Tag: teachers

The Night Before

This is the night before the first teacher day of my 34th year as a public school educator. 

I started working on plans for this moment last May for both the library and my Fellowship through the IN Arts Commission, and I am pleased with my progress. The downside is that I had “school dreams” all summer, and in most of those dreams, I was trying to take attendance for hundreds of kids in huge riser rooms, or I was running from one building to another looking for someone. To make matters worse, the lights were almost always dimmed while the spooky shadows swarmed around me. Bless my heart. If you’re a teacher, you’ve had your own set of school dreams this summer. Bless your heart, too. 

As I reflect on this year’s beginning, my insides turn a bit. I have answered emails all summer concerning curriculum and classroom books because teachers want to verify their choices with another educator. I have researched books for teachers working with various levels and for my school libraries. I want to be a good steward of decency and protect students from works that are not valuable. I also want to be a good steward of history and reality, making sure students have age-appropriate materials about how the world truly was and is. The educators in my district are working so hard to prepare for big challenges such as these and others.

Some of the educators that I partner with are no longer in the same building as me. I’ve moved on from some of them, and others have moved on from me. Every teacher knows this dynamic, and we continue to grow and benefit from our networks. Knowing the value of connecting to others makes my heart turn toward my past students. 

Once you’re one of my kids, you are always one of my kids. Some of them are 18 years old and preparing for their first ventures into the world. Some of them are now in their late 40s/early 50s. (I had seniors in my first year of teaching, and I was only 22!) I still think about all of the challenges facing them at the beginning of a school year. Whether they are sending off their own child this year or going away to college, boot camp, or work themselves, I am in their corner. I wonder about and pray over faces that come to me because of memories that pop up. On this night before, I guess I’m a bit homesick for my graduates, but that’s nothing new, either. 

My Thought to Think this time is more like a stream of consciousness as I prepare for big opportunities in the upcoming year and hope for the best for my kids. I’m doing ok, but I’d love to hear how life is going for them. I want them to know that preparing for beginnings and actually beginning is hard for all of us, including me, even after so many years. I’d love to chat and catch up soon! Receive a text, email, or message. Hear about their rough spots and adventures. 

But for now, I need to pack my lunch and haul out another load of materials that need to go to school with me tomorrow. Here’s to sweet dreams (or at least no school dreams) for all of us tonight.

Opposition

Do the Steelers make your blood pump or boil? Are you secretly (or very openly) gleeful when the Lakers lose? When your favorite college team plays, do you let Jesus sit by you on the couch and calmly watch, or will your yells and referee critiques flow freely from your heart and spill out of your mouth? I have to admit I’ve spoken ugly words while supporting my favorite teams, mainly when my husband coached and my kids played. I cringe at the thoughts and comments that bubbled up and out of me, and I’ve apologized to God and to people.

Over the past few years, however, sports haven’t impacted me at all because I don’t care who wins what anymore, but I’ve found myself drawn into another facet of community life. The idea that some political leaders want to create laws forcing everyone to think/behave/read a certain way confuses me. And now that my livelihood as a librarian and teacher is at the center of these discussions, it frightens me. But, true to my goal for this year, I’m going to write in a way that scares me a little. 

The most recent legislative discussion brought to my attention concerns Indiana SB12 about keeping harmful materials away from minors. The bill’s authors want parents to have a way to see and question any material in a school library that they deem inappropriate. The current phrasing then shows that these senators want to “[remove] schools from the list of entities eligible for a specified defense to criminal prosecutions.”

Wait. Does this actually say that I won’t be eligible for defense and will be criminally prosecuted if the library has material that a parent doesn’t like? 

Parents at my corporation can see the holdings of all three libraries, and we have a board-approved policy in place to make sure that all parents have a voice concerning their child’s library selections. Some parents wish for their students to read authors like Judy Blume, Alice Walker, John Steinbeck, Angie Thomas, Sherman Alexie, and William Shakespeare while others don’t. Isn’t it my job, even as a Jesus-following believer, to make sure materials are available for all patrons?

