Going Back to 2nd Grade
Ahh, summer vacation is upon me...sleeping in, staying up late, making and living by my own schedule, no deadlines, no due dates, no children (unless you count the 2 cats, 1 dog, and 1 parakeet currently residing at the Hensley Zoo!). As much as I have looked forward to this time of freedom and relaxation, there is a part of me that's sad the school year is over and wishes I had just a few more days with my students. As I look back over this last year, there are so many stories to tell and things I learned about myself, that I could probably fill an entire notebook with! Here are a few of the highlights:
- The day Emma told me, "My mom didn't get married until she was 30, so there's still hope for you Miss Hensley." Ahh, how encouraging!
- The afternoon we were going ice-skating and I came back to the classroom after going to the bathroom to find an adult pair of boxers flying through the air. It turns out the dad of one of my students had used the bag he packed his ice skates in a few days earlier on a trip and forgot to take all his possessions out of the bag!
- Listening to my students serenade me with an adorable version of "Let Me Call You Sweetheart" and then present me with flowers and candy for Valentine's Day
- Having one parent tell me how excited her daughter was to find 'Trojans' in the pharmacy section of Walmart after we had studied the Trojan War in our unit on Ancient Greece
- Nathan asking, out of nowhere, "So how, exactly, does God get the baby inside the woman?" and the discussion that followed
- The look on my boss' face when I showed her a picture of a ferret playing in our garbage can that Price brought in for show and tell, and telling her I thought we had a rodent problem!
-Watching the looks on my student's faces when they tasted traditional candy from India
- Witnessing the compassionate hearts each of them showed as the asked prayers each morning for the orphans in India, pastors in prison for telling others about Jesus, and the personal requests they wanted prayers for and then watching their faces light up with joy when some of those prayers were answered
Of course there were some difficult days and situations as well:
- having to make the decision to have one of my students tested and transferred to public school after coming to the conclusion that he needed more help than Trinity could offer
- the morning one of my students broke down and shared his fears that his parents were going to get a divorce after waking up that morning and finding his mom was gone after having a fight with his dad the night before
All in all, it was a wonderful year teaching 2nd grade. Last year when I was offered this opportunity, I began praying that God would use the experience to show me if teaching was what I wanted to do with my life. He answered that prayer in helping me realize that while I love teaching at Trinity and would do it again in instant, I don't love teaching enough to want to go back to school to get my teaching degree.
Now I am back to asking a question that has become all too familiar to me over the past several years, "What's next?" With my future at Trinity up in the air and no desire to work anywhere but Trinity, I am praying for God to prepare my heart for whatever He has in store for me in the upcoming weeks and months!
- The day Emma told me, "My mom didn't get married until she was 30, so there's still hope for you Miss Hensley." Ahh, how encouraging!
- The afternoon we were going ice-skating and I came back to the classroom after going to the bathroom to find an adult pair of boxers flying through the air. It turns out the dad of one of my students had used the bag he packed his ice skates in a few days earlier on a trip and forgot to take all his possessions out of the bag!
- Listening to my students serenade me with an adorable version of "Let Me Call You Sweetheart" and then present me with flowers and candy for Valentine's Day
- Having one parent tell me how excited her daughter was to find 'Trojans' in the pharmacy section of Walmart after we had studied the Trojan War in our unit on Ancient Greece
- Nathan asking, out of nowhere, "So how, exactly, does God get the baby inside the woman?" and the discussion that followed
- The look on my boss' face when I showed her a picture of a ferret playing in our garbage can that Price brought in for show and tell, and telling her I thought we had a rodent problem!
-Watching the looks on my student's faces when they tasted traditional candy from India
- Witnessing the compassionate hearts each of them showed as the asked prayers each morning for the orphans in India, pastors in prison for telling others about Jesus, and the personal requests they wanted prayers for and then watching their faces light up with joy when some of those prayers were answered
Of course there were some difficult days and situations as well:
- having to make the decision to have one of my students tested and transferred to public school after coming to the conclusion that he needed more help than Trinity could offer
- the morning one of my students broke down and shared his fears that his parents were going to get a divorce after waking up that morning and finding his mom was gone after having a fight with his dad the night before
All in all, it was a wonderful year teaching 2nd grade. Last year when I was offered this opportunity, I began praying that God would use the experience to show me if teaching was what I wanted to do with my life. He answered that prayer in helping me realize that while I love teaching at Trinity and would do it again in instant, I don't love teaching enough to want to go back to school to get my teaching degree.
Now I am back to asking a question that has become all too familiar to me over the past several years, "What's next?" With my future at Trinity up in the air and no desire to work anywhere but Trinity, I am praying for God to prepare my heart for whatever He has in store for me in the upcoming weeks and months!
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