Today I shared this reflection on the joy of teaching with my colleagues at our staff spirituality day. To give some context, I teach in a Catholic Systemic School which was founded by the Mercy Sisters. Feel free to use some or all of this as a prayer or reflection if it provides useful at all.
JOY
Each and everyday I set out to teach,
I find joy.
Joy is the question mark at the end of “How’s it going Miss?’
It is at the heart of a wave fluttering from across the yard,
In the smiles that await me in the corridors,
And the laughter emanating from the photocopy room as colleagues share a joke.
Joy is the exciting news shared from the weekend,
Written between the lines of homework that went the extra mile.
Laid firmly in the palm of the hand shooting up eager to please,
In the hug shared between friends giving birth to a new smile.
I feel joy as the students,
MY students,
Busily collaborate together to solve difficult and complex problems,
As they navigate, debate and create,
When the quietest student speaks up for the first time all term,
When I hear the words ‘Awesome lesson Miss’ or ‘I finally understand’.
But that's not all….
Joy can be found in the buzz of a staff meeting where passionate teachers share passionate ideas,
In parent teacher interviews when both parent and teacher realise for the first time
how much the other cares,
At the front office where bandaids are in high demand and love given just as readily.
Joy is in the content we teach and the way we teach it.
It is the way we relate to our students and each other,
Present...
As we readily give and readily receive.
And I wonder,
Is this the same joy Jesus felt when he went out to teach?
When he stood on the mount in front of the crowd,
Or shared a parable with the apostles as he broke bread?
I wonder, how can it not be?
Is this the same joy felt by Catherine McCauley,
As she opened a house in Kingstown and began educating young women she found on the street?
How can it not be?
You see,
“When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.”
A joy.
Each and everyday I set out to teach,
I find joy.
Do you?
Each and everyday I set out to teach,
I find joy.
Joy is the question mark at the end of “How’s it going Miss?’
It is at the heart of a wave fluttering from across the yard,
In the smiles that await me in the corridors,
And the laughter emanating from the photocopy room as colleagues share a joke.
Joy is the exciting news shared from the weekend,
Written between the lines of homework that went the extra mile.
Laid firmly in the palm of the hand shooting up eager to please,
In the hug shared between friends giving birth to a new smile.
I feel joy as the students,
MY students,
Busily collaborate together to solve difficult and complex problems,
As they navigate, debate and create,
When the quietest student speaks up for the first time all term,
When I hear the words ‘Awesome lesson Miss’ or ‘I finally understand’.
But that's not all….
Joy can be found in the buzz of a staff meeting where passionate teachers share passionate ideas,
In parent teacher interviews when both parent and teacher realise for the first time
how much the other cares,
At the front office where bandaids are in high demand and love given just as readily.
Joy is in the content we teach and the way we teach it.
It is the way we relate to our students and each other,
Present...
As we readily give and readily receive.
And I wonder,
Is this the same joy Jesus felt when he went out to teach?
When he stood on the mount in front of the crowd,
Or shared a parable with the apostles as he broke bread?
I wonder, how can it not be?
Is this the same joy felt by Catherine McCauley,
As she opened a house in Kingstown and began educating young women she found on the street?
How can it not be?
You see,
“When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.”
A joy.
Each and everyday I set out to teach,
I find joy.
Do you?
Image courtesy of Unsplah. Taken by Morgan Sessions.
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