Listening and Meditation

My students are crazy! It is a daily struggle to get them to quiet down so that I can give instruction, and a bigger struggle to remain patient after repeating the same thing day after day and question after question. Constantly I hear, "Miss Schundler, what are we supposed to do when we're done?" and my response is usually "I've already said 2 times already AND it's written on the board that after you are done, you should take out a book and read independently." Then at the end of the day "Miss Schundler, do we have homework?" "Every day I write the homework on the board, I tell you when I assign it, and I review it when I tell you to take out your agendas to write it down." They still miss many homework assignments.

My students are learning to listen, but somehow I feel like by repeating myself I am teaching them that listening is not important because instructions can always be repeated, so why listen the first time around? Some days are better than others.  Yesterday was especially bad, but today after a little pep talk, the day ran more smoothly. The class just enjoys being with each other and wants to socialize. It's that age when friendship takes priority over schoolwork.

The special ed teacher came in today to talk about meditation and stress and how those two things were related. It was very interesting. I learned that the brain works best when it is slightly stressed, but also relaxed: a kind of paradox. Thinking about how our brains are designed makes me think of how creative and genius God was in creating us. The brain itself is so complex, and this makes up just a small portion of our body.

Because of my chatty class, I have incorporated a time of complete silence, where the students literally do nothing for 5 minutes. Sometimes it is during a lesson when I can't get them to focus and other times, like today it is scheduled for after lunch to get ready for the last hour of school. Today after the 5 minutes were up, students asked for another 5 minutes because they felt so relaxed when they were quiet. I wish this desire to be silent would transfer over into SILENT reading, but we still have approximately 170 days left for that. I have also incorporated more prayer time in my morning to focus myself for the day. On my drive to school I put on worship music and pray for patience and productivity. Each morning I am reminded that I not only teach to get a paycheck or even to teach students important information. I teach for the glory of God and I teach to love kids with the love that Christ had for us on the cross. Although I will never be able to love as much as Christ, I can show unconditional love (a fraction of God's love), and show mercy and forgiveness as he did. I am in a unique situation where I have the power to influence kids because I get to work with them for 5 1/2 hours a day!  I pray that God uses me to reach these 21 students of mine.

 I have to remember that it is still the beginning of the year, and nothing will run perfectly. It is a time to set expectations and routines so the rest of the year will not be as exhausting as these first few weeks. It is a time to pray for my students and learn from my teaching (and failed lessons). It is a time of great transition.