It's Friday evening and we're three weeks into the start of a new school year.So, it's probably a good time to just pause for a while and have a go at re-entering the blogosphere.
I love teaching. Probably because I am a teacher. No, I'm not stating the obvious: many people teach; some people get paid huge sums of money to teach. But not all people who teach are teachers...
So much has changed since I first started teaching, that sometimes I feel like this is nothing like the job I trained to do.My first job was at Wynberg Secondary School in Cape Town. My first class included some young men who were older than I was and I taught a class of Standard Nines (Grade 11s) that contained 47 students.I still am in contact with some of the first students I ever taught and some of the colleagues I worked with. Now I work in North London. My teaching room has all the latest technology, including 25 computers with the latest Windows and Microsoft software. Yet, the focus of my work remains exactly the same: teaching young people. And, if truth be told, if I had it to do all over again ... I would be a teacher again, regardless of where in the world I found myself. Why? Because I'd still be me.
So, although I have struggled with the fact that the start of school has coincided with the very sudden disappearance of summer in the northern hemisphere and it is both cold and wet, and although I miss Edward terribly during the week, the truth is that I love being back at school. Even the little Year Sevens with their almost constant: 'Miss, is this right? Do I rule the line here? Do I write this in my book?' and my Year 11 form who think they know it all, but are terrified at the thought of leaving the safety of secondary school in nine months time. Suddenly nearly all the boys are taller than I am and their voices boom around the room. A group of girls in my form have decided that I need help organising my teaching room. So, they stay back on a Thursday afternoon and pack books away, organise drawers and put up posters. And, while they are doing this, we chat about cats called Tommy, coursework that needs completing and whether or not having a tattoo as soon as you turn 16 is a good idea.
So what do tattoos have to do with Marmite? Nothing actually. But working with young people means that I have to be able to talk about both at the drop of a hat, often in the same sentence with the same confused fifteen year old. And I wouldn't trade it for the world.
2 comments:
Lynne, you had a tremendous impact on me when I was your student. I am forever grateful for the care you showed me, not just in making sure I learnt the coursework, but in making sure I was becoming the woman God had made me to be. You showed equal care and understanding for my brother at a time when he wasn't getting that much from others in his life. I'm so grateful for that as well. Both David & I remember our time as your students and continue to use the lessons we learned from you in our daily lives. God has uniquely gifted you as a teacher; thank you for being faithful to follow His call and serve the students He puts in your life. May He continue to bless your efforts!
Laura, I continue to be amazed at how God can use broken and fallen man (and women) to touch the lives of young people. I am even more amazed and thrilled when I see how you have continue to grow and develop in His likeness and that you now impact on the lives of other people.
It's so good to hear from you and I am thrilled to follow what you are doing as you serve the Lord.
PS Please say hi to David.
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