my first year of teaching. done.

Love. Encouragement. Forgiveness. Kindness. Respect. Patience. Endurance. Affection. Sympathy.

These are the words that I would use to sum up my first year of teaching-- the short version.

Here goes the long version. I thought that being back at my alma mater would be weird and boring and that I would hate it, but it was everything but all of that. I literally loved my job at DHS. I loved my administration, my co-workers and I adored my children. One teacher asked me a few weeks ago whether I had decided if I actually liked being a teacher or if I was looking for a new career after this year. I simply told that person, "Teaching is the hardest thing I have ever done, but the most rewarding at the same time." I say it is hard because every single day all day I am interacting with and talking to people and doing all I can to meet their needs. And lets be honest, sometimes you just want to sit down and do paperwork and not talk to anybody. But on the days when I woke up not wanting to put my big girl pants on were actually the days that I came home happier because I had put myself aside and focused on others. The day when my CP kids actually understood the domain of a piecewise function was a rewarding day. The days when my students said "I get it, Miss Belvin," were rewarding days.

Since teaching is supposed to be all about the students, I want to take some time to write about them and a few of my favorites in particular.

Most people give me the most disgusted look when I tell them I teach high school and when I say I teach math, they fall out of their chair. It hurts my heart. High school teenagers need just as much love, if not more, as little kinders. After spending every single day with my kids, I learned what made them laugh, how they thought, and how to really communicate with them.

I learned that my morning classes were still half asleep (even if it's 10 a.m.!) and by being sympathetic about their busy sports schedule or lack of sleep because of family problems, they were so much more engaged and willing to learn. Everyday my class right after lunch (with their full bellies) just wanted to take a nap so I basically had to do a little song and dance just to get them to start on their bellwork. And my last class of the day was my weakest and most needy of all my classes. Children with no parents, children that live with friends, children that have to do pushups in order to attend sporting events, children that have siblings fighting cancer, children who don't know their dad, children whose mom wants nothing to do with them.....when I learned all of this about my kids, I couldn't believe it. All of the brokenness. People wonder why kids get in fights or drink themselves drunk or do drugs. This is why! They are children with broken hearts. Children who just want someone to see them and care about them---because they are children. A 15 year old is a child. Plain and simple.

At the beginning of the fall semester, I was warned by a fellow teacher about one of my female students that she had the previous year. She warned me of her disrespectful attitude and I quote, "I have no love for that little girl." So of course this made me want to love her even more! I am glad I was warned because the little girl was a ball of fire. But I didn't let up on her. I talked to her multiple times one on one and prayed for her continually. By the end of the fall semester, she would smile at me when she walked in the door and would even compliment me! She is one of my sweetest students---because I showed her I cared.

Not all of my 130 students were that difficult though. They were all angels, but some had bigger wings than others. Angels. Literally. Polite and thoughtful. Kind and respectful. Generous and funny. So willing to help if I needed it and a desire to learn most of the time. My heart smiles and tears stream down my cheeks just thinking about all their faces. I hate to see them leave my classroom. So many things I want to tell them...."guard your heart" "cling to Jesus" "persevere in prayer" "don't grow up too fast" but all I am is their math teacher and "that would be weird, Miss Belvin," is what they would want to say! Maybe all I am to most of them is a math teacher, but Lord Willing to a few I am more than that. I hope that some saw the love I had (and still have) in my heart for them and most of all, I pray, they saw their Savior, Jesus Christ. 

my mission field.

I usually wrote Bible verses under the date, but never referenced them.

a few of my favorite responses on the final exam. 

The math department! (from left) The woman in the purple LSU shirt & the woman in the yellow   
LSU shirt were my math teachers in high school! Blessed to work with them my first year.

university day during homecoming week.
(This girl, Alex, is a family friend--that's the only reason I was able to upload one of a student)

Happy summer!