Good morning, Miss! I hear these words so often as I walk the hallways and enter the classrooms at school. The students are so polite and welcoming! The name of the school where I am teaching, Promesa, means Promise, and I am reminded each day that God has kept his promises to care for me and bring me joy.
My students are one way that God shows me his care, so let me introduce you. I am teaching all grade levels, from first grade to the senior class. When I enter the first grade classroom, students jump up, run to me, and we share a big group hug! The seniors often give me joyful smiles and ask how I am, and the grades in-between share their kindness too. Both students and colleagues also share their food with me at snack and lunch time, I am often invited to play volleyball at recess, and when I leave each day, I am bade many farewells.
Teaching here is definitely a learning and growing experience for me though too. Here are the main lessons I am learning.
Lesson #1 Be flexible and patient. The resources, classroom management, and lesson plans (or lack thereof), are vastly different from what I was used to in the states. I enter each class period not sure if I will be teaching solo or co-teaching, and not sure what the topic will be. I was told I that on my first day I would just be meeting the students, and instead I gave a presentation about myself and my home for the entire upper-school. Then I taught a couple of classes all by myself without any curriculum. Since then, I have had days of teaching solo when I thought I was going to be co-teaching, times when a co-teacher said they would be gone for five minutes but never came back, and every other instance you can imagine. Being patient and flexible is a necessity!
Lesson #2 Integrate more art into lessons. These students are so artistic, and they take their time and care to produce beautiful pieces. They are also happy and focused when doing art, and learn other school subjects better when they get to use their art skills. Art is such a beautiful skill that honors God and reflects his creativity and artistic nature!
Lesson #3 Connection and relationship is God’s work. I never thought I connected super well with upper-school students students until I tried it, here. To my surprise, and all thanks be to God, I love talking with my middle school and high school students! They seem to like me too, praise the Lord!
That’s all for the lessons, but to end, here is a short story for you from school.
Students eagerly called for me to join them on the tiny volleyball court, and I gladly began to play. However, in a short time, the volleyball was perfectly over the net, and a high school boy on the opposite team, and I, both went for it. He had an amazing hit, that went straight to my face. As I turned away in pain, I expected students to get quiet and awkward. But instead, the young men on the other team ran over to me to show their care. The player who made the hit was profusely apologizing, and doing what he could to take care of me. The next day, he checked in on me in the morning. I was so impressed. What I thought might put a block in my relationship with the high school students actually showed me more of their kind hearts! God is so good, and uses the most random events to bring us together!
Learning Missions with Miss M. 