Classroom Rationale

As I believe to have the vocation from God to be a teacher, many doubts and fears come
to my mind (Oakes, Lipton, Anderson, Stillman, 2013, p. xv). Will I be a good enough teacher?
Will I make an impact in any of the students lives? All these questions begin to flood my
thoughts, and I have to remind myself that I have to trust God that he has called me into this
position and to serve for Him in this calling. But what will this even look like and how will I
manage a classroom of students?
As a teacher, I want to be the best teacher that I can possibly be. One whom loves my
students unconditionally, someone who helps them find their talents to lead them to success, and
someone who guides them on their path of life. I want to teach implicit curriculum, in addition to
explicit curriculum, so that students are getting more than what is just written up on the
blackboard and a score on the state standardized test (Woolfolk, 2013). I would be lying if I did
not say that as a future teacher, I would feel accomplished when a former student comes back to
my classroom and tells me that I made an impact on their lives, or see the fact that all my
students passed the state test. However, I think I might have it all wrong. This does not make me
an accomplished teacher. As a teacher, I need not to focus on my esteem as a teacher, but rather
on pouring into and loving the students that walk in and out of the school doors and building the
community in our classroom of image bearers of God with different talents and skills (Graham,
2003). It means learning is more about the hidden values behind the lesson, such as how to
respect someone with a different belief or how you can support someone who is struggling. And
the knowledge is what the students will walk away with and carry with them in their day-to-day
lives, such as how to socialize and be a good friend to others. In addition, that means trying new
things each year, teaching in multiple intelligences, setting high standards and goals for my
students that they can reach, and going outside of my comfort zone to reach every student in the
classroom so they feel as they belong (Woolfolk, 2013). But also, never leaving their side and
being an encourager for them and also encouraging them to use each other to help with learning,
whether that means they have a buddy they depend on in class. I do not know where I am
going to be called to teach and what students I will have, whether this means I will be teaching in
this country or another, in a Christian, public, or charter school, to the rich or poor, to students
whom are black, white or something in between, or to accelerated students or those falling
behind. I, though, will be their teacher and have to love every student equally and guide them as

they teach and learn from each other in guided conversations and hands-on/real life opportunities
to help with even more understanding. I have to make sure students know they are a competent
contributor to our class with individual skills and different backgrounds that the classroom will
accepted so that social justice is present throughout our class (Oakes, Lipton, Anderson, &
Stillman, 2013).
Wherever I am teaching, I must live in that community and get to know the community
as it is where my students come from and have their culture based in it (Peregory 2013). It may
be completely different from my background of schooling, as I hope to teach in a school with
more diversity and culture, but as Westerhof writes, I must seek the welfare of the [school]
where I have been sent (Westerhof, 2000, p.7). I have to know my students and the school I am
teaching in, to know how to best reach and do my job as a teacher. That will mean I am willing to
come in before school and stay late to help students, answer questions, or just have the time to
get to know them better. I will have to listen more than talk so I can hear the concerns and stories
my students share and find important. That way I am showing my students how to care for one
another and show that they are valued in this class. This could be seen in a simple morning
greeting or asking for them to tell me something good or a prayer request in the mornings. This
means that wherever I am, I must make my classroom a place that feels safe and is always full of
acceptance for others and their difference. By having difference accepted, we will grow as a class
and learn to respect those with different beliefs and ideas. One way this can happen is by having
classroom meetings that the students lead and have a class convent made together that allows
better community and belonging. I want it to be a place students feel like they are at home,
because they all should feel as they belong in the classroom (Peregory, 2013). However, I will
also want to challenge them and push them into deeper thinking that is more than the topics in
the curriculum books. I want them to find ways to relate ideas to real life examples and have a
more hands on experience. By making sure my classroom has all the materials to help with his
learning, such as the technology, books, and sensory materials will make this possible. This way
my classroom can grow together, using everyones strengths to be a better community that goes
beyond just knowing the answers in the textbooks and achieving what the state requires them to
know.
I have to realize that I cannot fear classroom management or how good of a teacher I will
be, like Daniel in the lions den or think I have to make an impact on every child in the class,

because I cannot save them all and be the catcher in the rye (Westerhof, 2000, p.7). Instead, I
have to trust God that he has called me to be a teacher, and I must listen and be obedient to His
call, wherever that may be and to whom. I will use the shoulder and skills that Froyen has said
about having covenant, conduct, and content management plans that the students develop with
me, so respect and belonging are present and the rules are understood (Froyen, 1999). I will want
to be that teacher that prays over the class list before I know each of them, and the teacher that
sits in each of my students desks every morning to pray for them and our classroom, and
encourage one another to do this for each other. The teacher I want to be is the one who focuses
on the well-being of the school and the students in the class, because that is Gods will and He
has called me to be, a teacher. That is someone who will love each individual student and teach
him or her more than the word teach implies, but also be taught something new from a group
of students that is different every single year so that I grow with them. Because that is what
community is a place where we grow and learn through mistakes and accomplishments together.
Citations
Biblical Norms for Educational Purpose p.50-58 in D.L Graham, 2003. Teaching
redemptively: bringing grace and truth into your classroom. Colorado springs, CO:
Purposeful Design, ACSI.
Froyen, L. A., & Iverson, A. M. (1999). Schoolwide and classroom management: the reflective
educator-leader (pp. 48-73). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill.
Oakes, J., Lipton, M., Anderson, L., & Stillman, J. (2013). Teaching to change the World (4th
ed.). Boulder, CO: Paradigm Publishers.
Peregoy, Suzanne F., Owen Boyle, and Karen Cadiero-Kaplan. "Language and Language
Acquisition." Reading, Writing, and Learning in ESL: A Resource Book for Teaching K12 English Learners. 6th ed. Boston: Pearson, 2013. 368-400. Print.
Westerhof, P. (2000). The welfare of the city. Christian Educators Journal, February, p. 7
Woolfolk, Anita. Educational Psychology. 12th ed. N.p.: Pearson Education. Print.