Change Change Change

I came back from Mozambique with a pretty clear direction of heading into the teaching field, focusing on the inner city. So, I dug up my credentials, put together my resume, and tackled the red tape at the public school system’s Human Resources. I was finally ready to use that Master’s degree I got 3 years ago! After a couple of months of frustrating lack of response from HR, I heard about a position teaching 7th grade language arts at a local middle school. The next Tuesday, I went for an interview with the principal and was hired on the spot, to start ASAP. One week later, I had left my job at the church (don’t worry, they knew it was coming) and was in the classroom with energetic 7th graders who were very ready for Christmas break, tired of having substitutes (their teacher had vacated the position almost a month before that), and eager to test my limits. Talk about a whirlwind of change!

I’m excited about this job, although I know it’s going to be a challenge. The first week was…rough, to say the least. 100% of the students live in poverty, and the school is on probation under No Child Left Behind (meaning it’s a failing school). The 7th grade class is the worst behaved class in a school that already has huge behavior problems. In those first 3 days, I honestly felt like I was trying to run a 3 ring circus (but failing). I’m amazed, given the behavior problems in this school, that any learning actually takes place. At the same time, considering the home situations and lives that most of these kids have, it’s often amazing that they survive. Their main question to me has been why I came to their school. I’ve been told by many students already that I came to the wrong school and that they don’t expect me to last through the spring semester. Unfortunately, they have a lot of experience to base that assertion on, as teachers and substitutes and other staff walk out of the school mid-year, mid-week, mid-day all the time. The first week was definitely eye-opening and, just as much as those first couple of weeks in Mozambique, tested and challenged me in nearly every way. Once again, I’m acutely aware of how much I desperately need my God–just to get through one day. I’m also very aware after this week of how much I need a strong prayer covering. Just as much as I needed them in Mozambique, I need prayer as I go into this local mission field.

I’m thankful for Christmas break. These days have given me a chance to regroup, set up my classroom, and prepare for the semester. Every other teacher in the school reassured me that the week before Christmas break is the worst week of the year to start teaching and that this particular school is a more challenging environment than any they had ever encountered before. I was congratulated for returning after the first day. But, surviving that week gives me hope for surviving the year. And maybe even doing some teaching at some point, between breaking up fights, being cussed out, and corralling out of control, hormonal preteens.

I go back tomorrow; students return Tuesday. Deep breath.