It seems that every time I have an assignment due for one of my education graduate classes, the same question pops into my head, "how am I going to be a teacher?" More so, how am I going to be a teacher with only 3 classes under my belt? I feel lost every time I try to work on an assignment and Satan really attacks my confidence. I try to tell myself "Gina you will be great, you are more than capable to do this" and then 2 seconds later there Satan is again filling my head and heart full of lies!
This questioning of is this where I am supposed to be, this stirring in my stomach, a place where failure is in the forefront of my mind. Why am I so afraid of failure?
How do I work beyond this into God's presence? No anxiety. No worries. No questioning. INTO a confidence in God's Will for my life. To be teaching in under resourced schools with no background of education. A place of peace. Of trust.
God is truly asking me to lay down my questions of the future at His feet, to allow God to carry me, to serve Him, and to not worry.
Sometimes, it is okay to just BE. To sit at the table of the Lord and to be still, not thinking a million thoughts and to breathe.
A revelation that I have been having is my presumption that teaching is easy and fun has proven to be quite the contrary. Teaching is a lot of work, this whole idea of assessing students learning to see if they are understanding the material. And after being a student for 17 years and now I am on the opposite end of that as a teacher is like switching gears from first to fifth. I commend my teachers, they truly are heroes.
I am here on this journey and I surrender.
7.27.2008
Character vs. Personality
Recently I have been pondering the difference of personality and character. Wondering what makes them different. When I hear someone say "Bob has a honest character," vs. "Bob has a honest personality." The phrases take on different meanings for me.
According to dictionary.com I found the definitions that describe what character and personality are.
Personality-1. the visible aspect of one's character as it impresses others: He has a pleasing personality. 2.the sum total of the physical, mental, emotional, and social characteristics of an individual.
Character- 1. moral or ethical quality: a man of fine, honorable character. 2. qualities of honesty, courage, or the like; integrity: It takes character to face up to a bully.
As I continued to think about this it seems that personality and character are used interchangeably, but the main difference I noticed is 'moral' quality of a person is included in with character more of an internal presence where as personality is external, what is visible to others.
What do you all think?
According to dictionary.com I found the definitions that describe what character and personality are.
Personality-1. the visible aspect of one's character as it impresses others: He has a pleasing personality. 2.the sum total of the physical, mental, emotional, and social characteristics of an individual.
Character- 1. moral or ethical quality: a man of fine, honorable character. 2. qualities of honesty, courage, or the like; integrity: It takes character to face up to a bully.
As I continued to think about this it seems that personality and character are used interchangeably, but the main difference I noticed is 'moral' quality of a person is included in with character more of an internal presence where as personality is external, what is visible to others.
What do you all think?
7.05.2008
Witnessing for Jesus
Christ be the center of our lives, be the place we fix our eyes.
Over the last 2 weeks I am finally settling into the city life, God has been revealing himself to me more and more. Giving me a peace about being here for the next 2 years to be a part of God's plan and .
I am already seeing the blessings that are being bestowed upon me and I stand in awe of how PERFECT God's design for my life truly is. This Wednesday July 2nd Megan (one of the second year LU CHOICE students) and myself were in charge of shared prayer and spirituality sharing for our group. We decided to dig a little deeper and talk about being witnesses for Jesus and what that looks like in our lives. We talked about the passage in Matthew 16:13-19, Peter's confession of Christ. It is a beautiful picture of telling others about Christ and His love. As a group we discussed how can we be witnesses for Christ in our ministry as teachers and in our communities in which we will live. One of the guys Matt mentioned a quote from St. Francis of Assisi "Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words." Matt also gave us something to think about "If we are the only Jesus that people encounter let it be one of love." As we all begin teaching this fall in under resourced schools to bring the message of Christ it will be our actions that will speak volumes to the children. Another quote from the great St.Francis of Assisi, "It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching."
I started 2 education methods classes on Monday June 30th , Literacy and Social studies/fine arts. For the first week, they have been going well. I have been learning a lot about how to be an effective teacher. I am reading Esperanza Rising and the Dinosaurs of Water House Hawkins for my literacy class and am researching photography as an art for my social studies/fine arts course.
I believe where I saw God most this week was when some of us first years decided to go watch the movie Wall-e in nearby Evanston. We decided to not print off any directions because we knew that it was fairly close and Doug had a GPS system. It turned out that when we got into the car the GPS system, Sean, didn't want to cooperate and wouldn't find a signal. This forced us to work together as a team in a stressful situation, to stay patient and not become frustrated. After driving for over an hour, almost hitting a fox and deer, we arrived at Century Theater to watch Wall-e. (which is such a cute movie!) On our way back, it only took us about ten minutes and we were able to laugh about the trip there.
