I am a teacher and I struggle with confidence. Do you?
Yes, it is true. I am a teacher and I struggle with confidence. Well, actually, I struggle with confidence in other parts of my life, too. Let’s add parenting and teacher-author business to the list, too. I will go through spurts where I teeter-totter back and forth between lacking confidence and then comfortable with where I am. Times where it weighs on me and times when I just keep moving along, doing the best I can. The times when it weighs on me, my thoughts look like this:
So, how do I cope? I wish I could say a hot sugar-free vanilla chai could do the trick, but it doesn’t, and it won’t. If I were to deny the only One who gives me life, then I deny all. Jesus, for me, is how I cope. I confess all the yuck of my heart (envy, greed, lack of contentment, lack of self-worth, placing my value in man’s hands) through tears and confession and He renews me. Let me share what it was like for me just last week. I was feeling less than with our teacher-author business. All those questions I already mentioned consumed my head. I was tired of feeling this way and wanted it to go away. I was swatting all those yucky fleas swarming around me and it wasn’t working. Finally, as I shared my struggles with the other half of French with the Hobbs (my wonderful husband), the tears dropped, he prayed, and I fell asleep. The next morning, I felt noticeably and positively better. Alone the next morning, I gave all my battles to the only One who can give me the self-worth, strength, and life I need. This is how I fight my battles. Instead of trying to swat it all away, I ask, “how can I be used and molded to turn groaning into glory?” Ignore and forget the lies, fear, and deception of Satan. I believe God gave me a passion for teaching and I am good at it. God led me to a teacher-author business because we can make effective resources to help other secondary French teachers. I am somebody. I am right where I need to be at this moment in my life. I will keep my eyes on things above, not on earthly things. I believe God will take care of me, even in ways I don’t ask or can’t imagine because of His power that is at work in me. So back to those heavy questions with renewed eyes:
“Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9) “Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.” (1 Peter 3:4) CONFIDENCE. It’s hard. It’s real. I am not the only one with confidence issues. If you’ve read thus far in this post, then you struggle, too. Let me leave you with the only words that can truly encourage: Have no fear of sudden disaster or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked, for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being snared. (Proverbs 3:25-26) But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. (Jeremiah 17:7) I can do everything through Him who gives me strength. (Philippians 4:13) Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence , so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:16) So do not throw away your confidence , it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. (Hebrews 10:35-36) May you go forward full of confidence in the One who loves you more than you know. Love, Andi
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At the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year, did you notice regression in your French students because of COVID-19? Did they seem more timid to speak? Less confident with their French skills?
Jason noticed right away that his French students were exhibiting such behaviors. As we reflected the reasons behind their speaking reluctance and low confidence, we landed on potential reasons. First, for some of the students, they didn’t get a strong foundation at the beginning of their French career. Then, all students missed a huge chunk of their class time in the spring of 2020 due to eLearning. But that was not an epiphany; we could see that coming as we scrambled to figure out how to effectively teach our students from a distance in the spring due to the pandemic. (We created a webinar for language teachers if you’re interested in learning some tools for teaching languages at a distance). So, how do we combat the regression, timidness and low confidence? We came up with the following solutions: 1. Encourage them and build them up 2. Meet them where they are and show them where they can go 3. Don’t give up on them To further explain…
2. We meet them where they are. a. Jason felt like there weren’t many strong language speaker leaders in his French class, so no one knew where they could go with French. They didn’t have upperclassmen who had experience with immersion and who could carry on complete French conversations. Those who would inspire, lead and motivate the rest of the class were not there. b. So, Jason decided to meet them where they are…he started at the beginning with some pronunciation instruction to get them back to speaking French. This slowly started getting their minds and mouths used to the French sounds once again. c. Next, he had some audio recordings from last year’s advanced students. He took a recording from a previous student and shared it with his current students. This student was not the best or strongest in the class, but “average.” Jason wanted to show them where they could go if they were willing to trust his teaching and put in the effort to learn and speak the language. For some, it helped motivate. For others, it was discouraging…but what a great way to open honest and vulnerable dialogue in the classroom. One girl told him honestly that ‘there was no way’ she could ever speak like that and it was so intimidating to hear. That was the open-door Jason needed to reassure her that the student she listened to used to be in her seat, with her SAME language abilities. But by trusting him and attempting to learn, that student progressed to that recording by the end of the year. And she can, too! They all can. They need to believe in themselves and they need to believe their teachers believe in them, too. d. In light of masks and video conferencing, it is important to recognize and acknowledge that these two realities can hinder communication. There is value in stopping and acknowledging these difficulties. Giving suggestions and encouragement to be able to communicate well is beneficial to all. Being patient with one another, speaking more loudly, and understanding that we have lost a communication piece by covering our mouths are good reminders for teachers and students. It may seem obvious, but our students don’t necessarily recognize the hindrances of masks and screens, and sometimes, as teachers, we forget, too. 3. We don’t give up on them. a. Plain and simple. We don’t give up on them. They don’t know l'imparfait like they should? Instead of sighing and stressing, go back to the basics of l'imparfait and raise them up to the knowledge they need to move forward successfully. Sure, they may have had a tough introductory French year OR regressed during quarantine and the summer OR gave up on what they can attain in the French language. But we CANNOT give up on them. b. Believe in them. Believe in ourselves. Believe and hope in the good that is to come. This school year is full of learning for BOTH teachers and students. It is never too late to help our students grow and learn despite their circumstances. As hard as it might be, persevere and don’t give up as teachers, too. Don’t grow weary in doing good, for there will be fruit eventually in your French students. Bonne chance et courage, nos chers collègues! Dear respected colleagues,
We solely wanted to encourage you today in whatever tasks you're tackling. This may be a day where students are struggling with the subjunctive OR you are lacking enthusiasm to teach your material OR your workload is incredibly heavy OR that one student makes class really challenging. We have been there and we want to remind you to keep pressing on because you are capable of great things. Stop and remind yourself of that memorable moment when the light bulb went off for a struggling student, when a parent said such a kind remark to you, when you laughed with your students, or the time when you had a stellar lesson plan! Those are the times to bring back to the forefront of your mind. We, French with the Hobbs, strive to not become weary in doing good because we believe there will be a time when a harvest will come if we do not give up...and we believe that for you today. Keep going, believe you're capable, and eventually you will see fruit from your labor. Respectfully, The Hobbs Always feel free to email us ([email protected])! We are available as a sounding board, for counsel, or a quick note of encouragement. Want to talk through a lesson or struggle with us? We'd love to offer you feedback. We are all in this together, let's support each other. |
Who are the Hobbs?Originally, we are from the Midwest and the East; however, our paths took us to Angers, France where we met and fell in love. Archives
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