Faith and Hope

As many of you know, I like to think about how I can take the Sunday sermon and apply it to my life, both personally and professionally. This week, Pastor Kyle's sermon about faith and hope really struck home. He talked about faith, hope, and what-ifs. He reminded me that I don’t walk alone because God is with me all of the time.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a scaredy-cat. I want to do many things but tend to avoid them out of fear. My husband on the other hand is always a positive and brave man so he encourages me to do what I want to do even if I’m afraid to try it. Whenever I am very worried about doing something, we always play the what-if game. I mention all the what-ifs that I’m worried about, and he always has an idea of how to handle the situation if it ever happens. Once I have a plan, I don’t worry so much and I can actually move forward. I have faith that we can handle anything together.

I used to be afraid to travel because when I was growing up, we didn’t travel much. After marrying my husband, life was an adventure. We began traveling to places I had only dreamed about going. At the time I had a lot of worries about our what-ifs. I wrote them all down and we talked about them. Once I knew what we could do if we ran out of gas, had car trouble, my parents got sick, or we had some kind of emergency, I felt more comfortable traveling. We always have a Plan B.

Most of my students want to learn but are also afraid of learning.

When my students arrive in my classroom, I know they are filled with fear and what-ifs. It is the elephant in the room so it is important to address it early on. I play the what-if game that I experienced as a student.

• What if no one likes me?
• What if the teacher calls on me?
• What if I don’t know the answer?
• What if the others laugh at me?
• What if others are smarter than me?
• What if someone is mean to me?

Then I ask students if I missed any what-ifs and usually, they feel comfortable giving suggestions since we are talking about me and not them (even though I’m sure many of them know exactly how I felt.)

Then I ask them to have faith in me.

Once they are in my class, I consider our class our family, and I like them. They don’t have to worry about anyone liking them because I like them. Eventually, others will like them once they get to know them. A family doesn’t let others be mean to each other because we stick together.

I let them know that I am their safety net and they are not walking into the world of learning alone. I will be there beside them and help them. Whenever I ask a question, I will ask a question first and give people time to think about the answer before calling on someone. I won’t laugh at them for not knowing the answer.

Don’t worry about someone being smarter than they are because everyone has strengths and weaknesses, even me. There are things that I can’t do because I haven’t learned how to do them. That doesn’t mean that those who can do it are smarter than me.

I have this conversation often with them and I show them that I mean what I say by my actions. I show them that I care about them and that they can have faith in me and then have faith in themselves.

Once they start having success in my class, they feel that it is okay to hope. Many of my students have been beaten down by their failures and they are afraid to hope for any success. By hoping for success and continuing to fail, they don’t want to risk getting hurt. I have to show them that not succeeding at something is not a failure but an opportunity. It is an opportunity to try it a different way or to ask for help. Only when they give up is it a failure. I won’t give up on them and I want them to not give up. This involves faith and hope.

Of course, this doesn’t happen all at once. Having faith and hope is a continual process. I am constantly having to remind myself of this when I get discouraged or afraid.

I remind myself and my students that no one walks alone.

Photo by Sincerely Media on Unsplash

Don’t Give Up

Recently we worked on our lawn irrigation system. We had to replace a couple of sprinkler heads and then we had a busted pipe in two places. We fixed one break only to find out that we had another break. Eventually, everything was working again except for the programming. I thought I was so smart and went on YouTube to see how to program the four zones. I knew it all worked before we started working on the system so it should work okay when we were done. I was so wrong! I even spent almost two hours on the phone with an Orbit customer service representative who finally told me that I had to call an irrigation specialist in my area and have them check valves and solenoids. I was so discouraged when I got off the phone.

After pouting for a few minutes, I refused to give up. Fixing that controller was like working on a puzzle and I had to find the correct combination to make it work right. I knew that it had worked before and that I hadn’t done anything that would cause it not to work other than mess with the programming on the controller. Eventually, I had the right combination and it worked right! I figured out the puzzle! My husband says I like a challenge and I guess I do. I’m glad I didn’t take the advice of the Orbit representative and I'm glad I didn’t spend a lot of money calling an irrigation specialist to mess with parts that were working fine. Sometimes you just have to trust your gut.

I feel that teaching is a lot like this. Helping students learn new skills is like conquering a puzzle. I have to try to find the right combination for each individual student that works the best. Sometimes I get frustrated and so does the student. It would be so easy to give up but I have to keep on trying. My student is counting on me just like I counted on the Orbit representative. I don’t want to tell the student that they need to call in someone else because I want to be the one to help the student succeed. I don’t want the student to have to struggle with his one in order to find the answer if I can help him in any way. I need to trust my gut and not give up. I need to help the student have faith and believe in himself too. By not giving up, I’m being a role model for the student.

How do you help your students to keep trying and not give up? Please share.

Photo by Kreated Media on Unsplash

Have Faith in Learning

I recently watched an episode of Code Black the other day and it involved having faith. The character in the show Emmanuel says, 

“ You're human. And humans want answers. The answers you need don't come with photographic evidence. They require that you believe in something you can't see. After all, that's why we call it faith, isn't it? Otherwise we'd call it proof.”

That really struck a chord in me because I feel the same way with learning.

I believe that everyone can learn.

I believe that everyone learns in their own way.

I believe that we never should give up.

Sometimes we may have to change our goals but that is okay and doesn’t diminish our effort.

Sometimes we feel so frustrated and the urge to give up is very strong. It is at this time that we need to be even stronger and believe that we can make a change in our own lives.

I can’t show proof of this to my students but when I begin teaching them, I’m asking them to have faith in me and my beliefs. By asking them to have faith, I’m asking that they put in time and effort into something that I can’t prove.

This faith in learning is hard for my students. Over time, many people have let them down and they might have even let themselves down. This leap of faith involves trust which not something my students give easily.

But I need to keep trying to get my students to believe. They need to believe in their teachers and in the system. They need to believe in themselves. This belief will help them be successful in their lives.

How do you get your students to have faith in learning? Please share.