Teaching is a Work of HEART!

Goodbyes are HARD! 

HARD!

REALLYY HARD!

Especially when you are leaving a COUNTRY and will probably never see people again.  Relationships have been established, grown, and will not forgotten, even if the distance is a barrier.

When I came here, I had no idea what to expect.  I remember being completely exhausted (partly due to my “last minute marathon” choice) and completely overwhelmed.  I entered a class with 18 little munchkins staring at me and wanting to ask me EVERY. QUESTION. IMAGINABLE (and unimaginable haha!)

Today my class had a goodbye party for me.  We had cake and juice and all the students gave me a scarf, signed coffee mug, flowers, and wrote a book where they each wrote:

“Ms. Gabriel will be a great teacher because_______________________.” (insert heart-melting here!)

My heart has been touched, and my experience here has changed me forever.  One of the best and hardest things about teaching is that “kids are your job.”  You are in constant contact and relationship with people.  They are people that GOD loves.  People that GOD created.  What a responsibility-what a job!  As a teacher, I can lead kids to the one that created them through my words, actions, and conduct…but I also have the power to turn my back as they struggle and sink into the world around them.  I cannot take this lightly, and MUST daily call upon the LORD for help, knowing that HIS grace can cover my inequities.

I’ve learned about myself as a person and a teacher.  I had ups and downs, but choose to learn from it all.  I don’t know if international teaching is in my future, but these experiences will still help me be a better teacher no matter what students will be in my classroom.  I will be much more able to reach ESL students, and I will be much more understanding to students that have different cultural backgrounds.

I will miss the kids that I worked with, but I am also looking forward to starting the next chapter in my life. I will always be a student, because even as a teacher-I will constantly be learning….Learning from my successes and failures, and open to new ideas and new students (who are all unique and require different things from me).

HONESTLY I am terrified, but I am even more EXCITED.  Soon, I will officially be…