8 days of school down. Many more to go. Lots more chances to get this teaching thing and this loving children thing figured out. Because I definitely don't have it yet. But I digress...
I'm settled in here in Wilmington for the most part. I'm enjoying living in the staff house, although it's pretty crowded and sometimes hard to get in the bathroom. But those are minor inconviences considering that I am living with 10 (soon to be 11) really wonderful people. Oh, another minor inconvience is having to answer the question "How was your day?" 10 times daily when my day really was not so hot. But that's good for me. I'm learning to express my feelings (a little bit at a time) and not just pretend everything's OK.
I just barely had my classroom ready for the first day, but all in all, it looks pretty good. I'm still not 100% pleased with the layout, so I might move some things around one of these days. It's pretty crowded, which may be the cause of some of my behavior problems in the class. The kids are really close together and bumping into each other and then fighting about it.
I ended up with 11 kids in my class, but I'm getting a new one Monday, and maybe 1 more after that. You may think, 11 kids, no problem, but they're quite a handful. A few of them just really know how to get under my skin and I have to remind myself that they're only 5 and getting into a power struggle will only make things worse.
The past 2 weeks have been one of the rare times in my life that I've been really aware that the devil is trying to steal my joy and contentment. There have just been a number of things that have happened (like me getting into a car accident the day before the first day of school) that threaten to get me really down. And sometimes they do for a brief period of time. I guess one things I've been thinking about is how I wrongly thought that since I knew I was faithfully answering God's call for me to come to UrbanPromise and teach here, that I'd be good at it and it would be easy. But that is such a wrong assumption. God has never promised it would be easy or that I'd be a success, but He did promise to never leave me and never give me more than I can handle with His help. So I'm still struggling with the fact that my class is out of control and I should be able to handle them, but I'm doing my best, and I know that's what God wants. So I will continue to pray for my students and for humility and God's presence in my classroom, and I'd appreciate your prayers as well.
So, yes, it's been a hard 2 weeks, but I know God is good, and I've already learned a whole lot about myself. I trust that He is at work in me, in my classroom, in my students, and in this school.
I can't post pictures from this computer (I'm at school on a Saturday afternoon!), but maybe I'll have a chance to from a different computer. And then you can see how precious (and I don't usually use that word) my class is!
"Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."
-Joshua 1:9 (I need to hear this verse each and every day)
I'm settled in here in Wilmington for the most part. I'm enjoying living in the staff house, although it's pretty crowded and sometimes hard to get in the bathroom. But those are minor inconviences considering that I am living with 10 (soon to be 11) really wonderful people. Oh, another minor inconvience is having to answer the question "How was your day?" 10 times daily when my day really was not so hot. But that's good for me. I'm learning to express my feelings (a little bit at a time) and not just pretend everything's OK.
I just barely had my classroom ready for the first day, but all in all, it looks pretty good. I'm still not 100% pleased with the layout, so I might move some things around one of these days. It's pretty crowded, which may be the cause of some of my behavior problems in the class. The kids are really close together and bumping into each other and then fighting about it.
I ended up with 11 kids in my class, but I'm getting a new one Monday, and maybe 1 more after that. You may think, 11 kids, no problem, but they're quite a handful. A few of them just really know how to get under my skin and I have to remind myself that they're only 5 and getting into a power struggle will only make things worse.
The past 2 weeks have been one of the rare times in my life that I've been really aware that the devil is trying to steal my joy and contentment. There have just been a number of things that have happened (like me getting into a car accident the day before the first day of school) that threaten to get me really down. And sometimes they do for a brief period of time. I guess one things I've been thinking about is how I wrongly thought that since I knew I was faithfully answering God's call for me to come to UrbanPromise and teach here, that I'd be good at it and it would be easy. But that is such a wrong assumption. God has never promised it would be easy or that I'd be a success, but He did promise to never leave me and never give me more than I can handle with His help. So I'm still struggling with the fact that my class is out of control and I should be able to handle them, but I'm doing my best, and I know that's what God wants. So I will continue to pray for my students and for humility and God's presence in my classroom, and I'd appreciate your prayers as well.
So, yes, it's been a hard 2 weeks, but I know God is good, and I've already learned a whole lot about myself. I trust that He is at work in me, in my classroom, in my students, and in this school.
I can't post pictures from this computer (I'm at school on a Saturday afternoon!), but maybe I'll have a chance to from a different computer. And then you can see how precious (and I don't usually use that word) my class is!
"Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."
-Joshua 1:9 (I need to hear this verse each and every day)
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