Teaching Boys

Exhausted, but overwhelmed with love. That’s how I feel after two weeks of teaching my class-my class of 6 energetic students. 5 of them being boys!!! These students though have captured my heart already. I may end each day exhausted, a little bit frustrated that I had to repeat my directions for everything at least 5 times and then sometime we still didn’t do it right and worried that I am not teaching my boys the right way for them to learn. Boys are awesome, but they are different than girls. (If you remember from last year I had a class of 7 girls and 1 boy- let’s talk about complete opposite this year)  I mean we end each day with so much energy (the students not the teacher) and our desk completely messy.  The classroom turned almost upside down with cricket desk, pencils on the floor and papers stuffed into their desks. We end each day with lots of noise and jumping around. MY first reaction is STOP. Be still. Be quiet. Why so much energy? But I don’t really say these things out loud- thank you, Jesus for giving me self-control with my words even when it is so hard sometimes. Because sometimes all I want to do is just scream STOP. My patience these past two weeks has been tested. To be completely honest I have failed a few times with keeping my tongue quiet in moments of complete overwhelmness (I think I made this word up?!?) and have come home sad that I reacted that way. So my daily prayer is for JOY, PATIENCE, REST in GOD, and GRACE. These students have captured my heart no matter how much energy they have or if I have to sound like a parrot all year long- God placed me as their teacher for a purpose. I believe in this with my whole heart- that nothing is by accident.

My little ones (we made ice cream as a science experiment)!

SO this year I am focusing on how I can be a better teacher to boys. Really, school is not design for boys- so not fair!!! So my mission this year is to figure out how I can incorporate the best way for boys to learn into an education system design generally more for girls. Lately, I have been trying to soak up all the advice I can get from mamas who are raising little boys. I really do believe they have so much wisdom into how and why boys do things the way they do. One mama sent me an article last week that really gave me some great perspective and ideas to maybe weave into our energetic day. The lady who wrote the article is mother of two boys. Her blog site is called The MOB Society (Moms of Boys). The very first thing she talks about in her article is to understand that it’s a battle. Little boys’ bodies must be in motion and sometimes, their bodies take over their minds and hearts leading them to disobedience not always on purpose. She talks about how we have to have understanding and grace and lots of physical activity, but it is also important to teach them that sometimes we have to be able to control our bodies even if it is a hard thing.  The basic line is I need to create opportunities for physical activity- I need to figure out how I can physically create a space for activity into each and every lesson. I need to make sure that I check my frustration and not let my emotions control the words that come out my mouth. I need to remind myself that I am not perfect so why would I expect them to be. I need to fill my classroom up with Lavender smell- it is said that lavender has known sedative properties. (NO, I am not drugging up my students I am just trying to create a calming atmosphere- that’s all). But I think out of this whole article the very last thing this lady talked about resounded in my heart the most and gave me a ah-ha moment. These are her words:

 It is important to set healthy expectation early in the day and tell them that I know it’s hard, but do it anyway and I let them know I believed that with Jesus’ help, they could do it. I think that’s the key to making this little exercise be more than just a way to control your boys. The bottom line is that there will be things they don’t feel they can do for the rest of their lives—hard things that threaten to master them instead of the other way around. If we build a sense of “everything in life that’s worth anything requires hard work,” with a heavy dose of, “you must ask Jesus to help you overcome the hard things because you can’t do it yourself,” we’ll be that much further ahead in teaching them how to be godly, hard-working men who overcome in the name of Jesus.

This is exactly what my heart is screaming for my students- I want to teach them how to be godly, hard-working men (women) who overcome in the name of Jesus. I want my students to know how much God cares about them and loves them. How much He wants us to learn about Him and the world He created.

Look at all that energy! Haha!

So, as a teacher and so many other roles I take on throughout the day I know that I need Jesus more than anything. I can’t be a teacher to 5 boys and 1 girl if I don’t ask Jesus to lead me in it. If I don’t ask Jesus to give me the joy, the patience, the grace and the wisdom to teach these precious children that God has so graciously placed in my life for this school year.

A blog site that I have been reading each morning called She Reads Truth (it’s a devotional blog site) has been going through the book of Hebrews. It has been an amazing time of learning more about Jesus. As I was spending time reading the other day this verse and quote stood out to me:

We have met the One, and He is Jesus.
We have experienced the truth of the Gospel.
We have been reminded of who Jesus is—that He is greatest, sufficient, BEST.
And He gives us all we need to move forward in faith.

So, let’s move our feet! Let’s continue down this gospel road. The God of peace will equip us with all we need! (Hebrews 13:20-21)

 

Thank you, Jesus for equipping me with all that I need. I proclaim right now that I need you each and every day as lead my students in the discovery of becoming lifelong learners. I acknowledge that I can’t do this on my own- that I need your daily grace, faith and you are sufficient, you are the best and you are the greatest. Thank you that you equip me with all that I need!!!

So much JOY!

*If you are a mama or an educator who knows how to work with boys well or have any pieces of wisdom for me- please contact me!

**And if you would love to pray- please pray for my class that they would experience Jesus in a new way this year and that they would use their energy in a positive way. Please pray that I would have the energy(!!!), the patience, the wisdom and the grace as I teach these little ones!! J

Love, Daniella