Tips 4 Teachers

By Mrs Alison Wheldon

Posted on 09 December 2009

Loving Your Students, (Take 2)

Have you been given your tentative class list for 2010? No doubt, there will be names on that list that have caused you to inwardly cheer, and others over which you're feeling some level of anxiety. Yet others may be no more than a name to you.

Over the Christmas break, commit to pray for all those names on your list.

Pray for each name separately, whether the child is well-known to you or not:

• Thank the Lord for the fact that this child has been placed into your care.
• Pray for safety for the child over the break.
• Pray for the child's home and family situation.
• Pray for the Lord to provide you with opportunities to model Christ to this child in 2010.
• Pray that for them the year would be a fulfilling one for developing academically, physically, emotionally and spiritually.

Pray for the group as a whole:

• Thank the Lord for this group.
• Thank the Lord for the work of the previous years' teachers.
• Pray that the students would gel.
• Pray that they would value each other's differences and similarities.

Then pray for yourself.

• Thank God for those students about whom you feel positive.
• Ask God for help and peace with those students about whom you feel anxious.
• Pray that God would show you ways to demonstrate Christ's love for each individual.
• Pray for refreshment and a renewed energy for 2010.
• Ask God to help you to be a person of prayer.

(For more on this, see Loving Your Students #1)

If your school is one where the class lists are distributed to families before the end of the year, write each child in your class a personal letter. You can get the addresses from admin and post it to their home around the middle of January. Likewise, you could send an email, but I personally love the idea of a letter arriving in the post. In your letter, let them know that you are looking forward to getting to know them next year and to the contribution they'll be making to the whole class.

This may take a bit of time out of your vacation, but the teacher who shared the idea with me talks of the huge personal benefits she gains from doing this. For many children, the beginning of the school year can be highly stressful and intimidating, and for them to be able to say "Good morning Miss ......., you wrote me a letter!" gives them a point of contact with you. What a great way to build positive relationships and let your students feel loved before they even get into your classroom!

If your class lists are kept secret until Day One, you can still write your students a letter and time their postage so their letter is waiting for them when they get home.

Perhaps you have a great tip for loving your students better... then let others know! Let's get some of your valuable ideas onto this website. Contact me >>