and those who murmur will accept instruction.
Isaiah 29:24
Seeing sparks of understanding, change, and learning are some of the joys that my position brings.
"Give the method of collection that you would use to get the data needed to answer the following questions:
How many cars pass the school in an hour?" I read off the question from the data collection lesson that I was working on with two students.
That's a bad question, Heather* stated, with a hint of distain but also demonstrating that she was thinking about it. She continued her thought, "What if you observe the cars at the beginning of school, or during lunch break, or in the evening? Each one would give you different results."
"True," I answered, "how could that question be improved?"
"You could set a time," she stated dully. Then with a sudden flash of inspiration, she asked, "Could we do a school-wide survey? We could see where students are headed to college and then we could write a letter for the administration about what requirements we really don't need."
The other student looked up from her paper with excitement in her eyes, "Yeah, then they will have to change things!"
Fear was my initial response. There's no way I could do this! These girls are too emotionally charged to handle running with something like this. What would they want to write in that letter.... "I would have to talk with Mr. Shuman first because I don't know what the policy is for sending out school-wide emails," were the words that slowly came out of my mouth.
After some careful thought and a discussion with our principal, I had permission to help the girls design a survey to send to the junior and senior classes in order to analyze some data, and then compose a letter to the administration with our findings, thoughts, questions, and/or suggestions. What transpired over the next few days was just that. The girls looked at the data, which confirmed some of their initial assumptions, and then I helped them compose a letter with their findings, thoughts, and questions about our data and its correlation to recent school changes, which was delivered to an administrator. I decided a hand delivery with a bit of an explanation would be best. While we hoped for a response, nothing came... I assume it was forgotten in the business of other things. No major changes were made by the school, but one major change did happen.
Heather* was heard. Someone had taken the time to listen to her and follow through with her. Her attitude toward me has changed since that week in January. Her threshold of frustration with math has improved a bit. Her cheerfulness shines through a little more often. I am thankful that fear did not stop me from changing my lesson plans.
(*Student name has been changed.)
Happenings
This month has been filled with some fun happenings around BFA. I enjoyed attending our last home basketball game where our varsity boys played a D-1 school. The game went into overtime and sadly we lost by two points. However, the following weekend our teams went to tournament against all the other D-2 schools and won!
At the same time as our basketball tournament, our high school drama production of Fiddler on the Roof sold out their three shows. The students and staff did an amazing job to put on an excellent performance. Some of my small group girls and resource students were involved in acting, stage directing, hair, make-up, sets, and more.
Overall, the past four to six weeks have been quite good. I have had a little more energy than before. My supervisor has returned from the States and will soon be easing her way back into her role at school. My stress at work has decreased a bit and some of the tension that seemed so high a few months ago seems to have lessened. I have also finished the first module of a Leadership Course that I am taking through TeachBeyond.
Finally, thank you to those of you who completed my survey. It was both helpful and encouraging to read your comments, suggestions, and responses!
Please Pray...
For my student's requests:
I had a great time at the basketball tournament but now feel behind in schoolwork because I missed a few schooldays.
Our high school retreat is next weekend. Please pray we have a good time and that the guest speaker and band are good.
Please pray for those of us who were in the musical. We are all very tired this week and next weekend is our high school retreat.
Please pray for some of my classmates, They have been out sick and missed a lot of school.
For my requests:
Please continue to pray that my health and strength improve and that my tiredness decreases.
Please pray that we will have the new staff that we need for next year (now is the time they are applying and raising support)
Praise the Lord that my supervisor was able to return. Please pray that the transition back into work goes well for her.
Praise the Lord that I found a good price for flights to and from the States this summer!