What’s the point of this micromanaging SB12? Are our leaders trying to force their belief system on all citizens? How is that American freedom? 

When I was listening to Annie F. Downs’s podcast Let’s Read the Gospels today, one part of scripture jumped out at me. The reading from the Gospel of Luke shows Jesus as he’s preparing to go to Jerusalem where he knows he will be crucified. In this particular section of Luke 9, Jesus and his disciples were traveling to Jerusalem and moving through a Samaritan community. The simplified background is that Samaritans and Jewish people hated each other. They had a history of conflict and name-calling where both politics and religion were involved. Take a look at the beginning of the scripture.

Luke 9:51-56 (New International Version)

51 As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. 52 And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; 53 but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. 

The Samaritans did not welcome Jesus. They didn’t want him near or in their area because they had different viewpoints on life. The people did not believe in Jesus even when the miracles were happening in that exact time period and in close proximity to them. 

So, the disciples, being fully human with bubbling hearts that spilled out of their mouths, reacted.

54 When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” 55 But Jesus turned and rebuked them. 56 Then he and his disciples went to another village.

Look! Jesus, the living man who is the Christ, rebuked the disciples when they wanted to punish the people who didn’t think like them. Rebuked means to express sharp disapproval. When James and John wanted to destroy the people who thought differently, Jesus sharply criticized them. He shut them down and showed his strong disapproval. Then, he led them to another village to try again.

To me, this means that when humans disagree, Jesus does not want us to force beliefs on each other or use our relationship with Him to oppress and harm each other. Applied to Indiana SB 12, when librarians offer materials, each family chooses the items they want to read.

So, why are our modern legislators, in the name of moral Christianity, continually creating laws that force one belief onto all people? I’m a lifelong Christian who wants to follow Jesus in all of my dealings, and I want to be like Him. Using this and many other scriptures about Him, I see that I’m not supposed to force my beliefs on anyone. God built us with the free will to choose Him, so our relationship with Him will be authentic.

How does legislation like Indiana SB12 reflect Jesus? 

How do so many of the national laws and proposed pieces of legislation reflect the free will of each person to choose Jesus?

Mustard Seed Faith

In the Book of Matthew, chapter 17, a man approached Jesus and asked for help with his son who was possessed by a demon. The man reported that he brought the boy to the disciples, but they were not able to help. The words Jesus spoke next to his disciples give me chills.

17 “You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” 18 Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed at that moment.

My heart hurts when I think of the times I push Jesus to ask these questions of me. Am I the only one? Do you also feel the sting of His disappointment?

19 Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”

20 He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

A young woman and I were talking about this story. She feels that her workplace is a major battleground for spiritual warfare because of the burdens in the lives of her clients. She helps young children who come from broken homes full of drugs and abuse. She hears stories about family members in jail, about sexual information from 5-year-olds who should not know anything about what they’re reporting, and about adults who physically harm the children in their care. 

While this young woman loves her job and the children she counsels, she needs to know how to battle those demons on behalf of the children and then release the evil from herself. The pictures in her mind visit her in dreams, and the experiences at work bleed into a dark stain in her personal life. She wants to have the mustard seed of faith to overcome evil and make her workplace one of peace. 

The young woman talked to a friend about her concerns, and the friend explained that the mustard seed parable brought her to her knees when saw the mountains out West for the first time. The friend wondered, “How can a human possibly move a physical structure that big?” The conversation made the young counselor feel worse because her problem did not seem as big as the physical mountains.

However, the result of this young woman’s work is a human. It’s a truth for anyone who helps people; we never see the final product of our efforts. We can only see incremental gains along the way. I asked the young woman to look at the scripture in a new light. 

She is not responsible for changing the entire workplace and community by herself even though she originally saw those as the mountains she intended to move. The larger systemic issues of drug use, crime, racism, poverty, low education, economic factors, homelessness, and poor parenting along with many other issues won’t likely be changed by one person. Still, this strong young woman cultivates relationships with individual children and feels the mountainous burdens on their lives. She wants to move those mountains even though she only meets with the children for a small amount of time. 

