What Children Remember About Their Teachers
I can remember teachers from my childhood, and what is interesting is that I don’t remember very many of their lesson plans.
I don’t remember what worksheet we did on a random Tuesday.
I don’t remember what was written on the bulletin board.
But I remember how certain teachers made me feel.
And I think our children will probably be the same way.
Of course, academics matter. We are a school. I want our teachers prepared. I want intentional lessons, good classroom management, strong curriculum and children making academic progress.
But there is another part of teaching that can’t really be written into a lesson plan.
It’s noticing.
It’s knowing that the child who normally talks nonstop is unusually quiet today.
It’s realizing that “I don’t know” sometimes means, “I’m scared I’ll get it wrong.”
It’s knowing when to sit beside a child and help and when to step away because they are perfectly capable of doing it themselves.
And it’s being genuinely happy to see them when they walk through the door.
Children notice those things.
They also watch us constantly—which is a slightly terrifying thought if you spend your days with little people!
We can teach a beautiful Bible lesson about kindness in the morning, but the real lesson may come ten minutes later when someone knocks over somebody else’s blocks.
Now they’re watching.
How do we respond when someone makes a mistake?
What do we do when we’re frustrated?
How do we speak to people?
What does forgiveness actually look like?
That’s one reason I never want our faith to exist only during Bible time. If we’re going to teach children about Jesus, then they should also see something of Him in the way the adults around them love, correct, forgive, encourage and care for them.
Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me.”
That verse feels different when you work with children every day.
These little people have been entrusted to us for a very short period of their lives.
Yes, I hope they remember what we taught them. I hope we give them a strong academic foundation and prepare them well for the next classroom.
But I also hope years from now they remember that their teacher believed in them.
That mistakes could be corrected.
That they were expected to try.
That kindness mattered.
And most of all, that when they walked into their classroom each morning, they knew they belonged there.
Want to learn more? Come visit us at Cornerstone Christian Academy in Justin, TX. We’d love to welcome you and your child into our joyful, encouraging school family.