What grace can do in the classroom: A teachers impact beyond the lesson plan by Deborah

What grace can do in the classroom: A teachers impact beyond the lesson plan by Deborah - January 2025 Scholarship Essay

Picture this, you’re a middle school English teacher and it is September first, the beginning of the school year. You wake up that day excited to come back to work to teach your students. Some time passes and you hear that there will be a new student coming soon. A month goes by and October rolls around and there she is. The new girl. As she walks in you can’t help but notice that she’s in a sleepy mood but you chose to let it slide. I mean she is the new girl after all, why not give her some grace! You start the class by handing out the book "Chanticleer and the Fox". You begin popcorn reading with the class and soon enough it’the new girls turn to read.
“Excuse me… Deb?” you say.
“Huh, what, oh sorry is it my turn?” responds Deb as she lifts up her head from slumber.
“She was sleeping?!” you think to yourself, astonished.
“Yes, we’re on page…” you say back.
You decide to take a route that many teachers would not have chosen. You simply let it go.
Hi, my name is Deborah and this student was me. The reason I chose this story for this essay is because the teacher in it has changed my life. Her name is Mrs. Huber and she has majorly impacted how I think about school. Mrs. Huber is somebody who loves her job and her students and she always shows it. On that day she could’ve stuck me in a metal category of “bad students” but she didn’t, because she truly believed in all of us. Today, looking back, I remember her class as being so much fun, yet I always learned so much! What Mrs. Huber has taught me the most is that learning can be exciting, even if it's a subject you don’t particularly think you like.