Things I Wish I Could Tell My Students

There are so many things that I tell my students in a day: “Good morning”, “Raise your hand”, “Wait until I’m done talking before you move”, “Yes, you may go to the bathroom”, “I’ll miss you all while I’m gone” and the list goes on and on. Some days I feel like a talking head that they all good-naturedly groan at and (most of the time) listen to. But the best days are when my students talk and I don’t have to. Days when my students lead the discussion, days when my students ask all the questions--though they may not be the right ones, and days when my students are so hyped up about something in the news that we just discuss and debate all class hour long and they believe they’ve gotten out of something in my class, when really they’ve gotten something out of my class.

I love these days, and I love when my students take over my classroom. These days make me feel productive in a way that lecturing never does. While I thrive on my students taking over the discussion, there are some things I wish I could tell them.

1. You are loved. I know that you are in a phase of your life where you feel like you have to change yourself to try to fit in and who you are isn’t good enough. I know that sometimes you feel like no one knows who you really are and if they did, they wouldn’t like you, but I wish I could tell you that the God of the Universe--the God who created night and day--the God who put the stars in their place loves you. He doesn’t even just love you--He likes you. And more than that, He likes you and accepts you for who you are right now and that is amazing.

2. You were made for a purpose. Who you are now is shaping you into who you’re going to be later and you are going to accomplish amazing things. I already see it. I already see it when you stand up for other kids and when you express yourself through your writing and when you let anyone, and I mean anyone, sit at your lunch table--even those considered outcasts by everyone else. I see this happening every day and I am so proud of you. You’re showing God’s love to others and you don’t even know it. You are going to be awesome people and God is going to use you to change the world--He already is.

I wish I could say these things. I say ‘I wish’ because I can’t--not directly. I work in a secular school district and I feel like it’s the right place for me; I love the district I work in. But because I have respect for the religious differences of my students and the staff I work with, I keep these things to myself. I don’t say them outright. Instead, I try to show them these things. I tell them I’m proud of them when they do things that are right. I try to shape them to be young people who take care of others and who show love even when they don’t get very much at home or they’re not sure what loving others should look like. I try to encourage them and let them know that they have a purpose and that they need to start chasing that purpose now--that they don’t have to wait until they’re older to do something to change the world.

I tell them how much I believe in them and that they are important, but sometimes I’m just not sure it’s all getting through. I’m not sure that my voice is loud enough to penetrate the voices from the media, their peers, or even the voice in their heads that may be telling them they’re not enough. I worry that it gets lost in the hustle and bustle of everyday school life and all the curriculum and the grammar I’m trying to shove down their throats so they know how to actually write in something other than text speak.

Above all else, I want them to know how to be good people and what it feels like to be loved. And not loved because they have the coolest clothes or because they listen to cool music or because they’re sixteen and have a boyfriend for the first time. I want them to know what it means to be genuinely loved for who they are--messed-up and all-- and to have a place where there is no judgement; to have a soft place to land.

That’s my goal. And I hope I keep that goal in front of me all the time. That, yes, my job is to teach them English. And I intend to do that. But I think most teachers go into teaching because of the reasons above, or something that resembles those reasons, not just to teach kids how to write sentences or do an algebra equation. It has to be more than that--more than the curriculum and the tests. It has to be about who these kids are and who they’re going to be. Otherwise, what’s the point?