Rejoice

Can I just start out with saying that I love God and am constantly amazed at out how He works?

D and I were taking a walk and our friend, AC (not to be confused with air conditioning) came up to us and asked "Can I just tell you guys about how amazing God is?" Immediate response...um YEAH! He told us a story of a recent time when he experienced such a strong connection with God that it was overwhelming. My words would fall short compared to what he told us, but it really got me thinking about my faith. Overall I would say my beliefs and faith are strong, but sometimes my trust falls short. Often times I'll solely depend on myself and leave God out of the picture. Not okay. So my goal for the rest of the semester (well, more like the rest of my life) is to not be afraid to let go. Not be afraid to say, ok God, you got this...because no matter what, He does. I don't think I can be reminded of this enough.

On a similar note...


For dinner devotions this evening I shared Philippians 4:4-7:

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Just chew on that for a second...

...Read it again...

...One more time...

And now my reason for reading it...

Being an ESL teacher is hard, it's a fact. Your patience will be tested and no two lessons will be the same. But I couldn't love it more. God has shown me little things this week that help me to know that things will be okay. Student E is our lowest student when it comes to comprehension. Her language skills are at a level 1ish, where the others are at a level 2. She tries though. But this week something really clicked, I don't know what it was but something just clicked! She was speaking as much as she could in English. She volunteered to give answers. She even translated directions from English to Spanish for a fellow student (normally others in the class do this for her). I was so excited! Yet that's not where the blessings stop. One of the days when she was using as much language as she could, the rest of the class started cheering her on. They were clapping and encouraging her in both English and Spanish. It made me so happy. The community among the students in my ESL classroom is strong, and I'm happy to be a part of it. 

No matter how hard student teaching (or anything in life) gets I need to rejoice. God has a reason for it and I need to trust that He'll guide me through.

Lessons Learned this Week

-Sometimes you just need to put the books a way and have a time to relate to your students.
-If you're helping a 7th grade boy study for math, make up raps...despite the fact that you'll look whiter than you already are (well those of you who are reading this that are white) it makes it fun.

Goals for Next Week

-Find more ways to differentiate