Sometimes I am so full of surprises,
that I surprise myself. I would have
never imagined that I would start a blog.
That I would allow my life and thoughts to be so open to the public, but
here it is. Surprise!
Let me start by breaking
down and explaining my thinking of the title, and my plans for this blog. Please feel free to give comments and
suggestions!
Facing
Giants
Last year, one of the first
few weekends of the school year, I attended a church service that took place in
my school’s gym each Sunday. I had just
finished the first few weeks of my first year of teaching, being hired 6 days
before the kids came. The sermon was on
facing giants. “Wow God! Wow!” It
was exactly what I needed. Pastor Donny
used the David and Goliath story to discuss giants in our lives and how to go
about dealing with them.
What is a giant?
gi·ant
noun \ˈjī-ənt\
1: a legendary humanlike
being of great stature and strength
2a : a living being of
great size b : a person
of extraordinary powers
3: something unusually large
or powerful
-A giant in life to me is an event,
situation, circumstance, problem, or mentality in your life that tries to steal
you of your strength, faith, joy, and hope and SEEMS large, strong, and
powerful while facing it.
My giant at the time… - first
year of teaching. dun dun dun Don’t get me wrong, I was ecstatic that I got
a job. It was a complete blessing. I was ready to sub at home for the year. Then BOOM!
Hello whirlwind! Teaching was my
giant. I didn’t feel ready. My biggest fear was failure not “teaching”
them a thing or totally messing up a child for the rest of his/her life. During that service, we were given time to
share our giants with people around us, be prayed for, and be encouraged. AWESOME!
When people pray with me/for me, UGH (a good ugh)…it gets me. But that service showed me…everyone faces
giants. We live in a broken world, so it’s
only natural that we do. But what I
really truly saw and was slapped in the face by was that my giants are quite
mouse sized, probably insect sized. (But people still fear mice and insects!…) I
am very blessed. My selfish problems are
so small compared to the problems so many others in this world are facing. However, facing a giant has never left me the
same afterwards, they have molded and shaped me into the woman I have become
and that I am becoming. I know God’s not
finished with me yet.
So if everyone faces giants,
then my students face giants as well. I’ve
worked with kids (summer jobs included) from broken homes, abusive homes, alcoholic
parents, poor families... Absolutely
breaks my heart. Ages 4-15 is way to
young to have to deal with such big giants.
I realize that my job is important.
I am in the position to wear many hats daily, not just teacher. I can be that one person who loves them and
encourages them to face their giant. WOW!
God can really use me. (I think I
am going to like blogging. Holy
realizations!)
So with this blog, I want to
reflect on how I have faced some of my giants in life and others I know have
faced theirs to see how I can better help my students in their facing of
giants.
With
Character
As a teacher, I am expected
to teach Reading, English, Spelling, Math, Science, and Social Studies. With all that content, I am also expected to
teach my students character traits to get through life.
char·ac·ter
noun \ˈker-ik-tər\
2 a : one of the attributes or features that make up and
distinguish an individual
c
: the complex of mental and ethical traits marking and often
individualizing a person, group, or nation
5 : reputation
6: moral excellence and
firmness
7 a : a person marked
by notable or conspicuous traits
But we also glory in our sufferings, because
we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to
shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy
Spirit, who has been given to us. – Romans 5:3-5
To me, it seems like I
failed with this my first year. With feeling overwhelmed and just trying to
survive, I did not teach and encourage character traits as much as I should and
could have. This year I want to do
tremendously better with a system in place to encourage and reward the display
of character in my classroom. And
character traits is also a reading skill I am required to teach. 2 birds.
1 stone. Woot woot!
We all face giants. But, how
do we face them with character? In a
broken world, how do we get through problems, fears, hurts, and brokenness with
strength, honesty, trust, faith, hope, patience, humility, love, etc? This blog is where I will reflect on how I
have applied and seen others apply character traits to the “giants” in life, so
that I can better help my students in the classroom.
2 parts to my entries
1.) Thoughts
on and reflection of experience with specific character trait through giants
(mine and nameless others)
2.) How
can I relate it and teach it to my students in the classroom?
I want my focus to be mainly on thoughts about character
traits, but when felt led, I will share some giants I have faced while relating
the traits.
My fear? Well besides the openness into my life at
times in blog entries, I have one other fear.
It is that this will be my first and last entry. I sometimes feel led having the nudge and
urge to do something. I start. Then some
of the passion dies. I get busy or
distracted or begin to think it was a dumb idea. And it’s done, forgotten about. I have so many ideas for this blog flying
around in my mind. But will I
continue? We shall see.
