The Most Important Job

If you regularly read my blog, you know that I volunteer at a camp for foster children every summer. If not, you can read about it at this post and this one.  This year, I had an interesting conversation with one of the men during his counselor break.  We were chatting about what each of us had done during the day and had left to do, and he said, "Wow, every job here has to be done, or this camp just can't happen."

He was right.  There are a lot of jobs at camp, and without any one of them, it wouldn't be the experience that it is.

Cooks - When we get to camp, our amazing cooks immediately get into the kitchen and start work (actually they come down even earlier to set up).  They pretty much don't leave the kitchen again until Friday.  They make three wonderful meals every day plus snacks for both the kids and the adults.  They don't just feed us; they make the experience of family dinner possible for kids who have not had that in their lives.

Administrative People - This year, I had the opportunity to observe the registration and check in process.  If you think this wouldn't take a lot of people, then you have never tried to do it.  The kids come in with their foster parent and encounter a wonderful lady named Chris with check in paperwork.  They have talked to her on the phone before because she works with social workers for months prior to camp in order to get out kids enrolled.  Without Chris, we wouldn't have camp because we wouldn't have kids.  Next, they encounter the nurses, who collect their medications for distribution during the week.  As you can imagine, the nurses may be the busiest people at our camp.  In addition to regular medications, they also deal with injuries, bee stings, heat related ailments, etc.  We couldn't have camp without them.  The next person they encounter takes their luggage and marks them clearly.  You know that horrible feeling when the airline loses your suitcase?  Well, that would be far worse if you were a child who had been moved from home to home (because of most of what you can call your own fits in your suitcase).  The lady who labels their luggage is important because we don't want our kids to panic when they get to camp by not having their stuff.  They go to the next person who gives them their camp t-shirt.  That shirt might not mean much to a lot of kids.  Since some of our wear this shirt all week long, it must mean a lot to them.  They get the correct size shirt because of our secretary, Pat, who assists the director all year long with all kinds of things from applications to name tags.  Without her, camp couldn't happen because the state would never let us have the kids if we were a disorganized mess.

Counselors - When the kids get off of the bus at camp, the first person they encounter is their counselor.  The counselor is the person they bond with, the person they eat with, the person they do activities with, and the person they lose their temper with.  The counselor remains enthusiastic about everything all week, which takes a lot of energy.   They get about two hours worth of break time each day, and it is an extremely important job.

Activity Staff - Three to four hours of each day are devoted to activities.  The kids can choose from horses, woodworking, making bracelets, fishing, bike riding, going on hikes, playing checkers, writing notes, spin art, playing dress up, etc.  You name it, we probably have it.  Each of those activities must be manned by a staff member.  This is one of the reasons we take more adults to camp than kids.  The staff also takes over for the counselors during their break times.  They serve the kids and counselors at meal times.  They don't have the same emotional strain as the kids, but they work very hard physically from breakfast until bedtime.

Program Staff - So, we aren't just a camp of activities.  We are a ministry, and we want to teach our kids about the love of Jesus.  We use a variety of methods in that teaching.  We sing a lot of fun and crazy and meaningful songs, so our song director is very important.  We use drama, so people who are willing to act are needed.  We have two ladies who handle puppets.  One person is in charge of object lessons.  One is in charge of Bible stories.  Without these people, our kids might not go home with the understanding of God's love that we so desperately wish for them to.

Lifeguard - At every meal, I ask the kids what their favorite thing was during that day.  Most of the kids say, "SWIMMING!"  They love it, and they get to do it for an hour every day.  This would not be possible, of course, without a lifeguard.  We are blessed to have a lifeguard who taught elementary PE and swimming for many years.  I have watched her teach kids to swim, and I wish I could take swimming lessons from her.  We often have kids who come in afraid of the water at the beginning of the week and leave as swimmers by the end.  Without our lifeguard, camp would not be camp.

