Day 1006 -- This Email

I received this from a student today:

"Oh my goodness I don't even know where to start! You weren't lying when you said college chemistry would be different. The pace is crazy fast and most of the time I find that I have to teach myself most of the material. I'm so grateful that you taught me, I have all the tools that I will need to get through this class. My professor, who by the way treats us like her grandchildren, teaches in ways that confuse me to no end. Her methods and strategies to solve problems do not work for me. But thanks to you, I have easier methods for me to apply. I understand the material better than most people in my class. Thank you for being such a great teacher and an awesome person. You made chemistry fun, well as fun as it could be. And that made it easier to learn. Any student that has you this year is lucky and they need to know what's coming for them. Miss you as a teacher and thanks again!"

It was exactly what I needed at the end of a long, hard, discouraging week when I had totally convinced myself that I was a horrible teacher...it's amazing how God can tell just when we need a lift.

Thank God for this email!

Lord thank you for providing encouragement and for this student's appreciation. Thank you for always looking out for me. In your name I pray, Amen.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 162 -- "Showing Us the Way"

Image
One of my favorite things about the spring is the baccalaureate celebration that takes place the week before graduation.  I love the chance to see my seniors in their caps and gowns and to praise God for their arrival to the finish line.  For every year since I can remember, I've listened to Western's Select Choir perform the song "Showing Us the Way" by Michael V. Ficocelli.  When I was a senior, I even got to sing it at my own baccalaureate.  That year, and every year since I have taught at Western, I get choked up listening to the perfectly fitting lyrics of this song.  Tonight, on a perfect evening at the Cascades Falls, tears ran down my face as I watched the seniors I taught sing the words of this song to their classmates, parents, teachers, and friends.  I smiled and cried a little more as I realized that someday there's a good chance I'll be watching my own kids sing it at their baccalaureate. I had to share it with you.  This isn't Western's
Read more

We Dance...and We Sing...When We Play the Drum!

Let it be known that my son gets his money's worth out of his toys. Or, in this case, someone else's money's worth. Whatever. You know what I mean. The toys that he likes, he really, really likes. He uses them a lot for a long time. This particular toy is a drum that was given to him by our friends, The Tappans, at his FIRST birthday party. Needless to say, tonight he was REALLY enjoying his gift.
Read more

Day 80 -- Calvin and Hobbes

Image
When I was in junior high and high school, I used to read the anthologies of several comic strips, including Garfield, Fox Trot, The Far Side, and Calvin and Hobbes.  I remember reading them by the light of my bedside lamp, trying to stifle my giggles so that my parents wouldn't come bust me for staying up too late reading (the horror!). Calvin and Hobbes, especially, resonated with my sense of humor.  I found the strip simultaneously witty, funny, thought-provoking and perceptive.  I collected all of the anthologies, but somewhere between then and now, I either lost them or gave them away.  I told my husband about my tendency to read them from cover to cover, and how I was sad that I no longer had them.  Not too surprisingly, for Christmas, I received The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book from Santa. I have been slowly working my way through the book, and tonight I was reminded of Calvin's finicky eating habits and of his gift for creating macabre snowman art.  I w
Read more