GRACE Christian School is a loving community that spiritually and academically equips, challenges, and inspires students to impact their world for Christ.
Last week, I began a series of posts on my school's mission statement, explaining what it meant to be GRACE Christian School. This week, I continue with the next phrase - Loving Community.
The faculty and staff at GRACE are all in, completely committed to creating a loving community for our students, for their families, and for each other. I'd like to give a few arenas in which this happens and then address one big challenge.
In Our Classrooms
This is the first place a loving community must start. Students must know that their teachers love them. That will look different in a high school class than it does in a first-grade class. It will involve different activities in math than it does in history. In some classes, it looks like holding to a strict standard even when a student is asking you not to (which may not feel loving to them at the time but comes from the teacher knowing what is good for the student in the long term). When teachers love their students, there are a few things that are ALWAYS there, no matter the grade level.
1. We make decisions that have been well thought through rather than just reacting to the moment. It is unloving to give them what they want rather than what they need.
2. We take the time to plan lessons that matter. It is unloving to waste their time.
3. We listen to students. It is unloving to talk at them all the time rather than conversing with them.
4. We give students the opportunity to grow. It is unloving to give a student a good grade because you have held low expectations. If they aren't better when they leave you than they were when they came, you have not loved them.
In the Cafeteria, Athletic Events, Concerts, Plays, etc.
Because our classrooms are places to do business, there is little time to have deep conversations with students about how much we care about them. (I'm not saying there is no time, but you can't spend so much class time discussing personal things that we don't do what we are there to do.) When you are at a game, however, there is a built-in assumption that this is a more casual time when we can chat. I'm not teaching a science lesson in the bleachers (well, sometimes, I do talk about the physics of the sport because I just can't help myself). Lunch duty is a great time to compliment a kid's taste in clothes or joke with them about a mutual favorite tv show. Attending their activities, outside of the school day (or even outside of the school), communicates love in a way words cannot. I'm not saying you need to devote every night of the week to your students, especially if you have a family; but if you attended something once a month of the school year, you would have shown love to your students at nine events. Maybe your family would enjoy the Christmas concert. Depending on the play, your kids might love to attend a production. Some of our teachers bring their spouses to chaperone dances. I don't know about the kids in your school, but GRACE kids seem to really love it.
In Your Prayer Life
I am fortunate enough to be in a school where I can pray with my students. You may not be, but you can pray for them. It is the ultimate loving act. It is also a way of finding a way to love the kid that drives you crazy. My English teacher friend tells her own personal children that you cannot hate someone while you are praying for them. You can pray for them when they are sick or injured, of course, but you can also pray that God will use you to help them find and develop their gifts.
With Your Colleagues
GRACE teachers love each other in an almost obnoxious way. When one of us has a problem, we rally around each other like you wouldn't believe. We enjoy each other, laugh together, pray together, and encourage each other's lessons. You may be in a less supportive environment; but if you can find even one colleague to enjoy, support, and be supported by, you will be glad you did.
 |
| Teachers helping each other on graduation night |
THE CHALLENGE
Creating a loving community is hard work. A school is building full of sinners, so there are personality conflicts, egos, gossip, etc. just like there is anywhere else. That's challenging enough just among adults. Add to it the fact that we are spending our day with kids, and it is an even bigger challenge. You can't have a loving community if the kids don't invest in it as well. This requires implementing policies, activities, and programs that give kids the opportunity to exercise love. It means modeling love for them and apologizing to them when you fall short. It requires calling them out when they fall short and giving them opportunities for redemption. None of this is easy, but it is rewarding.
No comments:
Post a Comment