Sheet Checker - Every day, some of our awesome staff people take on an unenviable task when the kids aren't in their rooms.  They go into the cabins and run their hands over the beds to check for wetness.  If a child wets their bed at night, the counselors keep very quiet about it.  They simply leave the wet pajamas in the middle of the bed.  The sheet checkers pull wet sheets off of the bed, redress it, launder the pajamas and return them at some time of day when the kids aren't there.  This is huge because it happens completely without the knowledge of the other campus; there is no embarrassment involved.  Camp might not be the positive experience it is without these lovely ladies.

Photographer and Videographer - Do you have pictures from your childhood?  Whether it is yearbook pictures or family portraits, you can probably look back on photos of your childhood and see yourself grow.  Some of our kids don't have that.  Since our camp is for kid from ages 6-12, a child can potentially attend our camp for six years in a row.  They leave camp with a book of photos.  In these photos they are smiling or making faces or swimming or riding a horse or doing something that will be a positive memory of a happy moment.  Some of them have siblings that they don't see at other times of the year, so the sibling picture they go home with is the closest thing they have to a family portrait.  One of them asked me at registration if they would get a photo with their brother again this year.  Our videographer puts together a video that is one of the highlights of the week.  It shows bits of everything they have done during the week.  The kids like looking for themselves in the video, but the most important function of this video is that we show it to the foster parents upon our return.  They get to see the love and fun their kids have experienced all week.  They get to know that it is a good idea for them to come back next year.  Without that video, I don't think we would have the  return rate that we do.

Prayers and Knitters - Each person who goes to camp has family members or friends that pray for them, of course; but they aren't the only ones.  The sending church has a group of people who specifically pray for each camper by name.  They also have a group of people who make blankets and pillowcases for our campers to keep.  I have watched more than one kid walk around with that blanket wrapped around herself to every event for five days.  This camp takes place in 90º plus weather, but the camper could not be dissuaded from having it at all times.   she said.  "Someone made it for me," she said.  "It means safety and security," said one boy when he received his.  The people who pray and knit might not be able to attend camp, but they are part of making camp special.

Directors - Our directors start working on next year's camp during this year's camp.  They plan everything, communicate everything, pray about everything, reach out to everyone for partnerships, and get very little sleep.  Without them, camp simply wouldn't exist.

If any one of these jobs was not done, camp would not be successful.  Every job at camp is the most important job.

Draw a Flower on Your STEM

My school has an annual meet and greet at the beginning of the year.  I stand outside my door and enthusiastically answer the same 5 questions about my physical science class.  Physical science is an introduction to chemistry in first semester and an introduction to physics in second semester.  Yes, it is fun.  Yes, it is hard.  No, you will not have to memorize the periodic table, but yes, you will learn to use it for the tool that it is.  Yes, I like to blow things up, but don't expect it every day or anything.

A few years ago, a mom cornered me, literally close-talking me to the corner between the lockers and my room.  She said, "I don't think we are placing enough emphasis on STEM."  She was expecting me, as a science teacher, to jump right in with agreement; so she was pretty surprised by my response.  "Actually, as a society," I said, "I think we are placing to much emphasis on it.  We shouldn't only educate kids from the neck up and slightly to the left." (That last part comes from Sir Ken Robinson, not me.)  Kids need to learn a little of everything, including science and math but not limited to it.  No one cares about a well rounded education more than I do.

It's time for a science teacher to say it - Enough with the crazy emphasis on STEM.  Yes, we do need classes in science, but scientists also need to be creative.  Yes, we do need our kids to be proficient in math, but those same students should be taking music as well.  I absolutely want to produce engineers and computer scientists, but I am just as proud of my student who is a professional dancer and another who composes music for Disney.  There are all kinds of kids, which means we need all kinds of education.

We have many discussions in our school about the fact that some of the best jobs there are now didn't even exist when we were in school and that many of the ones our kids will have don't exist now.  We know, of course, that kids will need courses that are classified as STEM, but we have to also expect that there will be a need for well-educated writers, farmers, carpenters, photographers, news anchors, real estate agents, insurance adjusters, salesmen, lawyers, coaches, tour guides, and social workers. Does anyone see these careers going anywhere?  Also, do we think an engineer doesn't need a knowledge of history?  Do we think a physicist shouldn't have learned to be creative?  By the way, there will never be advancement in physics without creativity, so that's a bad plan.  I want computer scientists to work in collaboration with poets and musicians so that their work can be brought everyone.

