As far back as I can remember, I wanted to become a teacher. I
remember playing with the younger students even when I was in elementary
school, and even as young as I was, it made me happy to see how much they
liked the extra attention.
When I began university, I briefly strayed from my childhood-given goal of
becoming a teacher; but it didn't take long for God to get me back on the
right track. I soon found myself in Michigan, working on my MS in French and
English with the intention of becoming a French and English teacher.
Of course, in order to become a teacher, I needed actual on-the-job training
as a student teacher, and as I result, I found myself in front of my first
two classrooms in a high school in Niles, Michigan. One of my classrooms was
a French-as-a-second-language class; while the other was a normal high
school English class.
Now this particular school wasn't known for being an "easy" school. The kids
were tough, and being from Europe, my English wasn't perfect. It was, after
all, my third language, and one of my greatest fears was that my classroom
full of tough teenagers would laugh at my English; that they would find it
hypocritical that I, a non-native English speaker who made lots of
grammatical mistakes, would be teaching them, native-English speakers,
English. I prayed about this, and this is what I was impressed to do:
On my first day of student teaching, I told my English students that English
wasn't my mother tongue, and that if they noticed that I made a mistake in
English, they would just need to put a note in a jar on my desk, and I would
give them extra points. Interestingly, that one act won the loyalty of that
class. I think I received one note early on, and after that, nothing. And
I'm pretty sure my English didn’t improve after that one note!
I was impressed to use music as a learning-means in both classrooms, and the
students loved it. At the end of my semester as their student teacher, the
students told me I should get the salary that was allotted to their regular
teacher. They also told me they would miss me. I don't know if they really
did, but I know that I sure missed them!
Though those grade 10 and 11 students were known to be tough, I learned
early on that showing them a little love and respect won them over; and as a
result, I never had any problems with them. The experience taught me, right
at the beginning of my career, that the more motivated I was for those kids
to learn, the more creative I could be as their teacher; and the more
creative I was, the more motivated they were to learn. And in the end, they
did learn!
The experience left me feeling very excited about being a teacher, and I
began to feel a sense of responsibility towards anyone with a desire to
learn. It solidified in my heart the promise of Prov. 22:6: "Start children
off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn
from it." (NIV). I would go on to carry this dedication with me right up to
the very end of my career as a teacher.
This isn't, however, only a lesson for teachers to learn. It is an important
lesson for everyone who is involved with kids -- be it parents,
grandparents, aunts or uncles, neighbors, big brothers or sisters, coaches,
and even medical workers and all the other professions I didn't mention!
When we treat kids as human beings, when we are willingly to admit our own
mistakes, when we show them love and respect, when we have a motivation and
a dedication towards helping others, we are, in essence, doing our part to:
"Start children off on the way they should go..." and we can be sure that
God will keep His part of the bargain: "...and even whey they are old they
will not turn from it"!
Want to make a difference for the upcoming generation? Respect them. Develop
a feeling of responsibility towards them. Dedicate yourself to them. And
above all, love them!
Rob Chaffart