MSTAR and Elvis

This year, our school has implemented the M-STAR-  an evaluation tool that will go in place next year in the state of Mississippi. It stands for Mississippi Statewide Teacher Appraisal Rubric. To sum it up, there are 20 standards teachers will be observed on, 7 of which involve being observed weekly. The others have to do with Professional Development, Test Scores, and Lesson Planning. A formal evaluation will take place in the fall and in the spring, resulting in a score that ranges from a 1 to a 4- a 1 means you did not meet expectation; a 4 means you exceeded expectation.

I thought of a new acronym for M-STAR: More Stress Teachers Are Receiving. Yes, it has increased my stress level! Every week, not knowing when "they" are coming in. Every week, worrying whether or not I will meet the standard. Even so, I do respect the fact that it has been put in place to help me better myself as an educator and I hope to make me a more effective teacher. 

But, as most of my posts are, this is another analogy. As I put my exhausted body in bed at 9:30 on a Friday night last night, I thought about MSTAR in my Jesus-following, Bible-believing, daily Christian walk. Another acronym: Is My Salvation Testimony Authenticated Relevantly? 

What does that mean? Is it real?

Does my life reflect what Christ has done in me? 

As we were "briefed" on what was involved in this new evaluation process, many of us questioned, "But what if, during one of these 10 minute weekly walk-throughs by administration, the specific standard is not observed? What if we are eating snack and I'm reading a chapter book to my class (like I was last week!!) The answer we were given: The evidence will show what kind of teacher you are. If there is dust on the Promethean board or books, chances are you haven't used those things. If manipulatives are still in unopened packages, not a good sign.

The evidence. The proof is in the pudding.

In my daily walk, if I am observed for a 10 minute window of time, what will you see? Well, that depends on the situation!! If it is on Sunday morning trying to rush myself kids out the door, it's not pretty. Or on any weekday afternoon, when my own children get to my classroom, and they are arguing, and I'm trying to get stuff done for the next day, ugh.

But as a whole, what does the evidence show? 

Speaking of dust........what does this evidence show? As I was cleaning and mulling over this blog, I started cleaning on the "Elvis shelf." One of the figurines looked like Elvis had a dust-fro. Cobwebs and dust that covered a replica of Graceland like snow could be found. 

To be honest, I didn't clean every one of the figurines. Do you know how many he has?!

Not to just pick on Elvis, I took a picture of some of my collections:

If you look closely, you can see the line drawn in the dust below my "treasures."

I think there's a verse that mentions something about "lay not up treasures where moth and dust corrupt..." but that's another blog!

The evidence shows I need a cleaning lady!!

So how does this all connect to MSTAR?

Verses 19-20 came up on my Bible App for the verse of the day: 

2 Corinthians 5

^14-15 Our firm decision is to work from this focused center: One man died for everyone. That puts everyone in the same boat. He included everyone in his death so that everyone could also be included in his life, a resurrection life, a far better life than people ever lived on their own.

^16-20 Because of this decision we don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don’t look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We’re Christ’s representatives.

As Christ's representative, I pray my life will be the proof of His love, as a recent song says. I pray the evidence will show. I pray that even when on the outside I get dusty, I'm reminded of that fresh start I have in Jesus through repentance and forgiveness. I pray that the fruit of my life shows it.

I KNOW I have some 10 minute (or 10 days....depending!!) snippets in my life  that do not look good. 

But, Oh, Lord.....may My Salvation Testimony be Authenticated Relevantly to others, by the grace of Jesus Christ, through the evaluation and conviction of the Holy Spirit. 

And when the evidence is not there, (and many times it isn't), I pray that God, my Observer and Authority, will direct me back to Himself, making me a genuine example to others. 

Can't Jesus Fix That?