When we place value on only one kind of learning, we cause students to de-value learning.  Let's stop pushing our kids into one thing as though the future is monolithic.  The future needs educated people of all varieties, which is why God wisely gave different gifts to different people.  We don't have to abandon one type of learning for another.  You can have all.  You draw a flower on your STEM, giving the world more depth and beauty than tunnel vision will ever accomplish.

Someone in you-tube land compiled seven minutes of scenes from Mr. Holland's Opus, which work well here to make my point, so I leave you with them.

The Purpose of Education

Take a quick survey of the people you encounter this week.  Ask them, "What is the purpose of education?"  Then come back to this blog and read it.  Okay, I didn't really expect you to do that, so I'll just go ahead and tell you some of the answers you are likely to hear.
- To train you for a career.
- To get into college.
- To get a better-paying job.

I live in the Research Triangle area with NC State, UNC Chapel Hill, Duke, and Wake Forest all within shouting distance, so my perspective may be skewed.  You might get some other answers, but I am guessing that the vast majority of answers will fall into the areas of getting into college and getting a job (and a "real" one at that).  I want to say something kind of radical.  Education is NOT about getting into college!  Education is NOT about getting a job!

Don't get me wrong.  It is nice that these things often result from being well educated.  I'm glad that students learn something in my classes that will help them in college and careers, but it is NOT why I teach.  I did not get a good education in order to enter a profession in which I would work 75 hour weeks so that my students could earn more money.  In fact, I have high respect for people who work in mills and factories and fishing boats and farms.  I want those people to have education whether or not it leads to career advancement.  Since I do not even believe everyone should go to college, I certainly didn't enter the teaching profession to ensure that kids get into college.

So, what is the purpose of education?  I believe there is more than one purpose, so allow me to ramble about a few of them.

1.  Discovery of Talent - All people have been gifted by God in some way.  Education helps them discover what that gift is and develop it.  This is an area in which our current attitude toward education does harm to students.  We implicitly send students the message that the gift God gave them is less valuable than the gift he gave someone else.  If a student is an amazing dancer, we too often encourage them to keep that as a hobby while they pursue accounting or computer science because you probably won't make money as a dancer (forget about the hundreds of thousands of people in dance companies across the world who make their living as dancers, not to mention those on Broadway or in music tours or at Disney).  Students need to learn in as many areas as possible to discover and develop their gifts (more on this in a future post).

2.  Brain Training - About once a year, a student will ask "When am I ever going to use this in life?"  This question only arises when something is difficult, so I have little respect for the question.  There are answers to this question, but it also isn't the purpose of education.  Everything you learn makes a connection between the neurons in your brain.  While that piece of information may never be important to you again, the connection it has made in your brain will be.  It means that the next thing you learn can be processed faster.  We all get this when it comes to physical workouts.  No one asks "why should I lift this weight when I don't need it to be off the floor?"  We understand that we are training our muscles.  Education is training your brain.

3.  Learning to Love Learning - First, let me apologize on behalf of any teacher that made you hate learning because their class was so boring.  Hopefully, that teacher is a minority in the profession, and they should definitely not stay in the profession if that is their norm.  Learning is amazing.  If it weren't, there wouldn't be so much viewership of Kahn Academy or Crash Course channels on YouTube: and there certainly wouldn't be a Discovery Channel or shows like How It's Made.  People are wired to learn.  It is why the average five year old asks 400 questions every day.  It is why we invent new things.  It is why we explored the west and went to the moon.  It is part of our nature as human beings and one of the things that separates us from the animals.  They learn, but we enjoy it.

