On Monday this week we started a new unit in my 5th/6th grade science/health class. I will be gone on Thurs and Fri this week so I was choosing between two units and trying to decide which would be easiest to create a project for students to work on while I am gone.
I decided to jump ahead to the chapter on drugs and alcohol. While I would like to think that these kids won't have to deal with these temptations, I know better. So, we started Monday afternoon with a word association. Fascinating!
We moved on to filling in the first parts of a KWL chart: What do you already know? What do you want to learn? And then once the unit is finished they will fill in: What did you learn? As I listened to the questions they have about drugs and alcohol, I realized I was in over my head.
The following morning as I was praying, God reminded me that there is a Teen Challenge program near Bucharest and I thought perhaps I might be able to find someone to come and share with my students. Later that morning, I realized that there is someone in our community that has come out of that lifestyle. I checked with my director around lunch time and learned that we had a visitor around school this week that also has a background in drugs/alcohol. I ran over to the class where he was sharing and asked if he would consider coming in to talk with my 5th/6th graders. He was thrilled to!
I wasn't sure what to expect since I hadn't planned on having a guest speaker so hadn't prepared the kids (or myself) at all. I sat and listened to him share his story and then to the questions the kids were asking. I watched them listen carefully as our speaker shared directly from God's word and related truth to the temptations of drugs and alcohol. I was blessed to listen. I had been worried that we wouldn't use up all the class time, but there were endless questions.
As he closed our time in prayer, I was reminded of the preciousness of each life in my classroom. I have a renewed desire to pray for God's protection over every area of their lives. And, I was reminded that God is a God of details...the thought during my prayer time, catching our director that same day, and having the visitor who was available during my class time. What a great God we serve. He cares so much about the lives of those kids to orchestrate the time for them to hear truth. Wow!
1 comment:
It is cool to hear how you are so in touch with your kids. I would love for my son to have a teacher as caring as you someday!
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