It has been a long time since I have been a "Primary teacher." As a matter of fact, I haven't had the calling of being a Primary teacher since Dilbert and I were first married. Yes, I have been in the presidency and "taught" during sharing time, and I was the music leader and that certainly is teaching, too, but it isn't the same as being in the classroom with the little ones.
Dilbert and I were asked to sub in the CTR 5 class. The Primary President warned me that the class was a handful and that it would take both of us being there. I had seen some of the antics of this class as Sunbeams so I knew what she was talking about. There is a set of twins, a girl recently adopted from the Ukraine (not fluent in English as of yet), and a little boy who has never sat through a sharing time, let alone sharing time AND singing time. He is usually off running in circles, playing in the corner or escaping out into the halls.
I spent a lot of time thinking and praying about this cute little class. I read the pages in the manual about their development level and behavior characteristics (hey--it's been a while since I had a 4 year-old!) and I kept thinking it wasn't fair to label these kids who just needed to be "taught" what was proper behavior in Primary. In my observation of them in the past, there weren't any physical reasons why they were rambunctious, they were just allowed to run wild (their Sunbeam teacher was overwhelmed by the number and yeah, they are difficult and she was alone to try to handle it. She had her hands full with them).
Dilbert and I talked about what we were going to do. He was to be the "guard" at the door and he was to be in charge of the runner and I would teach the rest of the class. When Primary started, the "runner" wouldn't even come sit with us (his mom teaches sr. primary so he sat with her). The twins were "thankfully" sick. We just had a cute little visitor (girl), another girl and the Ukrainian girl. When it was time to go to class, "Runner" joined us but began to cry as soon as he realized he was in a new classroom and new teachers. He sobbed for his Mom but we told the Primary Secretary we would come get her if we couldn't get it under control.
Immediately the visitor put her hands over her ears and teared up, crying that she couldn't take the noise. The Ukrainian kind of spaced off (I bet she was used to lots of crying in the orphanage) and the other girl sat in her chair, smiling at me. Dilbert did his best to distract the "Runner" but he wouldn't stop crying.
Dilbert is amazing with kids. He loves Primary and he loves to be silly with the little ones so he got down on the floor and started opening "doors" and making animal sounds. I don't know if he realized how inspired he was to do that because it got EVERY one of those kids involved. "Runner" started joining in the animal sounds, Ukraine made animal sounds and even knew some of the English words for some of the animals (it was like a light went on with her that she understood what was going on for once). The visitor took her hands off her ears and joined in the fun. It didn't take long for them all to relax and we were able to actually TEACH a lesson on "What would Jesus do?"
While they drew pictures of choosing the right, we talked about how Jesus would want us to be respectful of the church and be very reverent during sharing time. We took a walk to get drinks and go to the bathroom and practiced being so reverent that no one knew we were in the halls. They were so intent!
Cory had to check in at work (he thought he may have to go into work yesterday but thankfully he didn't) so he left to go home. I went with the class into sharing time. When it started, they were ready to show off their skills. It was amazing, really. I think they just needed to be taught what was expected of them. I showered them with praise and lots of hugs. Runner sat in his chair the whole time, raised his hands and answered questions when he was called on, sang the songs (something he had never done before) and just beamed with the positive attention. When sharing time was over, he gave me a big hug and went off to find his mom. I couldn't help but tear up at the sweet boy he was. He had been totally mislabeled. The Ukrainian girl got bored during sharing time (who wouldn't, not understanding a thing anyone was saying!) so I took out the game we had played during class and let her put the game pieces back onto the paper. She kept pointing to the picture of Jesus in the middle and saying, "Jesus". We pointed to all the pictures of Jesus on the walls in the room and she would beam and say, "Jesus!" It was cute.
After Primary, the President approached me and asked if we would teach again next week. She expressed her surprise at how good the kids were and said she had never seen them so well behaved and happy to be there. I felt like the time we had spent preparing for these kids to have a good experience and the prayers we had expressed in their behalf really paid off. And I felt like I did something really meaningful--something I haven't felt in a long time. For the past year I have been the Stake Primary Music Leader and that job, while "important," doesn't have an immediate (if any, really) impact. Most Sundays I just show up and go to my classes and leave feeling like I wasn't needed (too many years spent in the mission field, I guess, but I am just used to having my Sunday meetings jam-packed with responsibilities). Anyway, I am excited to teach again next week and see if we can build on what was accomplished this week.