4.  Reintegration with God - Adam and Eve's sin broke EVERYTHING.  The fall affects the entire universe, and it broke our relationship with him, our relationships with each other, and our relationship with the creation.  Education teaches us about His nature through the reflections of those aspects in creation.  Whether it is the rationality of math, the beauty of poetry, or the patience reflected in the Grand Canyon, we see reflections of God's character through is creation.  Despite his lack of religious devotion, Einstein called it, "thinking God's thoughts after Him."  While education cannot redeem us, it is an aspect of God's plan.

Thinking of education in these ways will definitely change your approach to it.  You will stop trying to find the easiest way to an A and start pursuing a better understanding of everything God puts in your path.  If you are a parent, I beg you to stop saying things to your kids that reflect only a utilitarian approach to learning.  Encourage them to train their brains, love learning, find their gifts, and use those gifts to glorify God.  It matters.

Must Be Nice!

Every teacher has heard this at some point.  "You're a teacher?  That must be so fun.  It must be nice to get off at three.  It must be nice to have your summers off.  It must be nice to get a long break at Christmas."  I know that I probably have misconceptions about the jobs other people have as well, so I try not to get too hacked off by the ignorance of these statements.  However, it might be time to respond to a few of these crazy statements.  Before I do, I want to issue this disclaimer.  Nothing I write in this post is a complaint.  I love my job and wouldn't want to do anything else.  I just want people to have an understanding of how nonsensical their view of teaching is.

1.  Yes, teaching is fun for me, but it would not be for you.  The "you" I am referring to here is the crazy person making the statement, not you the wonderful reader of my this blog post.  The people who say, "that must be so fun" have a belief that teaching is playing with kids all day.  I have taught kids from 0-3 in child care as well as middle school and high school, and I have never spent one day just playing.  Even when I got to play with kids, I was responsible for their safety and the cognitive development that came from that play.  The fun I have at school comes from the love of planning lessons and delivering content and trying to give real answers to crazy, hypothetical questions like, "What would happen if everyone in the world jumped at the same time?" because the student who asked the question wants a real answer.  The person who wants to have fun playing with kids all day would not find that fun.

2.  I have never gotten off work at 3 o'clock.  The person who makes this statement usually works a nine to five job.  They are jealous of my work hours because they believe that I only work when the students are there.  Let me just set this straight.  I get to work at 6AM (because I would set off the alarm if I got there any earlier).

6:00-7:30 - I get the day ready, which involves, writing the objectives and agenda for the day on the board, gather materials for whatever hands on demonstrations or labs we are doing that day, answer e-mails, make a list for the day of what must be done (lesson plans due, meetings to attend, assigned duties, what must be graded today, what games I need to attend for yearbook photos, etc.).
7:30 - 8:00 - I go to either a teacher's prayer meeting two days a week (or door duty if it my assigned month for that - which is sincerely my favorite duty of all, I wouldn't mind doing it every day).  If it is not my assigned month, I set to work on my list.
8:00 - 11:30 - There is no way to explain how exhausting the actual act of teaching is.  Preachers probably get it, and I would think stage actors would as well.  For six hours out of every day, I am on stage.  However, I can't just perform; I have to also gauge the audience because it is more than an act.  They'll be tested on it, and I'll be evaluated on their performance.  They have different learning styles and abilities and gifts and strengths and weaknesses and personalities and home lives, so I am not teaching one class but rather 24 individuals.  When I say this is exhausting, I don't just mean tiring; I mean it depletes you.
11:30-12:00 - If it is not one my assigned months for lunch duty, I will get to sit and have lunch in the teacher's lounge with a few friends.  If it is a duty month, I will eat while walking around a room with 125 middle school students.  I am responsible for their safety, making during no one is eating alone, making sure that any student with a recognized eating disorder isn't throwing away their food, making sure the kids clean up after themselves, and making sure they get back to class on time (oh, and that I do too).
12:00-3:15 - Back to the stage for some more performances.
3:15-4:30 - Depending on the month, I may have door duty.  We have to make sure no one gets run over in the parking lot.  On Mondays, I have faculty meetings.  On Wednesdays, I have help days.  If my club is meeting that week, it is probably on Tuesdays.  If none of those things are happening, I am usually at an athletic event or possibly a play rehearsal to take photos.

