Count your blessings

May you celebrate this July 4th weekend in peace and gratitude in the company of friends and family. This is a perfect time of year to count your blessings. Wake up each morning recounting a special blessing and fall asleep each night recalling a special blessing you received that day.

Prayerful Teaching is a Morning Conversation with God

Weeping may last for the night,
But a shout of joy comes in the morning.

                      Psalm 30: 5 (NASB)

Prayer and Meditation

Summer is the time when life is easier and less hectic.  It is minus the 20, or 36, or 200 students a teacher anguishes over, rejoices with, and lifts up in prayer each day.  It is minus the evening hours when family and friends must be put aside for the sake of those you were called to teach.  Summer is the time to begin new habits.  It is the time to plant the seeds of habits that reach maturity by summer’s end and whose gifts will ever after yield joy, tranquility, hope, and deeper partnership with the Lord. 

Prayerful Teaching in Action

• Now is the time to plant the habit of a morning conversation with God, a conversation that begins before your head lifts from the pillow, before the breakfast dishes rattle, and before the demands of the day begin.  Start simple—perhaps just a minute or two.  You can even just say, “Good Morning, Lord.”  Isn’t that how you would greet family or friends?  Other suggestion:

• Discuss your plans for the day with God. 

• Unburden yourself.   Bring any doubts, concerns or worries to Him. 

• Ask God to stand with you as you go about your day.

• Name those to whom you wish God to bring special blessings.

• Have a “telephone” conversation with God.  Holding an actual phone up to your ear might be of assistance.  Just make sure your phone is turned off to block out earthly messages!  Proceed as you would when talking to your best friend.  After all, that is exactly what you are doing.

God Bless and Prayerful Teaching,

Elizabeth A. Wink

prayerfulteaching@gmail.com

Prayerful Teaching is Continuous Prayer for Students

All your children will be taught by the Lord,
and great will be their peace.

Isaiah 54:13 (NIV)

Prayer and Meditation: 

Each day I raise up my past, present, and future students in prayer.  Perhaps God will send special graces and mercy to a child in need of grace and mercy today or tomorrow.  Perhaps a mother will change her mind about an abortion, allowing a child I have not yet met become a part of my life.  Maybe a moment of temptation will be averted in ten or twenty years or fifty years from now and a soul will be saved.  Though I do not know when my prayers will be answered, I know God listens to my each and every word.  He knows the personal struggles that will be faced by my students and He will be there as Comforter and Healer.  He hears my pleas.    

God Bless and Prayerful Teaching,

Elizabeth A. Wink

prayerfulteaching@gmail.com

Prayerful Teaching: Now is the Time to Ask, Seek, and Knock

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

                                     Matthew 7:7-8 (NKJV)

Thank you, Lord, for getting me through another school year.  I could not have succeeded without you.  Though summer is a time of slower living, fewer responsibilities, and endless lazy days, I will take time to pray. I will quiet my restless soul and humbly and sincerely ask God, my Father, to meet the needs I bring before him.  I will seek what I have lost in my relationship with God.  I will seek God’s gift of grace and mercy. I will seek the Kingdom of God. I will boldly knock on His door of mercy with faith and the expectancy that He will hear my prayers.  Let me also recognize Christ’s knock on my door and let me answer His knock with graciousness and thanksgiving. 

God Bless and Prayerful Teaching,

Elizabeth A. Wink

prayerfulteaching@gmail.com

Prayer Teaching Gears up for Summer

There is a time to tear apart,

and a time to sew together;

a time to be quiet,

and a time to speak. 

 Ecclesiastes 3:7 (NLV)

Prayer

The long awaited summer vacation has finally arrived.  I feel so energetic. I will not waste this summer like I have the previous summers.  With careful planning of my time and with so many days stretching out before me, I can map out the next school year, revise my lessons, read professional articles and books, and reenergize myself.  With the arrival of September, I will be ready for anything that comes my way.    But I deceive myself.  I am dependent on You, Lord, just as much during summer as during the school year.  Lead me to realistic summer intentions.  First and foremost, assist me to set aside time to speak to You and to quiet myself to listen to Your voice.  Let me not just “tear apart” what I want to change about the manner in which I answer and perform my calling, but help me to take the threads of my work and “sew together” a fabric that enables me to become a better teacher for Your children.

The Actions of Prayerful Teaching

• Indulge in daily conversations with God.  A conversation goes two ways.  It requires a speaker and a listener.  Speak to God about anything and everything, but quiet yourself so you can listen to God speaking to you.  God is the one person you do not have to worry about “getting it” or misunderstanding the meaning of your words.  You have spent a year speaking in clear, precise, and measured words to sometimes unwilling listeners.  A conversation with God relieves you of that baggage.  Its only requirement is an open heart and a willing soul, not measured movement of lips and tongue.  Set a daily time for this conversation. Begin by thanking God for the last few minutes of quiet before you arise in the morning and start off the day in conversation with Him.