I see the mustard seed as the words she says to the children. She plants positive ideas, techniques to deal with trauma, and self-control into every conversation. Her mustard seeds of faith extend into the hearts of those children daily, and without her knowing when or which words, her faith-spread light will take root and help recovery grow, one student at a time. 

In the future, those children will remember what she has taught them, and because of those tiny seeds of faith words, the lives of those children can be moved, with God’s help, from the trauma now into a beautiful future. Tending to the children’s decisions and knowledge can bring huge changes in their lives as they keep making one more good decision at a time and leaving evil behind them. 

This young woman’s job is to be a light in her dark workplace, to be certain that each mustard seed of faith she sows will grow a little at a time. Eventually, her words can open the children’s hearts to God’s offer of salvation and move them from the mountain of darkness to a life of light.

May we all plant our mustard seeds with the faith that Jesus offers us. May we see evidence of the mountains moving.

Truth Telling for My 2022 Graduates

May 21 was a very special day for the Class of 2022 from my school. Graduation day. Faculty and staff in my district worked diligently for the past thirteen years to ensure that this day would happen for our students. I know their families are excited and feeling bittersweet emotions connected to a day of commencement. I am proud of these graduates, and following tradition, I wrote a poem for my students and shared it with them earlier in the week before their ceremony. Actually, this year’s poem turned into a second one as well. The message is the same, but my advice moved into a personal connection in the 2.0 version. 

My grandmother kept succulents, known as mother hen and chicks in our family. Even though she passed when I was four years old, I have always felt a connection to her through these plants. I took a few from the home my grandfather shared with her when I married and started my life as an adult. Since then, I’ve had descendants from her plants at every home my husband and I have inhabited, and I’ve given away hundreds of them because sharing makes the original plants more prosperous. I imagine that’s how my grandmother’s love is still moving through me. That’s how love works. 

Each member of my current class of graduates received a chick from my home. They carried those little babies around all day, caring for them already. Likewise, I want my students to know that God loves them and cares for them with great strength.

My prayer is for my words to be encouraging and be a reminder to all who read them. The poems are to honor the Class of 2022, but I hope they can be a blessing to all readers. 

To this year’s second period gang, Congratulations, my loves!

You Know I Tell You the Truth 1.0

The days and months and years that lay ahead 
of you will be full of challenges. You will make plans 
and work to fulfill dreams of which 
only some will come to fruition. 
Problems will be in those future days. 
You will believe the best of life will come 
when you finish school or 
fall into a new love 
or become healthier or secure the new job. 
But don’t trust those lies 
whether you say them or someone tries to convince you.

You can’t just be anything you want to be. 
You won’t save another person from their own choices. 
You shouldn’t expect flowers and rainbows 
to fill your universe with opportunity. 
You won’t see a perfect path paved and ready 
for your diligent and sincere efforts to 
shape the life you intend to live. 
This old world is far bigger
 and treacherous and set in its ways 
than you can imagine. 
You might search for an item or a guru or a pill
when the pressure lays on your lungs. 
If your mind is passive, you will struggle to 
breathe the next breath.

You know I tell you the truth. 

So, what’s the plan to survive in the next moments or
days or months or years? 
A secret I know can help you. 
Will you commit to an active, attentive mind? 
A turn from frivolous notions, 
from a passive observation of yourself? 

When you think
…your efforts should guarantee success
…other people keep you from gaining ground
…the world’s red tape and rules force you into 
a holding pattern
…your gossip and drama are harmless
…all of the pressures push against you, then

Change your conduct which will 
Change your thinking which will
Change your feelings which creates

Hope.

Prove your hope against whatever 
the world throws at you by 
first changing your own actions. 

The secret of hope is more powerful 
than the darkness of this world. 
Overcome the hard seasons and cling to hope 
and family and joy 
even in the middle of difficult times.

You don’t need to conform to your past ignorance, 
squeezed into the culture around you. 
You don’t have to worry about being liked or noticed or powerful. 
Choose actions that prove your knowledge and character. 
Choose to be kind and loving and honorable. 
Help without being asked. 
Show others patience and honesty and sincerity. 