The area I have not been able to find God in the last 2 weeks is being able to love fully and not being able to trust fully.
It has been fun being here in Chicago for the July 4th festivities. Danielle, Elle, and I went to Navy Pier yesterday for the afternoon and stayed to watch the fireworks. We got to the Pier around 3pm and sat by the water and read while listening to a live band, so enjoyable. Then we ate at a fairly cheap cafe and when we were done we decided we wanted to ride the Ferris wheel, but it was quite expensive for 3 college students, so we went back to where we were sitting earlier. This posed a problem because we could only find 2 chairs and there were 3 of us. It turns out that a lady needed 2 chairs and was willing to give us $20 so we took it and went back to ride our ferris wheel! It was perfect and Chicago looks great at night! The fireworks show was spectacular and patriotic music accompanied them. After the show was over, it was quite the experience of going through over half a million people. We budged our way through to a quick exit and made it out in about 15 minutes.
Life is all about problem solving! :)
Prayer Requests:
1. The LU CHOICE group (12 of us) would continue to grow together as a group spiritually
2. That I will fully Trust God with ALL areas of my life
3. That our group will be Witnesses for Jesus at all times
In Christ's endless Love,
Gmac
Over the last 2 weeks I am finally settling into the city life, God has been revealing himself to me more and more. Giving me a peace about being here for the next 2 years to be a part of God's plan and .
I am already seeing the blessings that are being bestowed upon me and I stand in awe of how PERFECT God's design for my life truly is. This Wednesday July 2nd Megan (one of the second year LU CHOICE students) and myself were in charge of shared prayer and spirituality sharing for our group. We decided to dig a little deeper and talk about being witnesses for Jesus and what that looks like in our lives. We talked about the passage in Matthew 16:13-19, Peter's confession of Christ. It is a beautiful picture of telling others about Christ and His love. As a group we discussed how can we be witnesses for Christ in our ministry as teachers and in our communities in which we will live. One of the guys Matt mentioned a quote from St. Francis of Assisi "Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words." Matt also gave us something to think about "If we are the only Jesus that people encounter let it be one of love." As we all begin teaching this fall in under resourced schools to bring the message of Christ it will be our actions that will speak volumes to the children. Another quote from the great St.Francis of Assisi, "It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching."
I started 2 education methods classes on Monday June 30th , Literacy and Social studies/fine arts. For the first week, they have been going well. I have been learning a lot about how to be an effective teacher. I am reading Esperanza Rising and the Dinosaurs of Water House Hawkins for my literacy class and am researching photography as an art for my social studies/fine arts course.
I believe where I saw God most this week was when some of us first years decided to go watch the movie Wall-e in nearby Evanston. We decided to not print off any directions because we knew that it was fairly close and Doug had a GPS system. It turned out that when we got into the car the GPS system, Sean, didn't want to cooperate and wouldn't find a signal. This forced us to work together as a team in a stressful situation, to stay patient and not become frustrated. After driving for over an hour, almost hitting a fox and deer, we arrived at Century Theater to watch Wall-e. (which is such a cute movie!) On our way back, it only took us about ten minutes and we were able to laugh about the trip there.
The area I have not been able to find God in the last 2 weeks is being able to love fully and not being able to trust fully.
It has been fun being here in Chicago for the July 4th festivities. Danielle, Elle, and I went to Navy Pier yesterday for the afternoon and stayed to watch the fireworks. We got to the Pier around 3pm and sat by the water and read while listening to a live band, so enjoyable. Then we ate at a fairly cheap cafe and when we were done we decided we wanted to ride the Ferris wheel, but it was quite expensive for 3 college students, so we went back to where we were sitting earlier. This posed a problem because we could only find 2 chairs and there were 3 of us. It turns out that a lady needed 2 chairs and was willing to give us $20 so we took it and went back to ride our ferris wheel! It was perfect and Chicago looks great at night! The fireworks show was spectacular and patriotic music accompanied them. After the show was over, it was quite the experience of going through over half a million people. We budged our way through to a quick exit and made it out in about 15 minutes.
Life is all about problem solving! :)
Prayer Requests:
1. The LU CHOICE group (12 of us) would continue to grow together as a group spiritually
2. That I will fully Trust God with ALL areas of my life
3. That our group will be Witnesses for Jesus at all times
In Christ's endless Love,
Gmac
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