It is hard to find the time during the day as a teacher to make notes of "things kids say," but today I did. One of my students said "I'm starving!" as we were getting ready to have snack. Well, as my own personal children know, when you say that to me, a Haiti speech is coming. And so it did. I began to tell them of some of the conditions in the area we were in when we went; that there are no chicken nuggets or pizza or candy, and how fortunate the children are there, if they get one meal of rice and beans a day.
 I then compared it to the amount of food that we have access to each day. (I am well aware that we do have students in our own classes right here in Corinth that may not eat some nights.) 

Not to belittle those situations at all, but at least we do know our students have breakfast, lunch and a snack at school. Anyway, as I continued to talk about the poverty there, as it applied to food, the sweetest little hand went up, and these were the words out of his mouth: "Can't Jesus fix that?

"Yes, baby, He can" was my reply with a hug.

I immediately went to my desk, jotted the quote down, and didn't dwell on it too long for fear of the tears that may accompany my thoughts.

Now, my eyes become wet as I think of situations that are heavy on my heart tonight-people that are hurting; friends that are praying for healing; those whose addictions have them in chains, some who do not even know that they are bound; little girls without a father in their home, little boys trying to be the "father" for their home; a heart that still mourns the empty cradle; a spouse who will sleep alone for the first time or the fiftieth time because the love of their life is gone; a body that is exhausted from the fight; yes, the Haitian and Dominican people that I have come to love who settle in their homes as dusk falls, and darkness follows until dawn because they have no electricity.

All these and so many more- Yes, Jesus can fix that.

  In every situation we can imagine, He can fix it. He can heal. He can provide. He can break those chains.      He can renew strength. He can be a Father to the   fatherless. He can comfort. He can restore and redeem that which was lost. 

We have to be willing to let Him. And sometimes, He will use us to be in on His "fixing" process.

As you lay your head down tonight, reflect on your life. What is in it that is troubling you? Hear Ethan's question that he asked me. 
"Can't Jesus fix that?"

"Yes, baby, He can."

Isaiah 61:1-3

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, Because the Lord has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”

Prints of Love

I came home tonight after an almost 12 hour work day, between school meetings, running home checking on the kids, back to school for meetings, running back home to run my kids to the doctor, grab some Taco Bell, then go back to school.........As I walked in the kitchen, I noticed gray footprints on the floor. Evidently, while I was away, the mice decided to play. They had broken a thermometer, and gotten what I assume was mercury on the floor. After a poor job of cleaning it up, they left it to be tracked through the house. As I put aside the school work to clean up the "evidence," I thought back to our Trinity days and remember a mom saying how she didn't want to wash off the fingerprints from her windows, for one day, the there would be no kids around the house to leave them there. 
My mind is swirling with so many things these days, one of which is the fact that my own children are growing up so fast, right before my eyes. With that comes a whole other blog!
But after my own children, my thoughts and prayers have been for the 19 that will walk through my door Thursday morning. Those little faces, some of who I will meet at "Meet the Teacher," will hopefully be beaming as they see their desks, supplies, and new classroom. 
As we begin a new school year (how it came so fast, I do not know!!), I am always aware of the fact that I am with other people's children more than I am my own. For around 8 hours every day- give or take a some minutes- I am momma, doctor, counselor, negotiator, and teacher, just to name a few. Every year, I am overwhelmed with all that has to be done. Every year, I am afraid that I will not do enough. Every year, I face failures and victories alike. Every year, I cry. Every year I laugh- alot! It is true with our personal children as well.
But, today, in one of my running around moments in between meetings, I saw a student and his brothers from last year- and my heart lit up. As I saw those precious faces, I was reminded of the privilege that I have - to invest in these little lives. I was reminded that even though I fell in love with some little lives when I've been to Montana, Haiti or Ecuador, there are 19 more waiting for me right here in Corinth on Thursday.
As our speaker closed his message this morning, his final words were "just love them." 
So, as I entrust my own children to teachers who will spend more time with them than I will, and as I do the same for others' precious ones, my prayer for this year comes from 1 Corinthians 13- 

¹² We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!

¹³ But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.

And that HE, through me, will leave fingerprints that will never be washed away.