Classroom Management

 

I taught the 5-7 year olds Sunday class at my old church for about 11 years.  So when I transitioned to my new church, I was more than thrilled and ready to help with Sunday class.  Let's just say I got more than what I bargained for.  Since it's a small church less than 20 strong, there are seven kids in Sunday class so far who range from the ages of 1.5 to 12 years.  Now, this calls for the ultimate classroom management especially when you have one or two kids who tend to be disruptive.

Although, I am not a teacher by profession, I enjoy hanging out with these little one.  Getting to the lesson is always the fun part but then having to tell kids to constantly "listen," "no pushing" and "no hitting" is the not-so-fun part.   Having to deal with the parents is even less fun.  You always have to watch your words and make sure they don't leave offended because they thought they just heard you say that they're kids were bad.  Yikes!

How do you teach a kid, more like a 7 year old, that it's not right for her to throw tantrums and hit other kids because she is upset when she does not get her way.  I thought tantrums or loud cries and screaming only happened at the terrible twos level.   Well, I am learning that it's not always the case.  My patience is constantly being tested and I have only taught for two Sundays. Teaching children's ministry is not a joke.  It requires a lot of patience and consistency from all the teachers. 

But, in spite of the constant classroom management or dealing with big kids who like to have tantrums, I truly enjoy teaching these kiddos about the word of God.  I want them to leave church having a better understanding of who God is and how we are to live for Him. 

Noah the Movie: An Epic Success or Epic Fail?

Naturally, when you go to the movies, you have expectations.  I usually go to the movies to be inspired.  Movies and other forms of entertainment can be great ways to escape from the stress of life.  As a movie consumer, I greatly appreciate good and purposeful stories.  I believe these stories should make sense, connect and resonate with me internally.

So when I finally decided to pay and go see Noah in the theaters, I was reluctant and did not expect much.  I doubted that Hollywood would accurately depict this epic Biblical story.  It also did not help that the screenwriter was a self-proclaimed atheist.  As an atheist, it would be impossible for him to capture the miraculous and powerful purpose of Biblical stories. 

As I feared, the movie Noah was an epic fail. It was inaccurate, confusing and misleading. Besides the movie not demonstrating the real story of Noah as told in the Bible, it was a lackluster, humdrum story.  The movie felt like a transition between the movies Waterworld and Transformers.   With all its dramatic special effects, the movie still lacked the ability to capture the attention of an audience.  Purposeful dialogue and storytelling are definitely necessary to keep the audience engaged.   This is the difference between the power of the written word and when it is translated into a movie.  Oftentimes, the movie foregoes the details, and without details, the essence of a good story is lost.  The best Biblical depiction of a story in the Bible that Hollywood has ever produced was Charles Heston's The Ten Commandment. A true classic!  Nowadays, modern day Hollywood likes to distract with special effects.  My stand is that great stories always trump epic special effects.  Overall, Noah seemed like a rushed job covered with special effects. 

Walls

How do you brighten up a dull room?  I just recently moved to my parents for the meantime. It turned out to be more of a blessing than I expected.  I have the opportunity to save more, spend time with family [my mom and my little going off to college] and do more creative projects.  Just to describe my room a little bit. Currently, I have old, dull white curtains, which I plan to change soon and dark green carpet that I can do nothing about. Who wouldn't be depressed? Picture plain white walls, ugly white thick curtains from the 70's from the previous owner and dark green carpet.  I just had to do something about the walls because the all white was just too suffocating and depressing. I wish I had a picture of the dull white walls before it was painted and you would understand.  I made changing the walls the first house projects a few months ago.  I wanted something cool and creative.  What is more creative than having accent walls, right? I decided to paint the main wall light blue base color with dark blue flower stencils. Boy, did I have fun doing this project.  Even though it took a couple of days, to do the tedious flowers, I was in heaven.  I started out with just dark blue flowers and thought, hey, why not add some colorful, smaller yellow, orange and red flowers.  Let's just say, that did not work out.  I spent the next few days unable to sleep.  The bright colors were just too stimulating and I could not sleep.  I decided to change it back and gradually began painting over the bright flowers with the light blue base and ended up with a product I love.   See picture

 

Anyway, I like how my walls now look.  I learned a couple of things through this project. 

 

1. Blue is a naturally soothing color

2. Bright colors can be over-stimulating

3. All projects are perfected through trial and error

4. Never be afraid of messing up because there is always a chance for redemption

5. It's helpful to have a before and after picture because you appreciate the end product more

6. Lastly, the process can be just as enjoyable as the end product

Seasonal Friends

One of the things I have never understood was the idea of “friends for a season” or “seasonal friends.”   My first experience of a friend not talking to me was in my mid-twenties.  She wasn’t returning any of my phone calls or emails.  And yes, I did not see it coming and I wanted closure.  So I sort after it.  This was new to me.  I had never had someone stop talking to me without knowing the reason why.  I did what any “loyal friend” would do; I tried every possible way to revive the relationship which became somewhat obsessive.  Thinking back, I was operating in a “stalker-like” way.   The most “stalker-like” thing I did was secretly leaving a gift and a card about how much I appreciated her friendship at her doorstep.  Pretty “stalker-like,” right?  Anyway, I wanted to make sure I had not offended her or under appreciate the friendship.  I even messaged her on Facebook pining over what coulda, mighta or shoulda happened.  This, of course, is something you NEVER do, in dating, let alone in friendships.  When she finally got back to me, she gave me the “it’s not you but me” scenario and then sealed it with we were “friends for a season.”  It didn’t feel good being the recipient of “friends for a season” speech so I vowed to never use that phrase towards any of my current or past friendships.

Until now, I still don’t understand the phrase.  But throughout the years, I have learned that friendships change and it is okay when they do.  I am still convinced that there is no such thing as “friends for a season.”  It just ruins the beauty of fall, winter, spring, or summer and friendships.  You choose to be around those you want or feel comfortable being around and it has nothing to do with the seasons.  This is the truth and reality I had to come to; she wanted to move on and be around those she wanted to be around.  People change their minds about the extent of friendship they want to have with you.  They change it for personal reasons, preferences or their current circumstances warrants the change and they feel the need to cut ties.   We all have different definitions and expectations of what we want out of a friendship.  If someone doesn’t meet the expectations, would you say they were never a friend?  I hope not.  That experience taught me to accept that we will never have the perfect friendship that we desire from another human being.