you aren't strong enough, smart enough, energetic enough, creative enough, etc to change the lives of children (i.e. change the world).

Above all else, guard your heart,
    for everything you do flows from it.

Proverbs 4:23

So I'm completely talking to myself, as well as any one else who feels discouraged about how hard they work - never stop. Never quit fighting. Never quit going to war for the sake of making a difference. 

"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not."

-- Dr. Seuss