My foray back into teaching has been amazing. That there were ups and downs is almost an understatement. After many trips down to the administrative suite at the beginning of the year to make sure we were all "on the same page" about the role of the student publication, I almost quit. I wanted to teach ground-breaking journalism from a Christian worldview and I felt like we were publishing a mini-version of the yearbook.
Then two things happened. First, one of my students, JT, wrote a story on Jon Foreman (Switchfoot). It'd be a LONG story to tell all the details, but the short version is that JT wrestled through the process and brought forth a piece that left me speechless. "This is why I teach," was all I could say for quite a while after reading it.
Second, I was down in the administrative wing yet again at the beginning of the second semester, this time trying to determine whether we were allowed to publish "Best of 2008" movie review of The Dark Knight. The answer was no. The surface reason was that the school doesn't condone PG-13 movies. The real reason... administration didn't want to offend families that feel like they must walk a very narrow road in order to remain in God's will for their lives. It reminded me of Romans 14 and 15, and for the first time, instead of wanting to quit, I "got it" that there are many modern day equivalents to eating meats sacrificed to idols. And for the sake of the weaker brother, I'd rather not eat meat again. MB was the student writer for The Dark Knight. He didn't like sacrificing a piece he'd worked on so hard, but he (and I) submitted to those in authority. No regrets. (On a happy-ending note... MB loves film making and he took his passion for movies and entered a film festival where he won three awards.)
After The Dark Knight incident, I was cool, and instead of pining away for the end of the school year (Read: my contract to be fulfilled so I could get out), I couldn't wait to go to work each day.
I am so proud of our kids. They did an awesome job. And the seniors... wow... I'm going to miss those guys so much. I can't wait to see how the Lord is going to use them as they go to college and get on with life outside the walls of our little school.
Our Editors:JG: Editor-in-Chief
KW: Assistant Editor
MW: Copy Editor
JM: Design Editor
JM will serve as our Editor-in-Chief next year. Yay!
MW and KW are headed for the same college at the beach.
JG is going to my alma mater and planning to major in journalism, though he is the quintessential English professor in the making. He'll figure it out, though. :)
These are the seniors. All of them are in Europe this week. Join me in praying for their safety and that they'll have an amazing time.JG, KW, MW, MB, CD, KA, JT, AE, JM, AC
And creeping in the background is KO. She's just a sophomore, but she's not returning to our school next year. I'm going to miss her too!
What an amazing time of life... full of possibilities, packed with dreams. I pray the Lord will guide them and protect them as they travel the next steps of their journey.
I am blessed to have taught them all.
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