Keep Me in This Moment…
Driving home from church today I was reflecting on our first three weeks of school. What have I learned? What went well? What can I improve on?
While I was driving a song came on the radio. Keep Me in The Moment by Jeremy Camp. I love when music answers my thoughts...it felt like the Holy Spirit was responding in real time to my questions.
How do I stay in the moment when my list of things to do keeps getting bigger every day, and the new safety protocols and added responsibilities take up most of my time not teaching? How do I enjoy my students when I know that I will have to respond to email, plan lessons, and grade after school? How do I give my students time to create, explore, and inquire when we have to stick to our schedule?
Many teachers around the world are asking themselves similar questions. Knowing that I’m not alone in this helps. Being able to openly discuss my faith with my students is priceless to me.
Years ago when I made the decision to take out loans, go back to school and pursue my teaching credentials most friends and family didn’t understand why I wanted to leave my job and take out more loans to pursue a different direction in education. I was working in student activities at a college at the time. The only thing I knew for sure at this time was that I wanted to some day teach in an elementary classroom where I could openly acknowledge my faith. My Mom understood and did whatever she could to help me through this transition.
Fast forward to the middle of my fifteenth year at St. Matthew, and Covid-19 forces the whole world to pause and go in a different direction.
One of the biggest challenges I faced last spring when we went remote was how to best meet the needs of my students and their families. It felt like every week despite my best efforts I wasn’t helping and guiding as much as I thought I was. There were many days I struggled to sleep and felt overwhelmed by what I was being called to do. I learned quickly to be flexible and let go of my expectations and to keep tweaking my plans. Most importantly, I learned to listen to my students and their families. The world had changed overnight, and we were all figuring this out together.
Many people continue to remind me since our return to the classroom to focus on the positives and the “we cans”, not the “we can’ts”. While we were remote, my students got to know my cat Cassie very well. She became an instant celebrity with them, and she was often the reason they would work harder in our small groups. If we finished our small group work a minute or two early, I would let them see what Cassie was up to that day. I also learned to embrace Cassie’s cameos when I was recording stories for my first graders because those cameos made my first graders want to listen to more stories. It was more important that they love the stories than it was for my videos to be perfect. My students wouldn’t have gotten to know Cassie this well if I had been teaching at school. Cassie gave all of us joy in an impossible situation.
Returning to school this year was one of the most challenging tasks I’ve ever faced and also the most rewarding. After months of only connecting with last year’s students on Zoom, I was actually getting to spend my days with first graders again.
There is absolutely no substitute for being in the same room with your students. Hearing their stories of lost teeth, their detailed adventures with their pets, and their amusing anecdotes about who they got to have a playdate with gives me great joy. Their enthusiasm for wiggle breaks behind their desks makes me want to work harder. Their questions and desire to make good choices inspire me. Their tears when we’re having a heart to heart remind me of my constant need for Jesus’ guidance. They remind me on a minute by minute basis to stay in the moment. Their first grade perspective helps me to leave my own concerns in God’s hands when I walk in our classroom.
What is better in our classroom since the pandemic?
I’m finally better at using music more consistently in my classroom because my students need me to give them movement breaks. I’m more aware of what books I have in my personal library and how best to use them. I’ve rediscovered my love for reading and learning new strategies to work around the challenges we’re facing. They are enjoying their homework more because I gave them a design challenge as part of their spelling and sight word practice.
My office and our classroom are better organized because we knew we had to make more room to socially distance ourselves. I have learned a lot from the educators who have done webinars for Simple K12. I have learned to give myself grace when I’m too tired to finish what I had planned and to choose to rest instead. Most importantly, I’m protecting my quiet time with God at the end of each day.
My opportunities to grow as a professional have become more meaningful to me since the pandemic. I am beyond grateful to Craig Kemp for the opportunity to periodically co-moderate his global educator chat on Twitter with Mark Weston. I have never been in the same room with either of these educators, but their voices impact me, encourage me, and challenge me on a daily basis. If you are an educator new to Twitter, I encourage you to check out #whatisschool on Thursday evenings at 7pm. EDT and Thursday evenings at 6pm EST when Daylight Savings ends.
Learning a new math and reading curriculum in the context of the coronavirus felt a little like speed reading an Olympic training manual, but I am forever grateful that we were given an extra two weeks to dig into it before our students arrived.. Each day I figure out another aspect of these tools, and I’m excited to use them with my class. Learning Google Classroom has reignited my love for technology, and I’m getting better at communicating with my students’ parents every day.
The pandemic has also made me more aware of the little things. At the beginning of the pandemic I decided to buy some plants. It had been years since I had attempted to have a few potted plants on my patio, and I really love hibiscus. I thought it would be a great way for me to take care of myself, too, by making time for something I love.
I bought three plants. My red hibiscus bloomed the most, but then dropped all its leaves and died. My peach hibiscus has only bloomed a couple times. I have done my best to battle the bugs that keep trying to eat it. Currently its leaves are healthy, but it has no buds. My yellowish pink hibiscus has surprised me this week. Normally flowers are only alive on my hibiscus plants for one day. This past week after several buds had also fallen off this plant, it bloomed. Not only did it bloom, but the flower has been open for four days. I keep taking pictures of it because I’m amazed by this little miracle happening on my patio. Before the pandemic I always thought “I’m too busy to worry about planting flowers.” I would have missed this miracle if I hadn’t planted those three plants.
Somewhere around day ten this year things started to bloom in our classroom, too. We started to get more comfortable with our cleaning and safety routines, and I was able to focus more on teaching and making things fun for our first graders. We watched the French film The Red Balloon and talked about the power of kindness. The children started to recognize how hard all their teachers are working and kept expressing their appreciation in unexpected ways. I watched my students make Forky during their first LEAP class. They’ve become fans of MercyMe because we dance to their song Happy Dance as one of our movement breaks.
I started to see that what I had perceived as almost impossible in August was becoming possible. I realized I was living Matthew 19:26:
What am I looking forward to this week? Introducing my students to our service project The Kula Project, making paper bag puppets, and listening to whatever wonderful stories they bring to the classroom:) Mostly, I’m looking forward to each and every moment I am given with them.
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