My Life
is in Constant Transition…
A Story
of How God Keeps Teaching Me
This story is a continuing saga, some trials and
tribulations, many joys, new experiences, and daily opportunities to learn more
about fulfilling the passion God has set on my heart. It’s been a journey that has taught me many
things; some caused heartbreak and sleepless nights, but many more that brought
laughter, learning, and love into my life and into the lives of those around
me.
This story begins on a farm where I was so desperate to
do gymnastics, I drug pillows and blankets out on to the lawn and risked broken
limbs attempting tricks that I was sure
I could master. When my mom signed me up
for lessons out of town, I was ecstatic!
It was short-lived unfortunately. As a farm family, we could not afford the time
it took us to drive an hour one way and I had to stop taking the lessons. However, I was lucky enough to take dance and
acrobatics from an instructor in a rural studio not far from my home and then
additional ballet lessons later on. As a
high school cheerleader, my passion remained, I still wanted to learn. My parents bought a trampoline and I also
took tumbling classes from a gal in the next town over from ours. I so badly wanted to tumble across the gym
floor during a basketball game. While
that dream did not come true, God gave me the opportunity to teach others to do
the eye-catching tumbling tricks I so longed to do myself.
As it turns out, the gal that I took tumbling lessons
from decided to move to another state and needed to sell her mats. She asked if I would want to buy them…um,
yes, of course. After a conversation
with my parents, I decided that this was going to be my career. I would be a gymnastics teacher! I had a dear friend who cheered with me on my
squad who was a great gymnast and we took on our first small business the
summer after I graduated. We opened our
tiny gym in a downtown building her dad owned and taught ballet, jazz, and
tumbling classes. I was hooked and
couldn’t imagine ever doing anything again in my life. I read magazines, researched teaching
methods, subscribed to publications, anything I could get my hands on to learn,
I grabbed. That fall I got a job in a
gymnastics studio in my college town. I
vacuumed, cleaned toilets, and taught recreational gymnastics. I was in heaven! I was learning to coach from an amazing
teacher; she was always ready to show me strategies, techniques, and ideas to
help children learn the art of gymnastics.
I asked if I could travel with them when they took the team girls to
competitions (I figured I could be everyone’s ‘gopher’ and I didn’t care, I
just wanted to go!) I learned about
competitions, I watched higher levels of gymnasts, I met coaches, and I learned
by watching, doing, and asking a lot of questions.
I had another conversation with my parents who had
already entrusted me to make my first purchase of mats, I didn’t want to go
back to college, and I wanted to buy a building, teach gymnastics, and get my
career going. They agreed and we found a
teeny, tiny building where I would teach tumbling and Jazzercise! In all the excitement, I also married my high
school sweetheart at the mature age of 19!
Fast forward 17 years of coaching recreational gymnastics
and teaching lots of girls and boys to do those fantastic back handsprings! I was ready for a new career and had returned
to school to get an Associate’s Degree in Early Childhood. I had opened a preschool and had decided I
was ready to sell my gym. My children
were older and I was missing out on their activities. I still wanted to work with children and
particularly loved the preschool age so it was a pretty easy transition. I used many skills and strategies in the gym
to teach skills in preschool. We played,
we sang, we tried new things, we moved our bodies, and we told stories, all
things I had been doing for 17 years with children. I found that teaching gymnastics had given me
the hands-on experience I needed to teach.
I found that God was leading me to my next career.
In 2010 we moved to Grand Island. My husband had gotten a new job and we packed
up our lives and headed down I-80. I had
signed up for some college classes but had to drop out because of our
move. I needed to find a job
instead. I took a position as a lead
teacher in a preschool. Although I loved
every one of the 31 children I taught, I knew almost immediately I was in the
wrong place. My director had a
completely different philosophy from my philosophy of the “whole-child”
development. I passionately believed in
social development over academics. I
believed in relationships with children over ill-advised paper/pencil worksheet
“school readiness” activities. I spent
lunches alone and in tears, talking myself through the next week, day, and even
hours. I staunchly defended my belief
that children learn while doing, not while sitting and tracing. I wrote an eight page lesson plan to my boss
and the preschool board defending play, social development, physical
development, and relationships. I did
not win. I put my resignation in to
finish the year and spent my time laughing and playing with the children I had
come to love so much.
I did get back to my college classes the next
summer. In the fall, I taught at 2
preschools and taught dance/acro classes at a dance studio. My joy returned. My passion was growing. I began to imagine
myself teaching kindergarten…
Our final reflection for Cooperative Learning was an
open-ended project with no parameters as to what or how we found the class useful
and how we will use it in our classrooms.
I couldn’t think of anything “cool” that would express my appreciation
for the concepts shared in this class.
This class that brilliantly tied my past to my future, this class that
legitimized my passion for hands-on experience and social development as being “best
practice” for educating children, this class that shared my vision for moving
children becoming engaged learners, this class that fueled my passion even
more. I will be teaching kindergarten
this fall. God steered me to Grand
Island, to student teach in an environment where I worked with at-risk children
and families, to apply for a position in a low income school, and to be the one
chosen for the ONLY open elementary in the district. He leads, we follow, He weaves, and we lie
under the blanket of His protection and security. He loves with grace and mercy; I will allow
His love to overflow in my heart to spill over into the lives of children who
may not have ever experienced unconditional love. I will pray that I will ignite the passion
God places in the hearts of the children that I will have the honor of
teaching.
