Concordia University Texas issued the following announcement on April 19.
Time and time again, teachers complain about the long hours spent lesson planning, meeting with parents and just managing their class day-by-day. As I am enduring my semester of student teaching, I have definitely experienced it firsthand. I see why people complain. It’s tough work. I wake up every morning at 5:30 am to get to school by 6:30 a.m. in order to prep for the day, then spend seven hours teaching my students and then stay until at least 4:30 p.m. grading, and then continue to lesson plan until I go to bed at 9 p.m. in order to repeat the whole cycle all over again the next day. While the routine is wearisome, that’s not the main reason why I feel it’s tough. It’s tough because I refuse to be mediocre for my students who I am striving to teach to do their absolute best. I work hard to reflect on how I can reach every student in my class and differentiate my lessons to make them interesting. Let’s face it, if I am going to be bored teaching it, then they are going to be bored learning about it. However, teaching is a job that rarely receives any praise. Typically, while my students enjoy learning, they don’t generally grasp that it’s my preparation that is allowing them to learn. In addition, when we are evaluated by adults, principals, or even parents, there will always be things that we can do better. Not to mention, every one of my students is different. They come in with tough home lives, regardless of how well off they are financially, because life is just tough. In fact, people in general are tough - students, parents, coworkers, etc. We all are. Why? SIN. We live in a sinful, imperfect world that is full of imperfect people, and this very profession of teaching is working with all different kinds of people all the time. In this imperfect world, I can’t help but think this is the way my students must feel, especially those that really struggle. I work hard, but then the work that I do can feel unappreciated, and it just continues to transpire day after day. It’s tough.
On the other hand, teaching is love. Teaching means waking up at 5:30 every morning in order to spend 12 hours a day teaching and lesson planning in order to show I love my students. It’s putting my needs behind and putting others’ needs first, especially my students. It’s demonstrating my love of learning to my students and learning to love learning together, despite the tough differences we have and tough experiences we face. Perhaps it’s our perspective of teaching that needs to change, rather than searching for the changes that need to be made in our teachers.
This brings me to the expression that has been on my heart a lot throughout this experience, “tough love.” It sounds like an oxymoron, right? Love is often described as putting someone before yourself or an intense feeling of deep affection. On the other hand, tough is thought to be described as involving something with great difficulty. However, Merriam Webster’s dictionary defines the expression, “tough love,” as, “love or affectionate concern expressed in a stern or unsentimental manner to promote responsible behavior.” While sometimes we have to show tough love to our students or receive it from our coworkers in order to achieve greater things, this is not the same meaning I am talking about when I say teachers are redefining tough love. Teaching is a tough love. It’s a passion of mine that challenges me. However, tough also means that an individual is strong enough to overcome challenging conditions, and I would argue that teachers are doing that every day, and it’s fueled by the love they have for their students, and most of all, for their Savior, Jesus. Jesus came down and lived a tough life, just like the rest of us. In fact, He was the ultimate teacher.
“He never taught a lesson in a classroom. He had no tools to work with, no blackboards, maps or charts. He used no subject outlines, kept no records, gave no grades, and His only text was ancient and well-worn. His students were the poor, the lame, the deaf, the blind, the outcast and His method was the same for all who came to hear and learn. He opened eyes with faith. He opened ears with simple truth and opened hearts with love, a love born of forgiveness. A gentle man, a humble man, He asked and won no honors, no gold awards of tribute to His expertise or wisdom, and yet this quiet Teacher from the hills of Galilee has fed the needs, fulfilled the hopes and changed the lives of many millions. For what He taught brought heaven to earth and God’s heart to all.” – Jesus the Teacher
Jesus overcame the toughest situation of all when he died on the cross for the imperfect people, us, whom He loved even more. Perhaps teachers view their teaching as tough work, rather than tough love.
In fact, many people are trying to get a sense of self through something as simple as a paycheck or even something more meaningful, such as productivity and success. However, these factors still burn people out of their professions. They aren't satisfying, and perhaps this is why so many teachers leave after five years. Timothy Keller’s "Every Good Endeavor" explains, "Though Jesus' twelve apostles left their nets after meeting him (Luke 5:11), we later see them continuing their trade of fishing. These are not men who meet Christ and stop their 'secular work' or who dial back their intensity and passion. Instead, what forever changed was the disciples' relationship with their work. Jesus gave them the big picture; in fact, he was the big picture. He very deliberately called them to a kind of fishing beyond their fishing: 'Don't be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.' (Luke 5:11)" (p. 234). It can be seen that the disciples had a new freedom both from their work and in their work. This led me to think about teaching. Do we let our work control us to where we don't even notice when God comes through with a new opportunity? Do we finally catch all the fish we can, such as graduating college or even getting our own classroom, and then immediately start focusing on the prospect of the next bigger one? How can I work for a purpose, rather than as an obligation, especially when I am a young teacher?
Throughout the Education program, we have been asked, "Why do you want to be a teacher?" And in fact, most of us would answer that it is because of our passion for helping children learn. While passion can lead us to excel in everything we do, there are different sources of passion. In fact, when we answer this question, we are answering it for ourselves. Why do YOU want to be a teacher? In which, our contemporary culture glorifies this self-serving nature. However, the very definition of passion is Christ's passion and love, to sacrifice your freedom for someone else. Rather, my passion should not be based on my own abilities, but instead following Jesus' model. Therefore, it is no longer, "I want to be a teacher because I am passionate about children's learning," but instead, "Serving children's learning is my passion."
However, the responsibilities for the teacher to serve students are not easy. There will be days where I know I will feel weary and burdened, especially as a new teacher. I have experienced it firsthand as a student teacher already! However, as Jesus says in Matthew 11:28-30, he calls all people to himself and says he knows we are "weary and burdened" and that we need "rest." Jesus says that it is his yoke and burden, rather than ours. Therefore, as a Christian cleverly disguised as a Concordia student and future teacher, I am able to rest only because of God's redemptive work that is likewise finished in Christ. As Timothy Keller says, "When the work under the work has been satisfied by the Son, all that's left for us to do is to serve the work we've been given by the Father" (p. 247). If it's one thing I've learned, whether that be in my coursework, my fieldwork experience, my clinical teaching, or in preparing for my role as a Concordia graduate or future teacher, God has given me this vocation because He has called me to it. Additionally, I know I can work with passion and rest, understanding that even the deepest desires of my heart, including my goals of becoming a teacher, will be fulfilled when I reach my ultimate desire in heaven. Therefore, regardless of where God sends me after graduation, I can work with joy, satisfaction, and no regrets, living to view my teaching as a tough love, rather than tough work. Therefore, I can relate to all of my students, including my struggling ones, because we are all struggling. We all have experienced “tough” so to speak, and instead we should strive to love one another in our struggles instead of complaining about the calling of service God has given to us. In a nutshell, teaching is choosing to rest in God’s love for us throughout the tough times and learn from the life lessons He gives us. After all, He makes all things work together for our good, in which that is the ultimate example of tough love.
Original source: http://www.concordia.edu/blog/authors/redefining-tough-love-in-classroom.html
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