"Retreat"

Yesterday our 11th grade students went on their retreat.  Every grade goes for a day to work on team building exercises to improve the dynamic of the class. Since I am the 11th grade advisor, I had the priviledge of going with.  Having experiences with such kinds of retreats in middle school going to timberlee, I was excited for the kids to have a chance to experience some challenging activities and grow together.  Let's just say my Timberlee expectations were not met.  The 11th grade class's behavior is challenging.  I really enjoy working with them because they like to talk and are willing to reason with you and draw conclusions.  Unfortunately the group running the program may have not been quite prepared to handle what was coming for them.  Most of the day felt like a mess, but in the end their were definitely some good things that came out of it.  It wasn't much of a retreat for us the teachers but we were able to have some really conversations with our students throughout the day.
As the students were doing various activities, I had the chance to talk with one of  the other teachers who was on the trip with us that I really had not had the chance to get to know before.  She had just gotten engaged the night before, so we got to talk about her future wedding plans.  Then we got on to the topic of our students and their behavior.  Although they attend a Christian school, the majority of them do not hold those beliefs and don't come from Christian homes.  A lot of the time, it is easy to place Christian expectations on these students because they are in a Christian school, but the reality is they have no base for good behavior.  They can control themselves to a certain extent, but they are human beings who when it comes down to it are looking to please themselves.  The other teacher and I spoke a lot about how we as teachers cannot change this; it has to be something from God.  Our responsibility is to pray for them, love them, live our lives as a testimony to them, and be open to speak when God opens the door.  It is such a huge ministry opportunity to be a teacher at this school.
The day was definitely not my favorite, and I may have a few suggestions for the powers that be, but it did allow me to build better relationships with my students.  It was also just a huge reminder of where my students are at and the spiritual needs that they have.  This job is definitely not just about teaching math.