You may have noticed that I haven't mentioned the list in a while.  Most of the list gets taken care of in the mornings, and I do have what is called a planning period, so that grading and planning and test writing and stuff might happen then.  Sometimes it doesn't, so that is what Saturdays are for.

3.  Yes, it is nice to have summers and holiday breaks.  You have no idea just how great it is.  Considering that a 70-80 hour work week is normal for 10 months out of the year, you can't begin to imagine how nice it is to have time to do something like clean the bathroom or work out or read a book.  (Reading for pleasure really is the best part of summer.  At the end of the summer, I'll do a post on everything I have read this summer.)  It is great to make repairs that have stayed broken for months because other things took priority.  Don't think that teachers don't do school work during the summer and Christmas and Spring Break. though, because we definitely do.  We do it differently and less under the pressure of urgency than we do during the school year, but we do.  I have read three school related books, started planning a project, and thought about yearbook stuff for next year.  I have also been composing an e-mail in my head to some colleagues about a potential cross curricular lesson.  I am supposed to making a few "flipped lesson" videos for next year, but I haven't done it yet (It's the end of June, so I can probably do that in July).

So next time someone tells you they are a teacher, don't reply like the ignorant.  Say something like, "That's great.  You must be tired."  In all likelihood, the teacher will reply, "Yes, I am; but I love it."

Keep Your Fun Teachers Fun

My favorite memory of high school was the Gatsby party.  After all the classes that read the Fitzgerald classic were finished, the entire English hallway was decorated as a great tent.  Students brought food that reflected the novel, dressed in costumes that reflected the 20's, and danced the Charleston to jazz music.  While we were only supposed to come during our English class period and lunch, party crashers are motif of the novel; so it wasn't considered particularly egregious if you tried to come during another time.  Half your grade was based on your committee work (project based learning before the internet made it easy) and half was based on your costume.  When I taught at my old high school, I was horrified to find out that they no longer have this event.  Why?  It got out of control.  Students trashed the rooms and the hallway and didn't stay to clean up.  This great event no longer exists because a small number of people couldn't exhibit a minimum of responsibility.  It would have only taken about 10-15 students out of over 350 students, but there weren't that many.  As a young teacher, my first thought was to put 15 students on a clean up committee, but I now realize that committee would not teach content the way the other committees do.

Teach for a while, and it will happen.  You will stop doing something you used to love doing because it just isn't worth the impact on your classroom.  The chaos that comes from playing a particular review game or engaging in a certain project is just too much to control.  Then, some outspoken student will say it, "I heard you used to be fun."

One of our teachers was once known for his review games.  They were so intense that there was once an injury.  That teacher no longer plays review games because students were so focused on diving for their answer, they wouldn't take the time to listen to the review part of the review game.  This past year, I stopped playing Kahoot as a review game with one of my grades because they stopped reading the choices and just hit an answer, which made the test average the next day much lower than normal.    When students use that phrase "used to be fun," they don't stop to think about where the fun went and why.  Therefore, the rest of this post is a service to students.  These are the top five ways you, as a student, can keep a fun teachers fun.

5.  Learn each teacher's "tell."
Every teacher has a signal that you are reaching the line or are crossing it (every human being, for that matter).  If you learn that "tell," you won't have to recognize the one that says, "Look behind you.  The line is back there."  For some teachers, it is that they top talking and close their eyes (probably counting to ten).  For others, it may be a facial expression.  For me, it is when I say, "Alright, enough."  I actually mean enough when I say it.  If students would stop whatever they are doing right when they recognize the "tell," they would end up in much less trouble.  The kid in your class with interpersonal intelligence will be able to tell you what it is for every teacher.

