Hot For Teaching*

For someone who never wanted to be a teacher, I've been doing quite a bit of it lately. Along with this whole homeschooling gig, I am also teaching a class in science for our homeschooling coop, and am a Religious Education teacher for our church.

That last one makes me giggle slightly hysterically. Religious Education? Me? I was the Catholic who never understood what the heck the "Trinity" was. But, now I've gone and joined our local Unitarian Universalist church and decided to take a stab at teaching RE to a bunch of 1st and 2nd graders.

For the past few months, we've been preparing for "THE PLAY". This is a big deal in our church and includes all the children, from the Pre-K group to the Senior class. The theme was 'heroes' and our group decided to focus on 'animal heroes", like Balto the sled dog and Binti Jua the gorilla.

While doing this, I expected to sometimes enjoy the process and sometimes be incredibly frustrated by the distractible nature of seven-year-olds. I knew there would be times I'd think it would never come together. I also knew that I liked these little buggers an awful lot and would be thrilled to see them on stage.

The reaction I received from the parents was awesome too. One sent me an email that said the following,

J. is very excited and it's so good to see him energized by the idea of being in a play. It's a side of him I haven't seen before and it's been great to learn new things about my own child. I'm really looking forward to the 6th!

Another parent hugged me after it was all done; their family has had a helluva couple of years and this gesture touched me.

Admittedly, I can use the title 'teacher' only loosely. I do not have to stand in front of a class of 30 kids every day of the week. I do not have to deal with apathetic parents who expect the school system to raise their child. I do not have standardized tests, progress reports, or a bell ringing to end class in the middle of my sentence. But it has been interesting to see how much I enjoy working with kids, watching their eyes light up when they are interested in their project, coaxing them out of their fragile shell.

I can see why someone would fall in love with teaching.


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*I know my sister is groaning at this title, but, as she has been told, I will proclaim my love for David Lee Roth from the highest mountain until the day I die. So there.