Wednesday's Word of Wisdom

I don't know about you, but I have been working nonstop in my classroom to get everything ready for school to start.  In our district, teachers start Monday (July 30) and students start the following Monday (August 6) with a meet the teacher type of night the Friday before (August 3).  Therefore, I have to have everything done in the classroom by August 3, and there is not much time to do it next week because they have it jammed pack full of meetings.  So, I've been putting the final touches on things in my room this week.

Sometimes, work gets overwhelming especially when it comes to getting a classroom together.  You want your room to look the best for first impressions, and you want others to like what they see.  With the rise in blogs and sites like Pinterest, our minds are flooded with new ideas on things to do in our classrooms.  Although these sites are excellent tools (and I use them a lot), sometimes I feel that we  get sidetracked into making our classrooms look the best or competing with other teachers, and we forget about who we are doing our work for overall.  This verse has weighed heavy on my heart this week as I have worked in my classroom:

Source: http://theloganfamily.wordpress.com/2011/10/01/another-art-print/ 

The Lord has put each one of us in the teaching profession to have an impact on students' lives.  Our classrooms should be decorated in order to bring the most function and educational experiences in the grade that we teach.  It should be our home away from home, because we definitely spend lots of time there in the school year.  It shouldn't be about which teacher spent the most money this summer on supplies, what teacher worked the most hours (We all know that there are some teachers that can spend tons of hours at school, but hardly get anything done.), or who has the cutest directions.  It should be about what makes you happy in your classroom.  We are all built different with different personalities so we aren't going to have classrooms that look the same nor are we going to work the same way. 

When we are working especially in the days to come creating our classrooms, we need to remember why we are in the profession that we are in and who we are working for - the Lord.  It's OK to go next door, talk, and get ideas.  However, it's not OK to go next door and envy what another person has or has done in their room.  Take what you have and make it work.  Do it for the children not for your own glory.

I pray that the Lord will help us create a classroom that will meet the needs of the students we will be teaching this year.  I pray that we are not envious of other teachers, but we are able to acknowledge others hard work and creativity in a positive way.  I pray that we are not overwhelmed with too many ideas from the internet instead we are able to use the ideas to create the most use in our classroom.  Finally, I pray that our works are done for the right reasons so that our students can see the Lord through us.