June 7, 2021 – Surprises in Learning to Teach!

Saturday morning chores at home were something I dreaded, but cleaning for others made a difference.

When cleaning my room, Mother suggested getting on my hands and knees to dust the hardwood floors.  It wasn’t long before this position triggered the desire to read. I retrieved my book and decided I would multi-task – clean – read. That was before anyone had a label for doing two things at once.

My Mother’s middle name changed from Daisy to ‘Sherlock’ on Saturdays. When I reached the bed in cleaning, I reached a zenith in the plot, and it stopped my progress.

Soon, I heard Mom’s ‘Sherlock’s voice’, “Are you reading, Susie?”  I quickly laid the book open under the mattress, didn’t want to lose my place, and answered, “No!”.  I remember from that day on, My Sherlock Mom confiscated my current book and hid it every Saturday morning.

With babysitting, I learned to tune into the child’s feelings and desires, and not mine.  When I began teaching in the classroom, beginning with vocal music, then sixth grade, then second grade, plus more creative students. This understanding amplified my desire to learn how to teach in the best way.  I learned to think as they did, and what created interest.  I learned a fun story told about the fun of growing up or from my Dad’s storehouse of stories that were well received.

My students in the classroom became an extension of my family.  One year in music class, I taught the students about rise and fall of the melody. Since they didn’t understand music notation yet, we used a graph method.  I played the melodies adding chords, and they voted on their favorites.  I wrote the lyrics and “Zee Zoo’s Live Five” became the spring Program, using the author’s names in the program.

In the sixth-grade classroom, learning prepositional phrases, we created the longest sentence covering the blackboard, adding prepositional phrases.

Another year, after studying a country, the students asked what communism is.  Thus came the experience of Communist Day.  I studied the encyclopedia to plan the day.

We also learned, as a class, about writing a story.  Each student, in turn, added to the story, what happened next.

While studying different instruments, we listened to The Grand Canyon Suite, by Ferde Grofe.  I asked them to bring crayons to the next music class.  Their instructions were to listen for the different instruments, and each time they heard one scribble to the beat with a different color crayon on the paper. These works of art symbolized the rise and fall of the different instruments were a fun exercise in using color to depict the variety of instruments.

I learned with my second-grade class that giving them a period of free reading anywhere in the room could lead to too much freedom.  One little boy lay under my desk with his book.  Suddenly I felt a tight pressure on the toe of my shoe.  He tried to bite my big toe.  Surprise!  And I thought he was reading!

There were many more happenings in the classroom.  Each time I learned to be a servant, I praised God. The day one boy asked me when God was born.  I prayed and wondered what to say.  Then I remembered the first verse of the Bible. In the beginning God….  He IS and always was.  God is love, and because He loves us, He is faithful and cares for us before we were.  Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands. Isaiah 49:16a.

It is when we see each child as created by God, and precious in His sight, a teacher becomes a giver of love for each child.  Diverse styles of learning, different ways of thinking, create a garden of tender open minds to lead and guide.

For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:5-6.

         For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.  Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor. 1 Peter 2:15-17. 

         Teaching children is a calling and a trust. And my favorite ‘job’.  They taught me more than I ever taught them.

Surprising to find a vocation where the main joy is a commandment from the Bible.  A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. John 13:34.