Learning

When I decided that I was not going to return to Tianjin this fall, the first question asked in response was “What will you do?”. At the time, I had no reply. As the weeks and months began to pass, slowly I gained insight into what could possibly be a next step for me.

A multitude of conversations have led to this fork in the road, yet two situations stick out in my mind. Here they are.

-Be confident in yourself-
One day I boarded the 6:45 school bus to find two of my sophomore students already seated. As we were shuttled to school, their conversation consisted of bemoaning the horrors of their History project, and then the conversation turned to English. (Hmmm, the teacher is two seats behind you and has amazing hearing!) I chuckled to myself as they said things like “Ugh (insert dramatic sigh), my poem is so hard. I don’t understand it.” (Their assignment: analyze a poem related to the Holocaust and lead the class through a discussion on said poem.) In class that day, the two students in question asked for assistance as they were working on their Keynote discussion slides. As we dialogued about poetic devices, the poet’s purpose, theme, overall meanings within the poem, it was evident these two students had done their homework. Their problem? A lack of confidence in their abilities to analyze and deconstruct the work. In this blip of a moment in the classroom, I realized that so often we do this in life. We know the answers, but sometimes we lack the confidence we need to move forward.

-This is what it’s about-
My Gansu family group was amazing. Actually, amazing does not do them justice. The night our little group of “Lulus” dined on delicious street food is a highlight due to their willingness to participate in an open and honest discussion about life, faith, and relationships. After a long conversation where hurts were revealed, problems aired, and yang rou chaunr shared, I continued talking with one of the girls on the way back to the hotel. As we talked about her desire to go deeper in conversation with a close friend of hers, she turned to me, beamed, and said, “I’m learning a lot on this trip.” I smiled inside and thought, “THIS is what it’s all about.”

Walking with people as they wrestle with hurts, frustrations, discontent, joys, and every day battles of life makes me excited. Seeing my students challenged, rise above their own expectations, become transformed is what makes teaching rewarding, but not just teaching. It’s what makes relationships with people energizing.