Teaching takes practice

Posted on July 6, 2006 by Sarah

my class
Last week, I taught a music camp at Maranatha Christian Center. Originally I was told that I would have a helper, but no helper came on Monday morning. I had 9 kindergarten-age children in my camp. It turned out that they couldn’t pay for a helper since I had so few kids…so I ended up just teaching by myself. My family helped out quite a bit, though; they came in almost every day to play for the kids.

Monday was voice day, and I also gave them an introduction to the orchestra. Tuesday was percussion day – Stephen came in and gave a demonstration on his drums. They were SO captivated by the drums, and it was wonderful! Wednesday was woodwind day, so my mom played clarinet for them and Becca played flute. Thursday was strings day – I played violin and fiddle for them. And Friday was brass day – my dad came and played his trumpet.

By Wednesday, I was really discouraged. All day long I felt like I couldn’t control them except by yelling at them. I’m sure it wasn’t as crazy as I thought, but it sure felt like it to me. I was so exhausted every day when I got home, and I couldn’t wait till the week was over. Then Wednesday night, something changed. I still do not know quite what happened, but I was thinking about Thursday. Thursday was strings day, and since I was the special guest, my family wouldn’t be coming in to help me at all – I would be all alone. The kids had loved so much having different people come in, and I didn’t want them to be bored with me. So I got an idea…

I decided that I would invite Aunt Miranda to come play violin and fiddle for them. (If you don’t know, Aunt Miranda is a really silly character in a book I wrote.) I brought a silly red hat and spoke in a silly voice with a weird accent. The kids LOVED it! You should have seen their faces! They were just sitting there looking at me and watching everything! It was amazing. Aunt Miranda worked like a charm. They even begged me to let her come back during craft time, so she helped them make their box guitars.

It also helped that I had learned better how to control them. (I know it sounds dumb, but I actually looked up disciplining techniques online.) The most helpful thing I found was that you should try to say “please” and “thank you” a lot, and you have to be kind but firm. Disciplining is supposed to be a teaching tool; yelling and screaming at them doesn’t teach them anything. I know I still have A LOT to learn about this, but just that definitely helped. They actually listened to me, and I found myself not as frustrated with them as I had been.

Man, I have a long ways to go before I will be a good teacher. But it was definitely a fun experience for me to teach these kids. On Friday we had a short concert and sung our Bible verse songs that I had taught them throughout the week. There were only 5 at the concert; Friday’s attendance was very low. But it went well. I think I was more nervous than they were! haha But it was fun, and I still love kindergarteners. :)

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Summer fun with music

Posted on May 29, 2006 by Sarah

Despite the fact that I have finished my music minor, I am still having a lot of fun with music so far this summer. I bought a fiddle book, and it has been fun to learn to play “fiddle”! I am also learning to play a little bit of clarinet and flute, thanks to my mom and Rebecca. :) And my dad keeps asking me if I’m ready for my trumpet lesson yet. haha I guess he feels left out.

This past week I did a lot of preparation for my summer music camps at Maranatha (in June and July), but I still have a lot of planning to do still. I am very excited to be teaching music to kids this summer. After this past year, my focus was starting to turn more towards my Elementary Education major, and I decided that I don’t want to teach music; I want to teach kindergarten. But I don’t think I can say what exactly I want to teach because I have a feeling God has some surprises in store for me.

I brought my bag of all my supplies for my camps (including books, videos, and tapes) in to Maranatha last week to get them approved. You should have seen how excited Mrs. Miller and Mrs. Truesdell got over just looking at all the stuff I have prepared. I’m pretty sure that I want to come back and teach at Maranatha after I get my degree, and as I was standing there showing them everything, I realized that with my talent in music, they will probably want me to do some kind of music there. I don’t know that for sure, but I just have that feeling about it. Mrs. Miller even jokingly asked, “how many years do you have left??”

It’s not like I wasn’t trying to follow God’s will before, but I think I’ve been trying to pinpoint exactly what I want to do too much. I know that I want to teach kids, and I know that I want to teach what’s most important: Jesus Christ. But other than that, I’m going to follow God’s leading and see where He puts me. I would love to teach kindergarten, and you know I would include a lot of music in my classroom, but I also think teaching music would be fun as well. And technically, when I graduate I will be highly qualified to teach music because of my minor.

I’ve often feel inferior to the music majors because I only have a minor. I feel like I’m not as well-equipped as they are, and I feel that they would look down on me if I wanted to teach music. But really, I have just as much talent as they do (I’ve proved that by being in the USO and not being last chair even!), and I have a passion for teaching children. If God leads me to teach music someday, I will, and He will help me to teach it well!