Dilbert and I were asked to sub in the CTR 5 class. The Primary President warned me that the class was a handful and that it would take both of us being there. I had seen some of the antics of this class as Sunbeams so I knew what she was talking about. There is a set of twins, a girl recently adopted from the Ukraine (not fluent in English as of yet), and a little boy who has never sat through a sharing time, let alone sharing time AND singing time. He is usually off running in circles, playing in the corner or escaping out into the halls.
I spent a lot of time thinking and praying about this cute little class. I read the pages in the manual about their development level and behavior characteristics (hey--it's been a while since I had a 4 year-old!) and I kept thinking it wasn't fair to label these kids who just needed to be "taught" what was proper behavior in Primary. In my observation of them in the past, there weren't any physical reasons why they were rambunctious, they were just allowed to run wild (their Sunbeam teacher was overwhelmed by the number and yeah, they are difficult and she was alone to try to handle it. She had her hands full with them).
Dilbert and I talked about what we were going to do. He was to be the "guard" at the door and he was to be in charge of the runner and I would teach the rest of the class. When Primary started, the "runner" wouldn't even come sit with us (his mom teaches sr. primary so he sat with her). The twins were "thankfully" sick. We just had a cute little visitor (girl), another girl and the Ukrainian girl. When it was time to go to class, "Runner" joined us but began to cry as soon as he realized he was in a new classroom and new teachers. He sobbed for his Mom but we told the Primary Secretary we would come get her if we couldn't get it under control.
Immediately the visitor put her hands over her ears and teared up, crying that she couldn't take the noise. The Ukrainian kind of spaced off (I bet she was used to lots of crying in the orphanage) and the other girl sat in her chair, smiling at me. Dilbert did his best to distract the "Runner" but he wouldn't stop crying.
Dilbert is amazing with kids. He loves Primary and he loves to be silly with the little ones so he got down on the floor and started opening "doors" and making animal sounds. I don't know if he realized how inspired he was to do that because it got EVERY one of those kids involved. "Runner" started joining in the animal sounds, Ukraine made animal sounds and even knew some of the English words for some of the animals (it was like a light went on with her that she understood what was going on for once). The visitor took her hands off her ears and joined in the fun. It didn't take long for them all to relax and we were able to actually TEACH a lesson on "What would Jesus do?"
While they drew pictures of choosing the right, we talked about how Jesus would want us to be respectful of the church and be very reverent during sharing time. We took a walk to get drinks and go to the bathroom and practiced being so reverent that no one knew we were in the halls. They were so intent!
Cory had to check in at work (he thought he may have to go into work yesterday but thankfully he didn't) so he left to go home. I went with the class into sharing time. When it started, they were ready to show off their skills. It was amazing, really. I think they just needed to be taught what was expected of them. I showered them with praise and lots of hugs. Runner sat in his chair the whole time, raised his hands and answered questions when he was called on, sang the songs (something he had never done before) and just beamed with the positive attention. When sharing time was over, he gave me a big hug and went off to find his mom. I couldn't help but tear up at the sweet boy he was. He had been totally mislabeled. The Ukrainian girl got bored during sharing time (who wouldn't, not understanding a thing anyone was saying!) so I took out the game we had played during class and let her put the game pieces back onto the paper. She kept pointing to the picture of Jesus in the middle and saying, "Jesus". We pointed to all the pictures of Jesus on the walls in the room and she would beam and say, "Jesus!" It was cute.
After Primary, the President approached me and asked if we would teach again next week. She expressed her surprise at how good the kids were and said she had never seen them so well behaved and happy to be there. I felt like the time we had spent preparing for these kids to have a good experience and the prayers we had expressed in their behalf really paid off. And I felt like I did something really meaningful--something I haven't felt in a long time. For the past year I have been the Stake Primary Music Leader and that job, while "important," doesn't have an immediate (if any, really) impact. Most Sundays I just show up and go to my classes and leave feeling like I wasn't needed (too many years spent in the mission field, I guess, but I am just used to having my Sunday meetings jam-packed with responsibilities). Anyway, I am excited to teach again next week and see if we can build on what was accomplished this week.
2 comments:
How wonderful!!! You two team work well together What an inspiring ,perspiring day that is awesome truly
I always knew you were a great teacher! I miss Primary, but I also love Relief Society. Keep up the good work. And thanks for all you do!
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