Surviving 9th Grade

I'm currently avoiding giving more feedback on student papers. I seem to be saying the same things over and over again, and most of them really come back to a lack of self-editing.

Now, I could just hand back their papers and tell them to fix them, but I'm not sure that some of them would even know where to start. They simply don't know how to evaluate their own writing critically. You know, "Did I say what I meant to say?" "Did it make sense?" And, the list goes on.

The cool thing about having students is that you get to shape their minds and habits throughout the year. In this case, it means withholding a grade until they fix the problems, but it also means getting them to adopt habits that they've formerly avoided.

I'm not sure how this whole process will work, but I'm excited to find out. I look forward to seeing them grow as writers as I'm already seeing them mature as young adults. Now, if they can just pass the midterm...

From my youngest years, I always knew that a sermon had a point, and most preachers give at least a hint of their point toward the beginning of the talk... but this morning was different. This morning, I discovered the point of the sermon in the last 30 seconds, and it seemed to have little to do with the topic of the lesson.

Let me go back a step and explain the morning's lesson:

First, there was a slide of Mary and Joseph in profile with Mary on a donkey. Of course, they were on their way to Bethlehem. The preacher spent a few minutes guessing as to why Mary went and giving his own opinions.

Then, we went on to the slide "Your Knowledge of the Nativity." All good and well I suppose, but then he spent the next 20 minutes going over five questions that Christians often get wrong.

1. Were there three wise men? Many would say "Yes," but we really don't know.

2-4. Three more questions that had to do with the birth of Jesus but not with any real questions of faith or anything on which I would hang my salvation. I was really stunned by number 5, though.

5. Did the angels sing to the shepherds? My answer: Why does this really matter? The real answer: Apparently they said to the shepherds.

Maybe I'm just ranting, maybe I'm just being hard to please, but really why was this whole lesson important. Sure, I don't remember every detail perfectly, but in this instance did it really matter? I felt like I was in a Lads to Leaders Bible Bowl recalling fairly useless facts.

Now, my faith and salvation may somehow hang in the balance based on whether or not the angels sang or said to the shepherds, but I've spent all day racking my brain and I still can't figure out how that would happen.

All this to say that when it comes down to it, I'd rather spend an hour talking about something that matters or helping someone rather than being quoted a few minute details that I wouldn't even quiz my kids on in English class.

Oh, and the final point of the lesson, you ask? Sometimes we get our information about Jesus from the world.

I agree that this is a problem and concern, but I wish we'd spent more time talking about that and real world examples than a few facts that might be misconstrued by the world or most likely, aren't all that important in the first place.

Just the other day, I was accused of being the world's worst blogger. Apparently, this is my new area of expertise. Steps to being a bad blogger:

1. Blog only every 20 days or so. Who cares that you're busy and stuck at your job until ridiculous hours. Just don't blog and most importantly, don't explain your frequent absences.

2. Don't use lots of pictures. Though I'm starting to get the hang of inserting pictures, I'm certainly not the best at this art.

3. Write about your students. So I'm proud of my students - what can I say? Sometimes they actually prove that they are not lazy bums but brilliant, creative souls. My next post is sure to give you some visuals of their latest achievement.

4. Post only every 20 days or so. I think that covers just about every part of being a bad blogger. If you never post, no one comes to visit, and then everyone thinks you have nothing to say.

Alas, if I'm only an expert in a few things, at least I can pass my infinite wisdom along. To all you bad bloggers out there, keep up the good work! Obviously, you have other more important things to do! :)

Cheers!