How my dreams came true (Part 4)

Finally here comes the continuation of my series “How did my dreams come true”.

 In the last months so many things happened in my life, that I just could not keep up with the writing! I will let you know as my series goes on, because 2 weeks ago a huge dream came true!

 A little summary for those of you you who did not read my last posts how my dreams came true: in part 1 I wrote about my practical year at a bible school and in part 2 about my studies to be a teacher. Part 3 was about my move to another city.

Now comes part 4: my time as a teacher.

 After my first and second state examination for teachers at primary and secondary school

I moved from south Germany to the middle of Germany – 5,5 hours away from where I grew up.

 I remember the evening before my first day in school as a teacher. 28 six year old children where about to start their school career with the first grade. And the teacher was ME! Wow – I was fully responsible for 28 little kids, starting school, teaching them how to write, read, count and how to get along with other children and teachers.

 I remember my sister calling me around 9pm asking me: And, what did you plan to do on the first day at school? And because I had the accident with my car just a few days before and had to organzie a lawyer and many other things, I didnt have much time for preparation. So I started with a night shift of preparing my first lesson. 

For german kids and parents the first day in school is a very important day and before they have their first lesson, the whole school welcomes them in the auditorium with a little program where the kids, parents and grandparents join.

After this they have their first lesson alone with the teacher.

 Here is a picture of my first day at school (not as a teacher, but a student =)

So this first day in school is not only important for the kids and parents but also for the teachers.

 It was a beautiful day and I enjoyed getting to know „my“ 28 kids which I taught then for the next 4 years.

It was amazing to see them throughout grade 1,2,3 and 4 and how they grew up and learned a lot of things for their lives.

 For me it was a privilege to work at a christian school, because I could share my faith in God openly.

In the morning we always had a time, where we read something from the bible or we spoke about a bible verse and how we can live it out in our daily life. I think the best thing how to learn bible verses is through songs. That’s what I did with my primary students.

My dad worked in a mission where they recorded CD’s and they produced a few CD’s with bible verses for kids. So I used these in my class and the kids loved it.

Learning bible verses through songs it’s not only a good way to learn for kids but also for adults.

 Every year I visited each kid and the family in their homes to get to know the environment they live in. It was very interesting and insightful to see the dynamics of the family life (parents interacting with their kids, condition of the house, order in the kids room…).

 I loved interacting with the children, the parents, my colleagues. What gave me a headache was all the preparation at home and the report writing every 6 months. In my first year it took me at least 3 hours per student to write the report – and I had 28 kids in my class = more than 90 hours….. when did I do this? Mainly in the night when everything was quiet and I was able to concentrate – because I lived on a busy road and it was quite loud during the daytime. I remember sleeping usually not more than 4 or 5 hours.

 It was a very stressful time being a teacher, but also very rewarding. I am very grateful for this experience and for the wonderful people I met during this time. I worked there 5 years and then I moved on. In my next posts I will write about how I started bible school, working in mission, then as a flight attendant.

 ??? I am wondering what experiences you had when you started your first job. It would be nice to hear from you!