I promise that in your future, bad events will happen, 
so don’t be surprised or angry or hurt. 
Humans flounder.
In these moments, you can turn negative into hope, 
respond with gentleness and respect,
be different from the crowd. 

I don’t subscribe to the secret of hope at times. 
In the misery of problems, my actions take 
my mind into a dark place where my emotions 
suffocate me. 
I can’t find hope in this place, and you won’t find it there, either. 

So, focus your actions to direct your mind and emotions
and find your hope.

Hope is the answer. 

You are on this fast-spinning earth for a reason. 
You have a mission and a group of people who need you. 
Your butterfly effect will change the world. 

You know I tell you the truth.


Lori Vandeventer
May 15, 2022


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Truth 2.0: The Mother Hen and Chicks

The mother hen sat alone
waiting.
Her chicks would soon depart, and she
wondered 
what she would tell them about
challenges, plans, 
and work to fulfill dreams 
of which only some will come true. 

She is certain of future trials 
for her chicks,
certain some will believe
the old lies of how the best of life 
will finally arrive--when
they crack open from the shell or 
fall into a new love 
or roam far from the safety of her wings. 
The mother hen knows to not
trust those lies 
no matter whose hungry mouths say the words.

This old world is far bigger
and treacherous and set in its ways 
than any chick can imagine. 

So, what’s the plan to survive in the next moments or
days or months or years? 
A secret the mother hen knows. 
Requiring an active, attentive mind, 
a turn from frivolous notions, 
from a passive observation. 

A change of conduct will 
change thinking which will
change feelings which creates

Hope.

The secret of hope is more powerful 
than the darkness of this world. 

The mother hen knows to choose actions 
of knowledge and character, 
of kindness and love and honor. 
She wants her chicks to help 
without being asked,
to show patience and honesty and sincerity. 

Future, bad events will happen
to her chicks.
Still, she doesn’t want them
surprised or angry or hurt. 

In these moments, the negative can turn into hope
if her chicks
respond with gentleness and respect,
differently from the crowd. 

As the mother hen sits alone, she remembers
when she didn’t subscribe to the secret of hope. 
In the misery of problems, her actions led
into a dark place where 
emotions suffocated. 
Neither mother hens nor chicks
find hope in that place.

But, she knows how it feels to focus actions,
direct her mind and emotions
and find hope.
She knows that her chicks will 
sprout up,
peeking, at first, and then pushing through to surround her,
filling the space with beauty.
Her chicks, smart and capable, will 
continue, circle after circle, to 
choose actions
and adjust their thinking to settle their emotions into
hope.

Hope is the answer. 

Her chicks are on this fast-spinning earth for a reason 
with a mission.
And the mother hen knows their
butterfly effect 
will change the world. 


Lori Vandeventer
May 15, 2022

Thoughts for my Fellow Christian Educators and our Friends…

Two years ago, we were all thrown into the deep end and had to sink or swim with the likes of Zoom technology. We had to learn the basics about starting a meeting, using the chat feature, and unmuting our microphones before we tried to speak. Chat rooms and digital view boards and Google document comments seemed overwhelming back then when we moved to a virtual setting for classes and meetings with students. We were concerned about curriculum, but even more about our students’ social and emotional well-being. Most of us were making the biggest pivot of our careers.

Fast forward. Now we can smoothly instruct whether we are in the same room with our students or not. Technology is no longer so intimidating, and we can troubleshoot with confidence to overcome any blips in the process. Virtual meetings are as normal as taking attendance and keeping a gradebook with a digital student information system. The technology allows us to explore a much bigger world than ever before. Actually, I participated in a virtual experience this evening that I’d like to share with you.