• Spend your first week of summer vacation enjoying yourself.  All year long you are basically working and on call well into the evening hours.  Now is the time to treat yourself to something special, something you could not do during the school year.  Simple, ordinary treats to self are the best.  Hire a babysitter for the afternoon.  Unplug from all electronics.  Take a book to the park and read.  Listen to the silence.  Walk along the lakeshore, a river, or any green space with only yourself for company.  Leisurely visit a farmer’s market.  Engage in conversation with the vendors and other visitors.  Ask permission to pet any dog that interests you.   Is there a movie you want to see?  Do you enjoy window shopping?   This is the week to set aside special time for yourself. 

• Plunge into a new activity.  Sew up new experiences.  What is it that you always wanted to attempt, but never had the time to try?  Mark dates and times on your calendar for the pursuit this new activity.  Treat the dates and times just as you would luncheon dates with your friends or any other appointments.  There will be challenges to keeping these dates and times firm, but this is the only way you will be able to prevent life from getting in the way of new growth.

• Select two or three lessons you want to “tear apart” or “sew together” over summer vacation.  Being who we are and wanting to do our best to honor our calling, we tend to conceive overly ambitious plans and goals for our vacation.  We want to tear apart, analyze, and make better every little thing that happened in the last school year.  As a result we become discouraged, overwhelmed and disappointed with ourselves for having “wasted” the summer.  We need to be realistic.  Just as you would map out your curriculum, map out a timeline for when you will work on these two or three lessons.  Adjust your goals if time is running short.  No rule says you have to completely revise or create your entire agenda for the two or three chosen lessons.  The important objective is to get started, to begin the sewing process.

• Record ideas while they are fresh.  A teacher’s mind never stops churning with ideas, especially in the more relaxed atmosphere of summer.   When you get ideas for the upcoming school year, jot them down on index cards.   Do not toss out any ideas you consider “crazy,” “stupid,” or in the category of “This will never work.”   You are creating building blocks you can modify or change at any time.  A separate index card for each idea will allow for easy classifying and sorting. 

Challenge of the Week

Nurture yourself.  Create a space and place for prayer and private time.  If you do not take care of your physical and spiritual needs, you will not be able to take care of the needs of others.

God Bless and Prayerful Teaching,

Elizabeth A. Wink

prayerfulteaching@gmail.com

Prayerful Teaching is Preventing Summer Learning Loss

O Lord, blessed is the person
    whom you discipline and instruct from your teachings.
You give him peace and quiet from times of trouble
    while a pit is dug to trap wicked people.

Psalm 94:12-13(GW)

Prayer and Meditation

Summer learning loss is a reality for all students, no matter the grade level, no matter the income level.  Let me be proactive in preventing this loss for my students so that what I have been called to instruct and they have been called to learn over the last year will not be lost.   With your help, I can instruct my students and their parents on how to make this summer a summer of learning opportunities.  Most important, Lord, I ask you to give my students and their families a summer of peace and quiet from times of trouble. 

The Actions of Prayerful Teaching

• Award parents the power to engage their children in learning opportunities.  Many parents are busy earning a living and meeting their children’s basic needs.  They may not be aware of learning opportunity available in the community for their children.  Notices going home about such programs may not capture their attention as they multi-task just to keep their homes running smoothly.  A personal phone call concerning one recommended program may be all that is needed to help stop summer learning loss.  Avoid “teacher talk,” but do explain what happens to a child’s learning over the summer and why you are recommending this one particular program.  Offer assistance in filling out forms, including transportation forms, and enrollment forms.  Place follow-up phone calls.  It is far better to concentrate on and work deeply with two or three families than to make a dozen quick, “Do you know about…?” or “I’ll send you the form ….” phone calls.

• Compile a list of activities students can engage in over the summer.  Keep the list practical, home-centered, child centered, age appropriate, and expense free.  Always be mindful that some parents cannot spend a lot of time on one-on-one learning activities.  Others do not have the time or money for museum visits, a day at the zoo, or cultural events.  Some ideas follow:

• Start a weekly family newsletter.  (This can include drawings, stories, neighborhood happenings etc.)  After a parent reads it, it can be passed around to other family members and friends, perhaps mailed and ending up in the hands of a relative or family friend who lives some distance away.

• Practice organizational skills.  Anything inside or outside the house can be organized from blades of grass to pennies.  For example, pick one-hundred blades of grass.    How many ways can you figure out to organize them?  Size? Color? Width?   Organize pennies by year.  Which year is the most popular for pennies?

• Keep a personal diary.  Each evening write in it the activities you engaged in, who you played with, and how you helped someone have a better day.  Include the times you were quiet during the day.

•  Keep a list of specific acts of kindness performed each day.  For whom was it performed?  What was the specific act of kindness?  How do you think the recipient of the kindness felt?  How did you feel?  How did it give both of you a sense of peace?

