West Cocoa Chat

Well work fans, this old West Cocoa boy is back in the saddle again or at least it's a preview. Today teachers report back to school all over the State of Florida to complete an exercise called "Pre-Planning Week." "PPW" I'm sure was intended for teachers to have a designated time before students reported to the building in which to get their rooms ready and to plan for the coming year. As I start my 27th year it has been my experience that very little of the latter (..."plan for the coming year.") happens.

Yes, in this age of "educational accountability" and "NCLB" (No Child Left Behind) most of PPW are spent in meetings going over test scores, talking about how we're going to improve test scores, and looking at all the latest Federal and State mandates which in up doing what any governmental mandates do, generate mega-amounts of paperwork which take away from planning for actual teaching.

Now, lest I make out PPW to be a total negative experience there are some upsides. Some of those positives include reconnecting with our staff and catching a vision of what I can do for my students to lead them into academic as well as (what I’ll call) “maturing successes.” Do you remember your middle school or Jr. High days? I remember being somewhat concerned about my general safety as well as my potential for social success as I entered what we called then, Jr. High. This little dynamic hasn’t changed for the middle school students of the new millennium have the same fears and concerns. I just pray that beyond test scores that my students can walk away from my Math Classes and if nothing else, can have happy memories about their experience.

BTW – most teachers feel like when there are no kids in the building it still feels somewhat like a vacation. I once had a Principal who said about our brand new facility, “This school is nothing more than a glorified Office Building until students enter the school and then they with teachers transform this Office Building into a school.”

Are not our church buildings somewhat the same? Have you walked inside your church building (or as Greg’s wife Jan would say – the “church house”) when people were not in it? Did you get the sense that your facility was a “church?” Dumb question huh? Just like our schools, our church buildings are nothing more than buildings until you put people in them who have tried to live a life of faith during the week. Like my students the members of our churches come at different points of success on the faith walks. Like my students some come to church for different reasons. Some love being with their church family, others are just starting their journey of faith, and some have been “made” to show up. But just like my school when you take this strange mix and throw it all together in our church buildings for a few moments, the church resides together under one structure.

Have a happy Monday family.

// posted by cwinwc @ 3:12 AM