AuburnChick's Adventures

I am always amazed at the ways in which God provides for me.

Today, I had my first observation for my Field Experience class.  I was nervous because I was going to be meeting the teacher who had agreed to be my mentor.  I was also nervous because in a few short weeks, I will be working with him to create a lesson plan and then using that lesson plan to teach his students.

I think it can be intimidating to walk into another teacher’s class and “take over.”

The school where my mentor teaches is across town.  It’s a solid thirty minute trip.

Of course my dogs chose THIS morning to escape from the house…just as Rooster and I were leaving.

God provided, though.

My sweet but mischievous Molly came to me when I called her.

Stupid me didn’t get a good grip on her, so she escaped from me and ran off.

I called out to her, and she came to me a second time.

She never, ever does this.  Once loose, she’s usually gone for ten or fifteen minutes.

We’ve taken to leaving the back door open for her so she can come back when she’s spent her energy.

God provided.

I arrived at the school five minutes early.

God wasn’t done surprising me, though.

This teacher’s first period class is a dual enrolled English 1102 class.

I nervously walked in and took a seat at his desk.  I was only there to make observations today.

I was surprised to hear a student call my name.

As I looked over, I saw that it was a girl Chicky used to play soccer with.  We know her family very well and grew quite close to them during our traveling days.

She’s a senior.  I still can’t believe it.  She’s grown up in front of my eyes.

She was a welcome sight for my nervous self.

Second period was a class of honors ninth graders.

As they were settling in, the teacher explained that he was just beginning a new unit.

Wanna guess what he’s teaching?

Romeo and Juliet.

I don’t remember if I shared this picture before.  See if you understand the significance of it…

Those are the masks and shields that my ninth graders made…

When we studied Romeo and Juliet last term.

Did you just get chills?

I did too.

The teacher had already spent yesterday introducing the unit.  He continued this lesson today.

As I worked on the observations that I had to make for my Field Experience class assignments, I smiled.

I understood everything the teacher was saying.

Toward the end of class, the teacher showed a clip from the movie Shakespeare in Love.  The scene was the one where Gwyneth Paltrow gets plucked from the audience that had gone to view the opening of the play Romeo and Juliet.  The actor who was supposed to play Juliet’s part was having issues with his voice cracking.  She already knew all of the lines because she had been having a relationship with Shakespeare.

As the scene jumped from one act to the other (short clips from each), I sat, spellbound.

Although the 9th graders didn’t know what they were really watching, I sure did.

All I could think about was how excited I was to get to teach this piece of literature again.

It’s almost like I get a do-over…a chance to make the lesson even better than the first time.

God had provided.

Again.

He continued to provide when, in third period, one of the students who walked in was a gal from a different soccer family.

He provided yet again when, after class, a teacher entered the room to borrow my mentor’s microwave.

It was a gal from a third soccer family.  Her sisters had been Chicky’s travel and high school teammates.  Chicky even graduated with one of the girls, and they signed their college letters of intent on the same day (they shared a cake as well).

I have been humbled, yet again.

Despite my having a mini-meltdown at home last night after waves of overwhelming nervousness descended upon my weary shoulders, God must have been up in heaven shaking His head with a sad smile on His face.

He knew His plans.

One would think that I would have learned this lesson by now.

Humans can be such emotional messes sometimes, eh?

You know…some people do not believe that God manifests Himself into our lives on a personal basis.

I disagree.

God is very real and very present.  He doesn’t just care about the “big” things in this world, but he cares about even the smallest little details of each individual’s life.

I am so grateful that He didn’t just give Moses the ten commandments and wash His hands of us.

I don’t know why, but I just feel the need to put this video clip on my blog today.  I know I’ve posted it before…maybe two or three times.

This is one of my favorite songs ever.

It’s my way of praising the Lord for pouring out His grace on me.

Filed under: Christian | Tagged: Amazing Grace, Chris Tomlin, Christianity, teaching | 4 Comments »