Friends,
It’s
been some time since I posted to the blog.
This past semester brought an opportunity to teach Middle School
History. Navigating new teacher life was
an adventure that has begun to transform me both personally and
professionally. As we head into the New
Year I wanted to share a story from the classroom with you.
Each
day the first five minutes of my class was dedicated to something I called Inspire! (That’s how it was written in the daily agenda
of objectives.) It was intentional time given to discussing a character trait
or building community. Sometimes, I shared
an inspirational poem or quote. Other
times, students shared about their best or worst part of the day. The days when we celebrated with an old middle
school tradition of the power clap truly gave me a renewed spirit. On any given day the first five minutes of
each class were my favorite. The time was a true
reminder that I have been relentless in my pursuit to teach and to give hope.
After
a particularly rough day at school near the end of the term, I asked students
to write about a challenge they faced. My request was met with the usual
questions. How long does this have to be?
Is this a grade? So I said, “Remember, everything you do in life is a
test of your character and just write until I ask you to stop. The basics were answered. I expected students to begin writing. Yet,
most of them promised me that they had never faced a challenge. There were also students who didn’t have a problem
identifying a challenge but protested it was too personal to write down. I respected this could be true and simply
said, “It doesn’t have to be anything major.”
I walked around the room until time expired. As students finished one student prompted, “Miss Lang, Do you want this?” I replied by telling all students that if
they wanted me to know their challenge then they could place their paper face
down on my desk. Then we moved on with the rest of the lesson.
Later
that day during study hall a student came to my desk to hand me a sheet of
notebook paper. “ I wanted you to know
that I wrote about my challenge,” he said. As the student returned to his seat, I
unfolded the paper. This young man had certainly written me a decent paragraph
about a significant challenge in his life.
However, he had heavily shaded over his words with a pencil. It was as
if a toddler had mistaken his words for a coloring page. Nonetheless, he’d done what I had asked of
him. He was honest and willing to be
more vulnerable than the majority of middle school students.
The
way students react to coping and conquering challenges troubles me. It proves that society has created an urgent
and overwhelming need for each of us to be more perfect than our neighbor. The expectations are high and if we fall short
we become ashamed. Furthermore, it illustrates that so often we are persuaded
to shade our problems from community. It’s
a powerful and persistent pressure.
I’ve
recalled this story over and over again.
Each time my thought gets louder.
As a teacher who copes with a
disability I cannot shade my imperfections. Then the thought becomes a joyful voice of gratitude. A Thank you to each person who encouraged me
and guided me as I taught openly through imperfection. It was extraordinary!
Maybe,
this New Year should be more about working through imperfections--- celebrating
who we are and not what we wish we could be… Happy New Year!