4.  Own your guilt.
I don't know who decided that denying what you have done means you didn't do it, but it doesn't.  If you didn't do your homework, say it rather than telling your parents that the teacher lost it.  If you didn't write a paper, don't pretend to look for it in your book bag.  When a teacher tells you to stop talking, it is because they have seen you talking.  Saying you weren't talking is the equivalent of calling them stupid or liars.  The last time I truly lost my cool with a student was because of this.  The student had talked and laughed during our opening prayer.  I found this disrespectful to me as well as to God.  My eyes were not closed (not only because I'm not crazy enough to close my eyes in class but because I lose equilibrium and fall down if I close my eyes while standing), so I had seen him.  I sent him to the hall.  When I went out to talk to him, he actually said, "Miss Hawks, I don't know what you are talking about."  I knew what I had seen and lost my mind.  If he had said, "I'm sorry.  I know it was disrespectful.  It won't happen again." I would have forgiven him.  His insistence on adding lying to the disrespect was the worst possible idea.

3.  Recognize why you are at school.
So, this is where the problem with review games and hands on activities comes in.  Teachers don't play review games with you because they care about you having fun.  We like that you are having fun, but that is not the point of the game.  Teachers know that serotonin, the neurotransmitter released when you are having fun, is also responsible for writing long term memories in your brain.  That is why my teaching involves jokes and stories about my cat and analogies related to childhood toys.  It is also why we play ScienceLand and Quizlet Live and Kahoot.  However, the most important part of the review is between the questions, when we review what makes the correct answer correct and the others incorrect.  That's the review part, and that's what will help you with your test.  Focusing on points (the marks on the board that will literally become dust at the end of class) is not going to help you.  It is also only going to frustrate the teacher who wrote the test when we are trying to give you information about what is going to be on the test that we wrote.  We know what you need and are desperately trying to give it to you; trust us.

2.  When a teacher is fussing at you, DO NOT LAUGH!
I had trouble deciding on the placement of this one because it could easily be #1 on this list.  Imagine that you are talking about something that is bothering you.  It is really important to you, so you are kind of worked up about it.  Now, imagine that the person you are talking to about it starts smirking at you or laughing in the middle of what you are saying.  Would you be upset by that?  Add to that that the person who is openly laughing in your face is the reason you are bothered in the first place.  Would you find that horribly dismissive and disrespectful.  A student left my room last year and said, "I got in trouble for smiling."  He was half right.  He got in trouble for smiling at the worst possible time.  Your teacher isn't just in a mood, so be respectful.  In the end, that will earn you the respect of the teacher.  Laughing in that moment will not.

1.  When a teacher tells you do something, do it.  Don't explain why you aren't doing it.  
I put this at number one because if students did this alone, it would eliminate most of the need for numbers 2 and 4.  When a teacher says, "Please sit down," the result she is hoping for his your but in a chair.  She is not looking for an explanation of why you were up in the first place.  When a teacher says, "get back to work," she wants you to get back to work.  She doesn't want three minutes on what caused you to get off task to begin with.  Very few things in class actually require a full explanation.  Here's a good rule.  When a teacher says something to you, the next word out of your mouth should not begin with "but I was just."  If an explanation actually would be helpful, your teacher will be much more open to it if you have already done what was asked.

The Teacher Next Door

"Great teachers aren't born.  They are made by the teacher next door." - Harry Wong

This week, I was writing an e-mail to my pastor in which I asked for prayer for my friend, Cheryl.  In the e-mail, I referred to her as the teacher next door.  After typing that sentence, I realized that the only information he would get from that phrase was her location at work.  If I had been speaking to another teacher, they would have understood the depth of relationship that phrase implies.

Then, it occurred to me that this relationship may be unique to the world of education.  Lawyers and accountants may not feel particularly close to the person in the next office.  Architects may not ask the neighboring architect for help with a difficult design.  An engineer probably can't communicate a request to another engineer with just a facial expression.  In teaching, however, the "next door" relationship is incredibly meaningful.

