Confession 57: God Really Knows His Stuff

Well, another first day of school is under my belt and, aside from a projector not having power, all went well. I awoke this morning with my usual pre-school jitters. It doesn't matter how long I've been teaching, I always approach the first day of school with lots of excitement and a bit of fear as well. I took some time for a morning devotional, and it was so perfect I just smiled and thanked God then and there for the words.

The devotional was entitled "Good Enough?" and spoke to the insecurities all of us feel, especially on the first day of school. Will my lessons go smoothly? Do I have enough prepared? Will my students like me? Will my principal be impressed? Will my colleagues respect me? Am I a good enough teacher? Is she better than me? The devotional reminded me that, despite what I or others think, God has made me "good enough" for the tasks he has given me. There was scripture that went with it, but what kept going through my mind was that I "am fearfully and wonderfully made". I just need to be myself and use the gifts God has given me.

The prayer that closed the devotional was the perfect prayer for my day. It was exactly what I had wanted to put into words. Thank you for loving me enough to make me good enough, and help me to show your unconditional love to others.

We've been talking about "bucket filling" to start the school year and all of the faculty and staff in the district have been given the book "How Full Is Your Bucket" by Tom Rath. It was written in coordination with his grandfather who was dying of cancer and had spent a lifetime researching positive psychology. Basically, the theory goes that we all carry with us an invisible bucket and invisible dipper. We can choose to fill the buckets of others and thereby enrich the lives of those we come into contact with as well as our own, or, we can be bucket dippers and spread around us an environment of negativity and apathy. Naturally, our superintendent would prefer us to be bucket fillers. I'm pretty confident that God feels the same!!

So, God doesn't just know his stuff, he knows us and has created us to reflect his love to others.

Have you filled someone's bucket today?

Blessings and Peace,
Sara

Confession 56: It's Good to Be a Working Mom

Well, after a summer hiatus, I'm back at work--and I love it!! Don't get me wrong, the summer at home with my boys was great. We had a blast, and I loved spending time with them, playing, swimming, watching movies, taking trips, but it's good to be back in my own space doing something I love. My hat goes off to all of the stay-at-home mom's out there. It is a really tough job with terrible pay but, I would venture, huge benefits. I am just not cut out for that line of work.

So, the boys are back at the sitter's and I'm in my classroom getting lessons together. I'm doing more standards-based grading this year, which means that you only grade assessments which truly show mastery of objectives. It's a lot of work to get together, but it will mean much less time spent grading in the long run.

I've recently realized that there's a quiet revolution in education taking place, and it's not sponsored by the government. Educators are working to take back their profession, to raise the level of expectations, and truly try and prepare our kids for the world they will live in, not the world we came out of. It's good. There's a lot of good stuff going on. Our district just invested $500,000 in new technology upgrades. We have a district website now on which each teacher has a class webpage. I'm going to attempt to create class blogs for my pages, as well as links to useful resources, etc... I've learned I am a digital immigrant teaching to digital natives. It'll be slow going, but I'll get there!

Well, it's 3 o'clock. Time for me to pack up and hit the road.

Blessings and Peace,
Sara