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.