...when my 4th graders came to me today with a letter. A good bye letter.
I told them yesterday that I would not have them next year for English. I decided a month or so ago that I didn´t want to teach English next year. Why? Well first there is the time I use in preparation. Even though I have a whole load of ideas now ready, I would still need to prepare a little. Every class is different and what works with one class doesn´t always work with another. Did I want to spend time preparing?
The second reason for stopping was because of the discipline. Alot of my time and energy has been spent just getting the children to behave. Again, every class is different, some are better than others but even so, time and energy is used each day disciplining and sorting out conflicts. Did I want to use my energy in this way?
Time is precious and over the last few months I have thought about how I want to spend my time in the near future. I decided that I didn´t want to teach anymore. I wanted to use that preparation time in another way. I wanted to use the energy that I had, in some other way.
So what I want to do is use my time and energy visiting and helping the old people in my town. I have done this for a few years now but over the past year I have not been able to do as much, mainly because of the teaching. I love visiting the old people and helping them out. It´s there that my heart is and we should do those things that our heart burns for!! Right?!! :-)
So this morning 10 minutes before I should go and teach my 4b class, the girls came and found me. They had a letter for me. A letter that melted my heart. They told me how much they loved having me as their teacher and that they were soooo sad that I would not be teaching them next year. They said that they had learnt so much English in the past year. It was all too much - I was ready to cry!! I gave them all a hug and said a big thanks.
When I got to class, one of the boys in the class came up and gave me a box of chocolates!! Now I was nearly crying! He had stuck my name on the box so it read "I love Laura!" How sweet is that?
We had our last English lesson for this year. It went really well. Over the last couple of weeks the children have been practising fairy tales in English and they have been acting them out. They said all their lines in English and did a really good job too.
The last two groups got to perform their fairy tales today. They too did a great job. Then it was up to the library to hand in our English books. I had made rice crispy buns for them all, so on returning from the library we sat and ate them together before finishing the hour with 10 minutes of Shaun the Sheep! A nice way to end the year.
4 comments:
Laura~ It is so sweet that the kids showed their appreciation for you in such heart felt ways. You definitely touched their lives in a special way.
Choosing to end the teaching of 4th graders was a choice I can tell you might have wrestled with, but by the sounds of your post, you will continue blessing people who need your love and attention; not 4th graders, but the elderly. You are going to continue blessing people! You will have an opportunity to touch their lives in a special way as you did the younger generation. GO FOR YOUR PASSION to help the elderly and you will make a difference in the lives of others (them and their families) and be a positive influence in the world around you.
Thanks Teri - wasn´t it just sweet of them?! Yes it was a choice that I wrestled with for a few months!! When I finally made the decision I had such a peace about it. So I knew it was the right decision.
I am not trained as a teacher but enjoy teaching. When I was asked to teach English I really wondered if I could do it:-) (as you probably can see while reading my posts - English grammar is NOT my strong point) I told this to the leaders in the school but they were confindent that I could do it. So I gave it a go! I´m glad I did. I need not have worried about the grammar stuff, it was all such basic stuff that they were learning. They knew very little English...so it was teaching them the names of things,like clothing, furniture, animals, colours, numbers etc, as well as "I am, you are, he is, she is, they are etc." So even silly old me could figure that out:-)
Yes my passion is visiting the old people and there are many lonely old people around the place. So your right Teri, we should follow our PASSION in life:-) Thanks for your words of encouragement!!
Laura, I know exactly where you're coming from. Most of my day was spent telling people off, or dealing with them spitting at me or swearing at me or at each other and generally dealing with major behaviour issues. Over 600 teenagers a week, no thanks!!!!
I think you will be greatly used in what you are planning to do and you will get more pleasure out of it too. They will really appreciate what you do for them and I imagine you will both really be blessed by what you do.
Difficult decision, but glad you feel at peace about it.
It really sounds like you've made the right decision, but then again, God wouldn't let you make the wrong one - just pray and follow what he puts in your heart.
The presents are lovely, you were very good in keeping yourself from crying, we all know I couldn't have been that restrained!!
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