• Wait to reach out to students until after they have settled into summer vacation.  With so many end-of-the-school-year tasks to complete for both teachers and students, the last couple of weeks of school may not be the best time to delve into ways to prevent summer learning loss.  One to two weeks after summer vacation has begun may be the optimal time to approach the subject.  Boredom may be setting in, parents may already be praying for school to begin again, and children’s brains may be aching for new challenges.  You may also be missing the hustle and bustle of classroom life.  Dedicate one day to the Lord.  During that day reach out to parents and children in a personal manner.  Ask them how their summer is proceeding.  Share ways in which summer learning loss may be circumvented.  Offer to send booklists, a list of summer learning activities, or help with enrollment into a summer program.

• Work with the local public library to develop a list of books student will enjoy reading over the summer.  Keep in mind that researchers at the University of Michigan have found that for every one line of print read by low-income children over the summer, middle-income children read three. The books on the list should be “fun” reading and not look like textbooks.  The objective is to keep students reading, not necessarily to pour more information and standards into their heads.  That is not to say books about math, science, social studies, or other academic subjects should not be on the list.  Students learn best when knowledge arises indirectly out of the freedom of joy, personal creativity, and fun.  A must for any “list” and perhaps the most important part of the list is a section directing children to discover the hidden treasures in the library and informing them how to select reading choices of their own.

• Consider sending an early newsletter to your future students.  Address it to the students, not the parents or guardians.  Present ways in which students can prepare for their upcoming studies.  Keep the newsletter lighthearted, grade-level appropriate, easy to read and comprehend, and upbeat.  Follow attention getting protocols such as including sufficient white space, a large enough font, and illustrations.  Though more time consuming and expensive, snail mail makes this much more effective than an e-mail attachment.  It is always special to receive posted, personal mail rather than be a part of an e-mail list.

God Bless and Prayerful Teaching,

Elizabeth A. Wink

prayerfulteaching@gmail.com

Prayerful Teaching when Closing up the Classroom

For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.  If you serve Christ with this attitude, you will please God, and others will approve of you, too.  So then, let us aim for harmony in the church and try to build each other up.

                                       Romans 14:17-19 (NLT)

Prayer and Meditation 

Everything is crashing down around me, sapping my time and energy—time and energy I would rather spend on my students.   Grades.  Records.  Extra duties and activities. Confusing bulletins with endless “To-Do” lists.  Never have I felt so overwhelmed.  I will concentrate on making these closing activities a part of my prayer life, a part of living in the goodness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.  Everything I do will be an offering for God and His kingdom. 

The Actions of Prayerful Teaching

• As difficult as it may be, and as far off as it seems, start now.  If this is the first time you are facing end of the year closing procedures, ask colleagues what it all requires.  Get a head start on all those reports, even if you cannot quite finish them due to missing data.  You can get a lot done now.  Then, during the final days of school you can be more relaxed and perhaps even find time to treat yourself to a special cup of coffee or an ice cream treat.

• Combine all of the final bulletins into one complete list with check-off boxes.  Sort by due dates.  Number each bulletin and include that number in your check-off boxes in case you need to go back to the original source.  As soon as you complete a task, put a check in the check-off box.  Offer these necessary end-of-semester acts to God that your students may be kept safe and serve Christ as they bask in the glory and freedom of summer.

• Keep rubrics, grades, and any other artifacts you may need to justify grades.  If grades or grade books are kept on line, it might be a good idea to make hard copies of important documents for yourself.  Secure all confidential records on site.  Never take confidential records home.

• Prepare for next year.  File and sort lesson plans, units, and supplemental materials into file folders or storage units. Select student work as models for next year and keep them with the unit plans.  If you have not already done so, write short notes as to what went well, what did not go as planned, and what you would like to change. Write these notes or attach them to the front cover of the folder.  It is easier recording your thoughts and observations now when everything is fresh in your mind.  Think how wonderful it will be to get right into planning and teaching units instead of hunting around for lost paperwork.  Put a smiley face or any other sticker on the folder.  When you return to the folder next year consider that a thank you reminder to yourself for putting in the extra time at the end of the school year. 

• Deconstruct your room.  Secure or take home all personal/purchased items, especially items you cannot afford to repurchase or items that cannot be easily replaced.  Put decorations and bulletin board material in boxes by themes, units, or months.  Add into the box any books that go with the theme, unit, or month.  You have no control over who comes into your classroom over summer.  Sometimes items are moved around for cleaning purposes.  Sometimes workers who have no connection with the school are hired to clean or make repairs. 

• “Build each other up” (Romans 14:17-19).  Write thank you notes to all colleagues who have assisted you in the past year.  Consider the lunch room workers, maintenance staff, security staff, secretaries, parents, and support staff.  Remember the friends, family, and teachers who shared knowledge with you, mentored you, or were always there to support you  The receivers of the thank you notes will not only know you appreciated them, but will be more than willing to assist you again next year.  As you write each note, offer your time and words as a prayer that the recipient may find joy in the Holy Spirit.  If it is not feasible to write notes to everyone, express your appreciation in person. 

Challenge of the Week:

When writing your thank you notes, write a thank you note to God for your calling as a teacher and for the opportunity to live a life of “goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17) through your work with His children.

God Bless and Prayerful Teaching,

Elizabeth A. Wink

prayerfulteaching@gmail.com