I was honored to attend a Zoom meeting through Christian Educators Association International (CEAI) where we listened to a first-hand account from a Polish educator who is deeply involved in helping Ukrainian refugees. Her small town in Poland has a Proem Ministries camp that is now turned into a refugee living space. The camp provides all necessities for refugees who are seeking shelter from the war. Most arrive with one suitcase or one plastic sack of belongings. She explained that when the Ukrainian people arrive, they come from places that have been bombed and completely destroyed, so they are looking to begin new lives. This camp provides shelter, food, medicine, clothes, and trauma care. Also, she and her co-workers staff a Proem Ministries Christian school of over 400 students. Around 30 Ukrainian students have joined classes and are trying to restore some semblance of normalcy to their young lives while their fathers are still in Ukraine fighting and their mothers are securing permanent lodging and work in Poland. After hearing her stories, our adjustment to virtual learning in 2020 doesn’t seem like such a big pivot after all. 

The main purpose for the meeting is exciting. Our group of Christian educators is given a wonderful opportunity to offer monetary assistance to the camp and school in Poland. CEAI is accepting donations where 100% of the money will go straight to the Proem Ministries. Also, CEAI leadership has secured a $25,000 matching program with very generous donors. So, if Christian educators and our friends can donate the $25,000, the matching will make our donation to the Polish educators a $50K deposit!

I invite you to learn about the partner ministry, Proem Poland, who is serving desperate Ukrainian refugees.

https://proemministries.org/

I ask you to pray for all of the people in harm’s way because of this war. Then, if you are led to do so, you can join other educators and our friends to meet the monetary goal and support this humanitarian effort.

Donate Here

Tonight, I’m pondering the progression of time and technology over the past couple of years. The connections we can make from the little Zoom squares of pictures is amazing. The difference God can make in the lives of vulnerable people across the Atlantic because of those connections is miraculous.

A Word for Teachers

Dear Auspicious Teacher,                                                                                                                     

We didn’t see this one coming, did we? The committees who worked to organize one-to-one formatting for schools, to solidify the eLearning plans, and to inform the stakeholders didn’t realize that their research would lay the groundwork for our response to a pandemic’s shut down of the educational system. My heart was first broken for the students, so I wrote them a letter. Then, I could see the parents working so hard to make the “next few weeks” work well; I wrote them a letter, too. After a week of online instruction with my own students and listening to stories from friends both near and far, I need to share a thought with my fellow teachers. One word. Simplify.

I know that you love to learn, and I do, too. The new technology that we have all been forced to not only incorporate, but also use as the basis for our classroom processes is a challenge, and I can see you all meeting the challenge in amazing ways. We teachers are moving lessons to Zoom and Google Meet rooms. We are using software that companies have placed in our hands as free resources for us and our students. We are making packets, creating slide shows, sharing our screens, opening conversation threads, writing new content, and possibly, rekindling a fire for creativity and excitement that we haven’t felt in a long time. We are experiencing a new sense of appreciation as many parents and public figures are openly thanking us for our work. It’s good to be recognized, right? Still. Simplify.

You have your own family to love and support during this time. Please, get your nose out of the book and the screen to go cook and play and paint with them. I know how you feel about your students. I am fiercely protective of mine, too; however, look at the faces of the ones in your home. Have no regrets when this is over. Just like you are telling your students and their parents to have a routine and plan times for each event during the day, you should do the same. We are used to taking home HOURS of work each night and weekend, but now isn’t the time to spend locked away planning or grading. (I’m talking to myself here, too, guys.) Set your schedule and follow it, including a time to put down the pencil and close the laptop. Simplify.

Also, I urge you to realize that as we all are learning new skills and trying new and exciting methods, we can’t let our students become our test subjects. Whether you are planning all the topics for your 28 elementary kids or planning your four preps for your 128 high schoolers, dial back the amount of work. I’ve heard many stories in the last week of kids working several hours a day just to keep up with all the work being assigned. Our students deserve better than that. We must remember their mental stress load as much as we remember our own. Get to the heart of your fourth quarter plans and focus on those basic concepts. Introduce new content if you must but slow down your pacing. No students should be working on the same class for several hours every day. Simplify.

You and I both love our students. No doubt. We both also love learning and the buzz we feel from creating good content for our kids. Just remember to go slowly to keep from overwhelming your students and yourself.

Simplify.

Blessings to you, my friends.