Know God. Live Big.
My principal set the page filled with student comments in front of me, and we walked through them together. Students had taken an anonymous survey about teachers, and at the end they were able to write freely any comments or criticisms they had about each teacher. There were some pretty nice comments on my sheet, and I liked those. But… Read More
It had to happen. Our school is busting at the seams, and I’m just a part-time teacher who more easily can be inconvenienced for a few hours of my day. So it’s back to the tiny room, in which I’ve taught for four of my six years. This room is the size of a nursing home room, because it used… Read More
“Do you hear that?” he asked. But I was in full stress mode, as a teacher coming back after taking three vacation days. The stack of papers to be graded was growing Everest size in my imagination, and I wondered what the subs had done versus the instructions I had left. So I wasn’t really listening to his concerns about… Read More
“You’re taxes are done,” she said over the phone. Cue fight-or-flight reaction. I was terrified about our taxes this year (as opposed to just being afraid the other years.) Our circumstances had changed drastically, in addition to the new tax law changes. We had made adjustments to our quarterly tax payments, but in my wildest imagination, I pictured the accountant… Read More
It was the fall of 1983, when computers were still a twinkle in their mother’s eye. I was a freshman sitting in typing class, and it was my first experience putting my fingers on what we now call a keyboard. Every day we did drills: left fourth finger up to the W. Right fourth finger up to the O. Right… Read More
Sometimes I think I should rename my website, “Anxiety Girl.” Here I am again today, with my latest installment about worrying and what has been helping me overcome this lately. Let’s start with the worries and how real they are: Money and old cars and old houses and old bodies. Grown kids. Kids needing jobs. Kids and their money and… Read More
A student raised his hand and asked me a fair question yesterday. He wanted to know when I was going to teach a certain set of vocabulary. I explained to him that I don’t teach that until the third year. No big deal, except the encounter was a crocodile death roll to my sense of confidence. So easily derailed. The… Read More
My prayer list right now feels unbearable. So many in my circle have serious health issues and then the cha-ching, cha-ching of expenses that snake around each diagnosis. My heart! What I want to do is reach for my checkbook and say, “Here, at least let me pay for all of it for you.” Except, oh wait, we’re trying to… Read More
“Wednesday Hump Day,” I said to him last night before we went to sleep. He’ll go up to Glacier Bible College and be Professor Fitzwater again today, teaching students this week about the life of Christ. I’ll go stand in front of high school students and teach them sentences in Spanish about the gospel. We feel our own inadequacy. “Meanwhile… Read More
It was the end of another full day of school, and I was doing my normal self-evaluation on the drive home. It’s like taking attendance, except my question is “Are you okay?” instead of “Are you here?” I see each student and replay and critique each conversation. Did I hurt any feelings? Say or do anything harmful? Anything that needs… Read More