One of my favorite books is Teaching & Religious Imagination by Maria Harris. It is a wonderful book and I am grateful to my doctoral comps all those years ago for allowing me to become familiar with it. What I love about it, is how it describes secular teaching in religious language. The very act of teaching – regardless of subject or location – is a religious act. This is not just beautiful imagery, which it is, but an important truth to acknowledge as we head into another transition – this time from hyflex, back to in-person learning.
Those of us who have been charged with the sacred task of providing a child with an education recognize and are humbled by that holy responsibility. It matters not in a school whether we are the teacher of prayer or the teacher of math or the teacher of French or the teacher of badminton. Education is interactional and God can be found in the quality of our relationships. How we treat our students and each other matters.
Teachers, like families, are looking forward to a much-needed break from the challenges and burdens of having pivoted from in-person learning to Winter Break to distance learning to hyflex learning to February Break; with a final two-week phasing out of hyflex as the circle rounds back to in-person. Please know that just as it is vitally important that we find the opportunity to share the good with parents about their children, I cannot tell you how impactful it is when a parent shares something nice about or directly to a teacher. These acts of lovingkindness are what sustains even the most dedicated of teachers during inevitable times of stress. Thank you to all who do take the time…your kindness matters.
We are long past the point of predictions when the truest thing is our inability to know what is to come. We know that when we return from break that the sun will rise on each new day. We are hopeful for better/easier days, but prepared for all possibilities. I am as anxious and excited as anyone to see what is to come. If the saying, “Man plans; God laughs,” is true, I guess we’ll see who is laughing in the weeks to come.
In the meanwhile, we wish all our OJCS Families a safe, restful, joyous and meaningful February Break.
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