Categories: Just Life, Music, Teaching | Leave a comment

Tour of Spain

Posted on May 23, 2006 by Sarah

In the past couple of weeks, I completed my second year of college (and reached the halfway point!) and I have been to Spain and back! Spain was an AWESOME experience, especially getting to perform with UNC’s Symphony Orchestra 3 last times! :( I’m now moving on from music since I completed my music minor this past semester and focusing on my elementary education major. It does make me very sad, though, because I’m not sure what exactly will happen with my music (specifically, violin). I love playing my violin in orchestra, and this will be the first time since I joined the Front Range Youth Symphony orchestra back when I was a sophomore in high school that I won’t be playing in an orchestra. :( I’m still going to take lessons next year, but already I’ve had trouble motivating myself to play. I even bought a fiddle book, which has helped some. I guess it’s always hard to keep practicing in the summer no matter what. But I guess I shouldn’t worry about the future. And I can’t live in the past either. But Spain was awesome, and I made lots of memories!

Categories: Just Life, Music | Leave a comment

My prayer tonight

Posted on May 4, 2006 by Sarah

Lord, give me love, unfailing love. Without You, I am not capable of loving anyone. I pray that You would help me love, even when it hurts.

Lord, give me joy. Joy is hard to find in difficult situations, but You have told us to be joyful always and to give thanks in all circumstances. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18) I pray that You would fill my heart with joy.

God, help me to have peace. I get so anxious during trials, but You are a God of peace. Calm my heart and help me to know that You are the giver of peace and that You have everything under control. Everything, no matter how bad it seems, happens for a reason, and all things work together for good to those who love You.

Patience. I have struggled with patience ever since I can remember. Patience is something I need now more than ever. Please give me patience, and help me to be joyful during trials and to endure.

Lord Jesus, give me kindness towards others. On my own, I cannot be kind. I pray that You would fill my heart with every kind thought and word so that I can spread it to others.

Lord, You are so good. You alone are worthy of my praise because You are the only good thing. I am so sinful by nature, and I am ashamed when I take things into my own hands. Please forgive me. Help me to be filled with goodness.

“Many a man claims to have unfailing love, but a faithful man who can find?” (Proverbs 20:6) Lord, I have been told that I am a faithful friend, and I have often thought of myself that way. But I know that I am only faithful by Your grace alone. Please help me to be faithful to those I love, even when they hurt me. Lord, help me to remember that You are the only one who can make me a faithful friend.

Lord, my words sound so harsh sometimes when I try to speak in love. Give me gentleness of speech and of character. Speak through me when something must be said, and may my words be spoken with Your gentleness.

God, I do not have self-control on my own. Please help me to control my anger. Give me self-control in my actions and in my words. Help me to turn to You and to trust You with all my heart in every situation.

Lord, so often I feel that I accuse others of their wrongdoing without first examining myself. Please forgive me for my sins, and help me to worry about myself before I turn to accuse others of their sin. I am as sinful as anyone else, and it is only by Your grace that I am saved. Lord, please work in my life. Help me to seek You and to strive to become more and more like You each day that I live. Help me to share Your love, Your joy, Your peace, Your patience, Your kindness, Your goodness, Your faithfulness, Your gentleness, and Your self-control. I love you.

~Amen.

Categories: Humility, Spiritual Growth | Leave a comment

Burdens are Lifted at Calvary

Posted on April 17, 2006 by Sarah

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
~Matthew 11:28

I can’t even pinpoint exactly what I’m struggling with, but this whole semester has been an emotional struggle for me. I pray that God would help me to be thankful and to praise His Name during this time. As a result of many difficult things, He has drawn me closer to Him this semester.

Today’s hymn in my devotion book, Burdens are Lifted at Calvary by John M. Moore, is very encouraging.

Days are filled with sorrow and care, hearts are lonely and drear;
burdens are lifted at Calvary – Jesus is very near.

Cast your cares on Jesus today, leave your worry and fear;
burdens are lifted at Calvary – Jesus is very near.

Troubled soul, the Savior can see ev’ry heartache and tear;
burdens are lifted at Calvary – Jesus is very near.

Chorus: Burdens are lifted at Calvary, Calvary, Calvary;
burdens are lifted at Calvary – Jesus is very near.

