On September 1, 2001 I moved to New York City to pursue a
Masters Degree in Education. I
came here for a top-notch education, not because I particularly wanted to live
here. A few days later I began
student teaching at a school on the Upper West Side close to my
university. It had a tough student
population and I was in a first grade classroom with little real clue about
what it took to be an effective teacher.
About a week later two airplanes flew in the World Trade
Center while I was beginning to get my feet wet in the classroom and turned my
stable world upside down. I wanted
to leave the city. I begged my
parents to let me come home. They
told me to stay put (a little odd right? considering the circumstances, but
they knew well what I needed). The
rest of the semester was a struggle trying to connect with these little humans
who talked about people jumping out of buildings like it was no big deal. The head teacher I worked with had
little confidence in me. She left
the classroom regularly when I took over the class and the kids, knowing she
was gone, would go nuts. My
supervisor from the university was supposed to visit me eight times and provide
me with feedback and support, but she rarely showed up. At the end of the semester both of them
gave me poor reviews. My
supervisor told me I would never cut it as a New York City school teacher.
Amazingly I didn’t run away. I took on a new placement in January with a wonderful,
caring teacher who restored my confidence. My new supervisor was top notch and gave me tons of advice
and encouragement. I met my
husband for the first time that month and fast-forward 12 years and I am still
here to this day! I did end up
“cutting it” in the city schools. I think I actually faired wonderfully.
I always said one day I wanted to have the chance to be a supervisor
to student teachers. I would be
everything like the one I had my second semester and nothing like the one I had
first. I wanted the chance to tell
a future teacher that they could be a positive inspiration to a child, that
they could speak life into their lives and perhaps even change it’s
course. Better, I believe
that in a system that is gritty and hard and cynical, they could bring a smile to
someone’s face, help a child know that they had a purpose, and be different
than many people around them.
In March I found out I was going to be a mama for the 4th
time, a role I never planned on.
The door I thought I would walk through this fall back into the
classroom was closed. I was
discouraged. But you know
what? God had a different plan for
me. First He needed me to focus
more on my role as a wife and mother.
But He is gracious and He knows me and that I would love to have just a
little more than just that. Out of
absolutely nowhere I was offered the position I had always wanted to do: Supervising student teachers, and from
a Christian college no less! So
now every Friday for a few hours I hang up my mama hat and head back into the
schools and work with future teachers who feel the call on their life to be
God’s hand of love extended. It is
rewarding beyond what I had hoped and I am so thankful!
