Reflection On 30 Years

This is my 30th year of teaching school. Hard to believe - that is the record of an OLD person. But it's true, like it or not. Seven of those years, when the children were little, were just part-time, so on an "official" record, each of those would appear as a half-year of experience. But, in terms of time put in, it's been 30 years.

At BJJH, I added approximately 100 students each year to the total of how many I taught. Here, it's a little different - my yearly student load is approximately the same; however, the same students pass through my room several times between eighth and twelfth grades. I'd say the total number of students I've taught is around 1600, with about a fourth of them being taught anywhere between 2 and 5 times due to different courses in different years.

There are several areas that I would be happy never to teach again. Weather, the sun, asteroids and meteors, William Wordsworth, early American literature, persuasive speeches - those are a few topics that are just not that interesting any more.

But there are others that I love. For example:

EARTH SCIENCE - Hands down, constellations and stars. I could teach those every autumn to somebody, forever. There is something very rewarding about seeing youngsters come in every morning and say "I figured out where the Pleiades is!" Or the Big Dipper, or Cassiopeia, or the Northern Cross, or any number of other constellations. I tell them that that is lifetime knowledge - the kind of learning that they will teach their own children someday while going camping or being out in their back yard. Furthermore, it's fun to teach them about nebula, star clusters, and other deep space objects. It is completely new learning for eighth graders, so they are very interested. And they can gain a new appreciation for the greatness of creation.

CHEMISTRY - Probably the mole concept (when they get it). And especially organic chemistry. I'm not the best of chemistry teachers due to not being very mathematical. Organic is not mathematical at all!

AMERICAN LIT - Novels, especially HUCK FINN and TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. Also short stories.

BRITISH LIT - Chaucer and Shakespeare. HAMLET and MACBETH are layered with so much to learn, layers of complexity and wisdom, that even after eight years I still find more.

BOTH UPPER LEVEL ENGLISHES: Objectionable Elements in Literature. It's very rewarding to teach students how to have discernment in what they read or watch. I remember Andrew coming home after the first day of this discussion, shaking his head, and saying "That's nothing like any English class I've ever had before."
Also, I love watching their writing skills improve from the start of their junior year until they graduate.

Well, the more one learns (in order to teach, especially), the more one realizes she has to learn. But it has been a privilege thus far, to at least attempt to communicate knowledge and discernment to young people, in a Christian atmosphere.