Monday, 1/21/13

Dear Journal,

Wow. What a difference one weekend can make!

I was dean on duty in the girls dorm this weekend and spent hours chatting, snuggling, taking temperatures, and supervising surprise birthday parties. And the inevitable happened...I'm falling in love with my kids.

And all of a sudden teaching has gone from grayscale to full color. I have a reason, a purpose, I'm needed. God put me here to minister to people. I knew that, and was operating in faith, but now my people have faces and their needs are beginning to be confided in shy little hints. I'm not just checking assignments off a list and filling the class time with material anymore. I'm carefully crafting lessons to meet real needs for real people who I love.

And Mr. Moody, after I so hard-heartedly made him take his special make-up quiz in Computers, has decided he really likes me for some reason. After church he came over to me, and, looking down ten inches at my five-foot-two self, shyly wrapped his arm around me and tried to lay his head on my shoulder like a little boy who needs a Momma. Too bad my shoulder wasn't tall enough to do the job... Hopefully he felt some Momma anyway.

Today I taught speech class. It's getting easier.

I'm trying to work them into thinking more analytically, and also trying to model for them what a good speech is actually like, so I'm going to show them a video speech at the beginning of each class period and have them analyze it. I created a paper of questions for them to fill out, which makes them think about everything from the speaker's eye contact to the thesis statement. Then we share and discuss. My hope is that this will get them familiar with the elements of good speaking and prepare them to be evaluated in the same way that they are evaluating these speeches.

Ms. Wanda suggests I create random call cards. (A method for calling on students. Just simple index cards, one for each student in the class and labeled with their name. A student picks one card, and whoever was chosen speaks. They then choose the next card.) This ensures that everybody is talking and that they are ready to talk because they are anticipating being called on at any time. That will be very beneficial in this class.