The End of the 3rd Quarter

Here are some different things that have been going on. We could always use your prayers.

RE: Copy Machine
Are copy machine is broken and hopefully parts will be coming soon so that it can be fixed. I honestly have no idea how teachers did it in the olden days. Midterms are ready so Emily and I will take them down to the copy center. It’s not Kinko’s. We’ll probably write a check in the fifty dollar range.

RE: Midterms & Test Taking
Test days used to be my favorite school days when I was a student. I went in prepared (most of the time) and could put my answers down and leave. I hate test days as a teacher – kids complaining that they didn’t study (even though we worked on study guides in class the two days prior), kids complaining that they didn’t know (even though I’ve told them and wrote it at the top of the board every class day for the past two weeks), what to do with the students who were absent (whether it’s a legitimate absence or they were on suspension), and cheating, cheating, cheating. Some of the students think that I’m mean and ungracious when I do not let them take tests whenever they want, never getting penalized for being late, using notes, asking friends, and even if they still get a D that my grade book should have an A because I prayed that they would all get As – WHAT DO I DO?

RE: Make-Up Work
I get very frustrated with this too. Why should the student who has chosen to be absent for absolutely no good reason be allowed to do or re-do work that they missed not being there? I mean, okay, it’s one thing doing it a few days after your return but not the last two days of the quarter! Also, why should I give them make-up work when the work that they have done has not been up to par because of their choice not to do the work or not to study. The even worse part about this quarter is that I’m focusing on speech and not writing so how am I supposed to have one student make-up oral exercises that were done in groups and then in front of the class?

DON’T GET ME WRONG – These students are intelligent and they have GREAT potential. But I don’t even begin to comprehend their lack of TRYING – some simply refuse to do anything but think that I should pass them if they’ve done 20% of the work.

(Okay, well I just read Emily’s new post that I hadn’t seen but I think I will go ahead and post mine as well.)

RE: The Master’s College
Yes, I am SUPER excited about the possibility of a few students attending TMC next year! Dayson graduated 3 years ago and has been attending Pacific Island Bible College Chuuk campus on the island of Tol. He has prayed and prayed about this and sees the Lord guiding him there. Pray that God will provide financially! Also Franky, a senior this year, is excited about TMC. At first he had his hopes set on a different college and had been thinking that there’s no way he could afford TMC but I told him to apply anyway and see what God does. His dad, who just recently has come back into his life after leaving the family when Franky was very young, told Franky that he looked at the TMC website and liked what he saw and said that Franky should apply. So that was very encouraging! …Pray for both of them too as they take the SATs in a few weeks.

RE: Columbia International University
Well, I guess Emily broke the news that I’m looking into Grad. School – particularly a Master’s in Teaching English as a Foreign Language/Intercultural Studies. I think it applies. :o) Pray for peace and patience. Pray that God guides me for what He wants me to do next year with so much assurance, just like when I first came to Chuuk.

*sigh* I think there are other things to say but I can’t remember them at the moment.

God’s love endures forever!