Alliance for Catholic Education
It’s Saturday, January 3rd. Classes start up again on Monday. You’re back at your ACE placement, your plans for the week are solid, your assignments are prepped, your grade book is blank, ready for a new semester. You’re totally at peace about returning for your fourth semester of teaching. You’re enjoying a calm, relaxing evening at home before the semester sweeps you up in a whirlwind of slight chaos. All of the sudden, you remember, with shocking clarity, that you decided to deep clean your classroom before break, leaving all the rugs rolled up, the desks pushed to the wall, and the chairs stacked by the board. A cold feeling of dread sinks into your heart as you realize that this means you’ll need to spend Sunday, your last day of break, holed up in your classroom, arranging furniture.
It’s Sunday, January 4th. Classes start tomorrow! After Mass, you spend a good chunk of your day lifting and dragging, arranging and rearranging this space that you’ll soon welcome your precious students back into. You dance around your room, playing hype up songs and praying for a calm first day back.
It’s 7:43am on Monday, January 5th. It feels as if every single one of your 102 middle schoolers have stopped in in the last twenty minutes of homeroom. Their eyes go wide seeing the new set-up, and after a moment, they launch into passionate retellings of favorite stories from their Christmas breaks.
As the day goes on, you are reminded over and over again how much this space matters. Moments after your planning period starts, three of your seventh grade girls float through the door, with something they “just have to tell you!” They sink into beanbags, and begin a story, which ends with you sharing some gentle advice. After your class rushes out for lunch, the room quickly fills again with your Scholars’ Bowl team, each of whom chooses their favorite seat, drags it into a makeshift row, and gets ready for their first toss-up question. At the very end of the day, one of your seventh graders pops in, leans on your standing desk, gives you a fist bump, and says he just needs a “minute to charge up.” So you ask him how his day was, and welcome him into a moment of peace. After school, you pick up your student for tutoring, and he excitedly races around the newly arranged room before settling down to practice phonetics.
It’s 4:32pm on Monday, January 5th. You pick up a few pieces of crumpled paper from the floor, turn off the lights, and lock the classroom door. You run through the day, moment after moment after moment of connection replaying in your mind. You are reminded over and over not of the physical space (which had caused so much stress only a day before) but of how much your presence in this space matters.
Sure, the space is also important. But this thought grounds you: not a single student sought you out because of the shape in which you laid out their desks. Not one of them bounced into your room because you remembered to provide thorough feedback on their last essay. And absolutely no students lit up because you had the most put together, polished lesson plan.
The reason each of your students greeted you with joy is because you have the honor of being one of the reasons that they are excited to return to school. Your consistency, your care, your understanding, your patience, these are the reasons that they step through your doorway. These are the qualities that allow you to connect with the students whom you serve.
So as you return to school, keep in mind that your space is not supposed to be perfect, and neither are you. Continue to be the hands and feet of Christ, pouring out His love to every child in front of you. Keep your “whys” in mind, and celebrate the small moments of beauty in your day to day. I pray that those moments are constant reminders of why God has placed you in this role, and that you find peace in serving Him by serving His children. Good luck in semester two!