A Teacher's Alphabet
A is for Apple. Of course. Although do you know where the association of teachers and apples comes from? Apparently, during the Frontier Era, teachers were paid so little that the families had to supplement their income by taking turns housing and feeding them. Students would often bring their teachers baskets of fresh vegetables or a single, crisp apple as a token of appreciation. So if you ever feel discouraged by your salary, take heart. At least you aren’t being paid in produce.
B is for Buzz. It might seem like a productive classroom is a perfectly quiet classroom, but that is often not true. There’s a specific kind of buzz that happens in a classroom when everyone is focused, working hard, and busy learning—and it’s a beautiful sound.
C is for Chalkboard. It’s a place to write vocab words and math problems, homework assignments and test dates, diagrams and descriptions. It will leave chalk dust under your fingernails and, if the conditions are ideal, it will leave a mirror-image imprint of the day’s lesson on the back of the unsuspecting person who leans against it.
D is for Dear God. “Dear God, give me patience,” and “Dear God, show me what to say,” and “Dear God, Help!” All of these desperate prayers are heard by the Father who loves you and gives you strength for each moment.
E is for Educating. This is, ultimately, your job description. You get to educate your students about the way God has created this world to work. You get to teach them skills that they will use for the rest of their lives. You can open their eyes to the wonder and delight that God has crammed into His creation. It’s a noble task.
F is for Feeling. In your classroom, every child should feel important. They should feel seen. They should feel loved, regardless of their abilities, personalities, or limitations.
G is for Growth. The growth you see, and the growth you don’t see.
H is for Homework. To give, or not to give, that is the question.
I is for Imagination. One of the great wonders of being a child is having a wild and free imagination. As children grow, their shiny imaginations slowly dull as they encounter the harshness of this fallen world. As a teacher, you can help your students continue to have moments of vibrant imagination through story, song, art, and creative projects.
J is for Joy. The goal of school is not to have fun. But also, learning can be a lot of fun. Your classroom should be a place of hard work while also being a place of deep joy.
K is for Kindness. This can be hard, when you’re tired or stressed or in a time crunch. Sometimes, students ask the most inconvenient questions at the most inconvenient times. Other times, their immaturity means they are rude or make comments that wound you. But through all of this, may you always find the grace to be kind.
L is for Lesson Plan. It might be typed and printed and placed in a carefully-labelled binder. It might be jotted in bullet-point form on a notecard. It might be scrawled on a sticky note or the back of your hand. It might be entirely in your head. All of these work, but some of them work significantly better than others.
M is for Music. Bible songs, multiplication table songs, lunchtime prayer songs, just-for-fun songs, four-part harmony songs, days of the week songs, stages of mitosis songs . . . and all the other songs that echo through the halls of a school.
N is for Nurturing. Nurturing a love for God and a love for others in your students is the most important thing you could ever do.
O is for Objectives. Objectives, or “what the students will learn,” are essential to a well-taught lesson. Having your objectives in mind will help you simplify your teaching. Knowing what to focus on and what to let go of is not always an easy task. Objectives make it easier.
P is for Phys-Ed. The most loved or the most hated time for students—and their teachers.
Q is for Quiet. It’s rare, in a school. Maybe it happens, briefly, during silent reading time. Maybe you have to wait until the students are outside at recess to encounter a moment of silence. Maybe you have to hide away in the supply room and breathe for a moment in the middle of a hectic day. Wherever it comes from, the adage is true that silence is golden, particularly if you’ve ever found yourself in the situation of needing to corral seventeen children who are hyped up on sugar from Jimmy’s birthday cupcakes.
R is for Reading. In an increasingly digital world, may our schools be one place where the value of reading is valiantly protected. Surround your students with good books. Read to them regularly. Ask them about the books they are reading. Spend extra time reading as a special treat. Let them come away from a year in your classroom as different people because of the stories they have encountered there.
S is for Service. You serve, every day. You serve when you spend hours grading that stack of essays. You serve when you settle the playground dispute. You serve when you sweep up glitter from an ill-fated art project. You serve when you listen to a parent’s concerns. You serve when you spend yet another late evening preparing lessons. And you serve when you clean up the after-effects of the stomach flu hitting in the middle of class. Especially then.
T is for Truth. At the end of the day, that’s what you’re trying to instill in your students—a love for truth and the God of truth.
U is for Understanding. You know that moment when a student’s face absolutely transforms as they break through the barriers they’ve been struggling against and finally come to a place of understanding? It’s one of the best dopamine hits of the job. One could almost get addicted to it.
V is for Victory. Victories in the classroom might look big, like an exciting moment of character development or successfully engaging every student in a particularly complex grammar lesson. Or they might look small, like sharing a smile with your most challenging student or seeing a child remember to slow their running feet to a walk in the hallway. All of them matter.
W is for Work. Teaching really does require a lot of it.
X is for Xerox. (Okay, you knew that things were going to have to get creative here at the end of the alphabet, right?). Xeroxing, or photocopying, is the blessing and the curse of the supply room. On the positive side, think of the countless hours you have saved by being able to photocopy worksheets, activities, tests, and art project guidelines. On the negative side, the copier always seems to be out of paper when you’re in the biggest hurry, doesn’t it? And let’s not even start talking about paper jams.
Y is for Year. That may be all the time you get with your students. Make it count.
Z is for Ziploc Bags. If you don’t have any of these stowed away in a desk drawer for various and sundry uses, may I suggest you go to Walmart immediately to rectify this situation? Also add plastic spoons, cough drops, Band-Aids, and safety pins to your list. You never know when having a safety pin handy will save the day.
As this alphabet exploration has shown, teaching is many things, but it is rarely boring.