Categories: Peace/Contentment, Spiritual Growth | 2 Comments

God is in Control

Posted on April 16, 2006 by Sarah

“In his heart a man plans his course,
but the Lord determines his steps.”
~Proverbs 16:9

Well, I’m staying up till midnight so I can register (not that it’s that hard for me to stay up till midnight ;)). Registering has always been stressful for me. The problem is, I love to plan ahead and have everything planned out (yeah, I’m one of those people). I do like surprises in the form of gifts, but I usually like to be prepared for stuff. So I plan my schedule for the next semester pretty much as soon as they post the classes. But then I tend to get worried about it because I want to make sure I will get into all the classes that I want and get the schedule that I want.

Then I check the classes periodically to make sure there are still seats left in them, and I get anxious if there are only a few seats left. It’s not SO bad anymore because I have more credits so I get to register before a lot of people, but there are still a couple classes that I need to take that only have 3 or 4 seats left.

But I decided that I don’t want to worry about it this time because really there’s no reason to worry about it. I even made myself NOT look at the class schedule again until tonight because I didn’t want to be worrying myself over it all weekend. God knows my schedule and He has my entire future planned out. He tells us to “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6).

The other day on my prayer walk, I was praying for a friend who had asked for prayer about the future. It was then that I realized that God already knows what my schedule will be in the fall, and He will make sure that it’s the best for me. I know it seems like something simple, but I hadn’t really thought about it that way. That really comforted me. I have no control over the future, but God does. That is so encouraging to me – instead of worrying about stuff way in the future, all I have to do is trust the One who already knows the future!

Categories: Character of God, Direction/Change, Peace/Contentment, Spiritual Growth | Leave a comment

Missions!!!

Posted on April 11, 2006 by Sarah

“Here am I. Send me!” ~Isaiah 6:8b

So I know I’m already going to Spain this summer with the orchestra…and I know this is really sudden…but this is SO awesome! I think I’m going to go on a mission trip to Juarez, Mexico this summer to help at an orphanage!!!

Tonight at Bible study, my friend Julie announced that she is going to Mexico the first week in June to help with an orphanage and that any of us were invited to come if we wanted to. As soon as she said it, this spark of excitement went through me, and I REALLY wanted to go! It’s very cool for me because I’ve never felt called to go on a mission trip before. I’ve been on two mission trips, but they both were not really my decision to go and I definitely didn’t feel called like I’m feeling right now. Plus the fact that it falls right in the middle of the free part of my summer (between the trip to Spain and teaching at the summer camps)! That in itself is amazing!

I went on my first mission trip when I was 13. We went to Sanders, Arizona to do a Vacation Bible School with the Indian kids there and help at this church there. It was a family mission trip, so whole families from my church went. My family went, so I went along. I had a lot of fun, but looking back, I feel like I went more just to have fun and I didn’t really feel like I was going for the right reasons.

The second mission trip I went on 2 years ago, right after I graduated from high school. We went to San Francisco to help at YWAM (Youth with a mission), but it wasn’t really my choice to go because I kind of just went because my best friend was going. So I never really felt excited about it or anything. I did learn a lot, but I still feel like I didn’t learn as much as I could have if I had really wanted to go.

Sometimes I’ve wondered why I’ve never felt called to go on a mission trip or anything. I’ve seen other people get so excited about going to so many places on mission trips, and really when I’ve heard about ones that I could go on, I feel guilty because I don’t want to go. This year has been totally AWESOME as far as my spiritual life! I’ve grown more than I think I ever have, and I’ve been excited about so many things that God is teaching me.

It’s really cool because just last week I was telling my friend Sarah that if I ever went on a mission trip in the future (and I seriously wasn’t thinking THIS SUMMER), I would want to go help at an orphanage somewhere! So when Julie mentioned that tonight, I got SO excited because that was the one type of mission work I was thinking that I would enjoy! This whole thing just totally amazes me! I can’t stop talking about it and thinking about it! (Just ask my roommates :)).

I have always been interested in orphanages. When I was younger, I remember always wanting to watch the news whenever they had stuff about the orphanages in Romania. I don’t even remember why they were talking about it on the news, but I LOVED seeing the children in Romania. And then last Christmas break, I started thinking that I might want to be a foster parent someday in the future. That’s another thing that just excites me. I mean, kids excite me in general, but I just feel like that’s something I would really like to do someday. So this is AWESOME that I can maybe (I haven’t talked to my parents yet…) go help with an orphanage because I might get an idea of what it’s like to serve and help children who are in need of love.

Of course over the next couple of months I will need a lot of prayer and I will need to prepare myself for this, but I feel SO refreshed and excited, it’s unbelievable! Man, if you EVER feel like this, it’s AWESOME! :) Praise God!

Categories: Direction/Change, Spiritual Growth | 1 Comment