Teaching

I’m standing on the edge of something huge. I suppose to the world, getting hired to work at a charter school in Savannah, GA part-time as an art teacher is small. To me, this is one of the biggest, scariest, and most monumental moments in my life.

I never thought I would get to be a teacher. I always imagined, as I sat in classrooms each year what it would be like to run my own class. I thought about how I might change things, or ideas I would like to replicate.

It occurred to me somewhere in college that I would probably never teach. At least, not formally. I wasn’t pursuing anything in education. But I still dreamed what I would wear to my first day of school to teach my students. I dreamed about how I would organize my classroom. I dreamed about what anecdotes I would share with my class from my life.

These have been small, unspoken dreams, just passing thoughts when my mind has wandered to reflecting on what probably never would be.

But here I am. My life looks nothing like I thought it would and I get to be a teacher.

And as I stare out into the year ahead where I am determining how these students will spend 90 minutes of their lives each day, I can’t help but reflect on all of the teachers who have made an impact in my life.

Because my biggest desire and dream in becoming a teacher has always been to provide the love, stability, encouragement, inspiration, and friendship that I have found in my teachers through the years.

I think back to the teachers who made profound impacts on my life. I think back to the ways my teachers invested in me, heard me, cared for me.

The time Mrs. Gunn gave me a snack because I hadn’t eaten breakfast. The trust Mrs. Biddle showed to me in having me bring notes to other teachers. Mr. Duncan for always giving me a candy bar when he sent one down to Mrs. Biddle. To Mrs. Thompson who helped me remember the 2000 election through a single writing assignment, who made sure we learned about Native American culture and history, who taught me that our thoughts shape our actions, and our actions form our character. The school counselors for taking me out of class to care for my heart. Mrs. Webber for teaching me about photography in the fourth grade and unleashing a new dream, for teaching me about Big Band music, Jazz, and a town called New Orleans. To our school librarian, for creating my place of respite and freedom. My mind grew and ran wild in the pages of those books.

To every teacher who has put a book in my hand. It is from those pages that I learned wrong and right, courtesy, manners, love. I learned human nature, and strength and courage. I learned that every story is tied together in one great story, no matter how we try to separate it.

I thank God for the teachers and administrators at Orangewood Elementary School who shaped me, nurtured me, and sought to protect and care for me in the midst of great difficulty.

To Mr. Towne who met with my dad to convince him to let me participate in drama club, who found me in the hallway time and time again crying after throwing up from anxiety. To Mrs. O’Dell for praying that God would allow me to come back to Phoenix Christian in high school. To Mr. Blake, who told me what seminary was and started me on a journey, who gave me a place to learn debate skills and ask difficult questions. To Mr. Brownlee who taught me some of the most valuable leadership skills I have. To Mr. Cram who prayed with me in the scariest moments of my life simply because he saw me crying. To Mr. Huss for being a godly man who made science in to song. To Ms. Heath (Mrs. Fleegle) for your joy and enthusiasm in teaching and freedom to be yourself. To Mrs. Leader for teaching me the most fun math I have ever learned. To Doc Adams for putting up with my shenanigans and always expecting me to be better than my best.

And most of all, thank you to Elizabeth, Ms. De Arcos, Diddy, my friend. I’m not sure how you survived six classes with me over four years, but you did. You challenged me, expected more from me, loved me. You changed my life in a million ways. You brought joy, silliness, and hope into my life. You challenged my perceptions, and humbled my pride. You introduced me to some of my favorite characters, stories, songs. You began practices in my life that continue to this day. You heard me. You helped me through Barrett’s accident, my grandfather’s death. You gave me the way to share my stories through writing.

To the many other teachers and administrators, counselors, coaches, teachers, I haven’t forgotten you. I know you all by name. I am so thankful for the ways you have shaped me.

I thank God for Phoenix Christian Junior High and High School.

My teachers, you are my heroes. You loved me when I was proud and unloveable. You gave me stability when my world was falling apart. You gave me hopes so that I wouldn’t fear the future. You helped me to dream. You taught me to read, to write, to see the world. You opened up endless possibilities to me through learning.

Now I’m here. I’m about to become a teacher. How do you become your hero? How do you fill the shoes of all the countless teachers who have brought you here to this moment?

I pray that God would use me to make an impact in the lives of my students in the same way that my teachers made an impact in mine. I hope that God would use me to encourage and love my students in a way that feeds their souls as they go into the years ahead. I hope and pray that they find their voice in the arts this year. I pray that they find freedom in expression and imagery.

If you think of them, pray for them. Pray that in school they find the respite that so many of them need. Pray they find success, confidence, hopes, and dreams. Pray they develop the skills and character to achieve great things!

Pray for me that I would be wise, knowledgeable, loving. Pray for me as I stand here feeling far too small for the task ahead.

So yes. It is a little thing to the world, but to me, it is a great and noble task because even the small things can change the course of someone’s life.