The "teacher next door" is the first person you see when you when you exit your classroom.  Depending on the set up of your school, this may be the person across the hall or the person with an adjacent wall.  The architecture of my school gives me three (an incredible blessing that should be considered in school design).  The teacher next door is the person you vent to when a class has driven you crazy.  He is the person you laugh with in the hall.  She is the person you seek advice from when "that" parent calls.  She is the person you can make eye contact with from the hall, and she will know you need her to watch your class while you run the restroom because you feel nauseated without you have to use any of those words.  It is a powerful bond.  The depth of this relationship means, of course, that when one of you is in pain, you will hurt more for them.  It is worth that risk, however, to have that person in the place you will spend most of your time and most of your heart.

If you are in the unfortunate position of not liking the people nearest to your classroom, you should be very intentional about forming a close relationship with someone in your school.  You need this person.   If you are fortunate enough to have a good relationship with the teacher next door, you should thank God for that blessing.

You Can't Save Them (at) All

I entered teaching at the age of 23 as an idealist, believing that if I did it right, every student would love learning, have enthusiasm about my class, and behave perfectly.  The education system eats people like that alive.  Go into a classroom with that expectation, and you will be shot down.  Get shot down too many times, and you will become jaded and cynical.  If that happens, leave the teaching profession immediately.  Go work in a bank, a factory, or a radio station.  Become a postal worker if you have to, but don't keep teaching.  Much damage is done by the cynical.

Fortunately, I had a great group of people around me, from fellow teachers to administrators.  They didn't dash my hopes and dreams, but they did teach me to have realistic expectations.  I'll never forget the time my principal, Mr. Matthews, sat down in my room on a teacher work day just to check in (this is the sign of a great administrator, by the way).  We chatted a little, and at some point in the conversation, he said, "You know you can't save them all.  I can see that in you."  Between those two sentences, I had already burst into tears.  I didn't know I had strong feelings about my ability to save every student from their drug use, abusive home, learning disability, or their own apathy.  He had seen this in me when I was too busy to see it in myself.  He reminded me that while it is great to have compassion for students, I could not take on all of their problems.  Other teachers set my perspective as well because even the best ones have some difficulties with classroom management or lack of student performance at some point.

Going into the classroom with a realistic expectation rather than an idealistic one is the reason I can still enjoy my job 17 years later.  If I had insisted on keeping my Mary Poppins view that my classes would be "practically perfect in every way," I would have quickly become disillusioned.  Having a realistic expectation means you can enjoy the positives and deal with the negatives without going on an emotional roller coaster.

I have been fortunate in my career that I have only had one year in which I couldn't have that kind of honesty with my superiors.  Mr. Matthews couldn't have been a better first principal for me to have.  No matter what happened in my classroom, he had a story about how the same things (or worse) had happened in his career.  I also had a great principal whose office I felt comfortable walking into and saying, "I have a question, but it may sound kind of rude."  to which she said, "Well, sometimes, you have to ask a rude question."  Last week, I cried through the end-of-year meetings with both of my administrators, was encouraged by both of them, and then went to lunch with them and a few other teachers.  Administrators who can make you better teachers while recognizing your growth are worth their weight in diamonds.  If you are lucky enough to work for one, don't give that job up for any amount of salary.

I have digressed from my original point.  Teachers face 25-125 students each day, depending on the grade level they teach.  Each of those students has something from which they would like to be saved.  For some it is trivial; they would like to be saved from the kid sitting next to them or their lunch that they don't like.  Others have truly serious problems which they have absolutely no power to solve.  If you take on your own shoulders the problems of even half of your students, trying to save them from everything they bring to school with them, it will cripple you.  You should pray for them (and with them, if you are able).  You should give them a safe place in your classroom.  You should get help for those in serious need, of course.  But do not fall into the trap of trying to "save them all."

Now that I work in a Christian school, I have yet another perspective on the conversation I had with Mr. Matthews.  Not only can I not save them all, I can not save any of them at all.  I am tasked by my calling to do my personal and professional best.  I am tasked by my school's mission statement to spiritually and academically equip, challenge, and inspire.  I am tasked by God to obey His Word and present the gospel to my students.  I am not tasked with saving them.  Only the blood of Christ can do that.  It is my honor to walk with some of my students on their redemption journey, but I cannot save them at all.