I was hanging out in Marisol’s grade three class the other day, and I was struck by the comprehensive nature of her teaching. She handed out a connect-the-dots activity, inviting the students to pull out their pencils and go for it. The image slowly began to take shape, children carefully counting- pointing to various spots on the page with their fingers- and searching for the next number. Their pencils slowly formed the mysterious object, and before long it was shown to be a starfish.
Below the drawing section were several questions about starfish, one of which was: where does it live? One child to my left wrote: in the sky. I grinned slightly as I pictured the image of a starfish flying effortlessly above the clouds- avoiding sea gulls and the like. Marisol went on to explain that this particular “star” (the word used in Spanish is “estrella”) lives under the sea. It soon became clear that many of the children had never heard of such a creature.
What I was amazed by, during this situation, was the length to which Marisol went to help her students. Rather than being bound by a tight schedule or feeling obligated to move right on to the next subject, she announced: “We’re going to learn what a starfish is.” She walked briskly down the hallway and into the office, searching for a book that outlined marine life. Upon finding one with plenty of good pictures she returned to her classroom, calling the students to grab their little carpets and have a seat with her.
Marisol held the book up for everyone to see, looking her students in the eyes and explaining the wonder of this new creature. Many were amazed afterwards, doubtless wondering what other beautiful and mysterious things existed beyond their realm of knowledge, in the immensity and diversity of God’s creation.
I am so thankful for the teachers we have been blessed with; the gifts they have for what they do, and the love with which they do it. They are operating in their sweet spot- exactly where God wants them- and it shows. I can only imagine what the impact will be in the lives of those they teach and disciple.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007 at 7:10 pm and is filed under Missionary's View, T.E.A.R.S. School. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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