The Adventures of a First Year Middle School Teacher

A Bit of Good

Sandra's week had been long, and she had been looking forward to her weekend at home. She had been anxiously waiting for Sunday, the day of rest because it was the only day that she truly rested as she solemnly contemplated the sacrifice of the savior and all the beauty that God provided her with every day. She was not teaching the youth at her church as she had at one point. She now served the ladies of the church. She was a teacher at their weekly Sunday meeting, and she had been preparing the lesson adamantly which seemed to coincide with the circumstances she was living at the moment.

As she studied the lesson for the last time that morning before leaving for church, something told her to share her current experience with the women at church. She did not doubt or second-guess the prompting and decided to follow that guidance. After a spiritual uplift in the worship services, she went to the Sunday School class where they read Jesus's sermon on the mount, and that in and of itself lifted her spirits.

When she walked into the women's class to prepare for her lesson, she noticed that there were more women than usual. After singing a few songs to start the class, the president of the class asked her to teach the lesson. She opened the lesson with a question which led to an extensive discussion about the fruits and the gifts of the spirit. This extended to a discussion on the way that the spirit teaches the things of God and how because of it they can help others to understand the gospel or invite them to search the gospel and get closer to their savior.

Sandra did not know how it happened, but the conversation led it back to a point where she could liken the lesson to real life by using the example of learning for oneself and how as a teacher, she was not sure if she had taught them what they needed to learn if they had not shown to her that they had learned it. One of the women in the class who was also a teacher explained that although the students may not be able to show what they learned did not mean that she was a bad teacher because there are times when the pupils' limitations do not allow them to show what they had learned.

This helped Sandra understand what she could not before, and it made her feel as though she did not always have to have the results of her teaching on paper. All she had to do was try and reach them as best as she could and, on that note, the lesson ended. As soon as the class was over, Sandra began to walk towards the door when Andrea, the other teacher, stopped her.

- "So, have you been feeling like you haven't been reaching your students." She asked as she reached for her arm to stop her from walking any further to the door.

- "Here, lately. Yes. But that comment you made in class really put things into perspective. Thank you for sharing that by the way." Sandra turned all the way to turn to her and gave her, her full attention.

- " I am glad that I could help and that it made you see things in a different light. " Sandra and Andrea walked away and then walked to her car to drive home.

Later that afternoon, while she was in her bedroom, her sister Laura came in to spend some time with her as she usually did on Sundays. Talking to her also helped her understand that not all people are made for school.

Laura spoke from personal experience. Something that Sandra had never contemplated. This made sense more than anything she had heard in school. There was a reason for the difference in various types of jobs and the many trades that existed. Not everyone was made to understand long texts or Calculus and that was okay.

****

The next morning Sandra felt more confident in her abilities than the week before and felt more anxious than before to try her best for those kids no matter the outcome. She made her way to the copy machine in the mail room because the other one took too long to print in order to print out the sheets she needed to give the students they needed to complete their work for the day. When she arrived and began to make the copies, Blaine entered the room.

- "Hey, how are you doing this morning?" He asked as he made his way towards her and the printer.

- " I am doing better. I was not feeling too well last week. A lot of things were happening that were out of my control and that were just affecting how I was teaching." She had not meant divulge all of that information, but she could not help shedding her protective side around him.

- " I get it. It happened to me not too long ago. It was last year actually. I had the kids keep a diet/food journal, but no one kept up with it. Not many turned it in, and it just made me feel like I was not reaching the kids. So, yes, I know exactly how you are feeling." It seemed to Sandra that he drew closer than before.

- "That is exactly how I was feeling. Especially with the kids with limitations, I felt like I was just not doing anything right with them." She felt herself lean closer to him and felt the air around her getting thicker.

- " I am sorry." he breathed as he leaned closer as well and as their faces drew closer to one another the main office secretary- Patsy-walked in.

- "What are you two doing in here?" She looked from Blaine to Sandra and she knew exactly what she had just walked into or not walked into.

- " We are making copies." Sandra replied to Patsy hoping to make her forget what she thought she had just witnessed.

- "What on earth is Blaine making copies of? His students do not need papers for physical education." Patsy retorted back knowing full well what had been happening when she opened the door at what looked like a kiss.

- "How do you know that. You do not know that. Physical education teachers can give all types of work that has nothing to do with sports. Believe me don't be too quick to judge things without knowing it for sure." Sandra was not giving up on convincing Patsy of what she believed she saw or at least not talking about what she made sure did not happen by busting in through the door as she did. Even though she was glad that she had not given in to what might have happened. She did not want to do that to Nick no matter how much she liked Blaine. She had to break up with him before she let that happen.

- " You are going to have to do better than that to convince me that he is making copies." Patsy said. Blaine walked up to her and showed her the paper.

- "This is what I am making or waiting to make copies of while she is finishing the copies for her class. If the machine in the seventh-grade hallway would work, we would both not be in here and I would be over there making my own copies. " Blaine was a bit tired of her seeking for answers from them that she would not receive.

- "Oh, well why didn't you say so. You did not need to have your girlfriend over there as your protector to try to get me out of the way." This did not surprise Blaine, but it did surprise Sandra. She knew Patsy, but she did not know her that well to know that she had the courage to say that to her and Blaine.

- "She is not my girlfriend, my protector maybe, but not my girlfriend." He cleared that up for Patsy whom he had known since he went to school there.

-"That's not what it looked like to me when I walked in. But I will not bring it up anymore. At least not while you two are around." She protested honestly and boldly. Sandra did not know what to think of Patsy anymore except that she just did not care to please people at all and that she appreciated honesty more than anything else.

- "Nothing happened Patsy. You cannot say that anything happened because you did not see us do anything. So don't go around telling people what you did not see." Sandra was a little more upset than Blaine, but more because she did not want things to be said about her.

- "Just because I did not see anything happen does not mean that you two are not sweet on each other. And I do not know why you would try to hide that. It's not like you two have significant others that would stop you from getting together."

Sandra knew that her and Blaine had been obvious about their attraction to one another and that they had not tried to hide it at all, but it did not seem right to have her talking about it as if they had discussed it because they had not, and because she was dating someone else. She did not know what to do about that or whether she wanted to do anything about it.