Step One: Timing is crucial
Plowing soil to plant seeds in July may have seemed like a good idea, but it was the wrong time of the year. Unless one lives in a constant year-round climate, there are certain times of the year when seeds are planted for maximum yield.
Education Applications:
Faith Application:
I would extend many invitations to my students who were not baptized to experience the joy of this Sacrament. More times than not the invitations fell on deaf ears. That was a frustration for me. I was tempted to give up, for all my work didn’t seem to bear fruit.
But there were the days when I would hear about a former student who left my class being baptized years later and it dawned on me, it was not my timetable that was crucial. My job was to continually present an invitation, a Gospel message, and let the Holy Spirit do what the Holy Spirit does.
I realized that there is no “right time” to share Gospel message, for the “right time” is now.
Plowing soil to plant seeds in July may have seemed like a good idea, but it was the wrong time of the year. Unless one lives in a constant year-round climate, there are certain times of the year when seeds are planted for maximum yield.
Education Applications:
- I may be able to present broad concepts to the whole class, but may have to provide time for additional challenges or remediation depending on the individual student’s readiness.
- The daily schedule is important. It would be difficult to present a complicated concept to students who have returned from a pizza party. Just like adults, children who have a full tummy will tend to want to rest, not pay attention to complex instruction.
- Pace of instruction is critical over the course of the school year. It took a while for me to understand this concept, but I finally grasped that I cannot use four of six marking periods to cover one-half of the required learnings and then rush through half the material in one-third the time – no matter how interesting and exciting the first part of the material may be.
- Unplanned “Teachable Moments” come during the course of the year. It was imperative that I would recognize and capitalize on these moments – for when the time is right, the learning stays. In my teaching career I experienced many Teachable Moments, but none so dramatic as the day the school suffered over $100,000 worth of destruction through an act of vandalism. The week of repair and restoration allowed the students an opportunity to learn many lessons regarding responsibility, respect, and appreciation. I would never recommend that type of moment, but when it comes, maximize the instruction.
- Scope and Sequence are important. It would be hard to introduce the concept of diagramming sentences before students could recognize parts of speech. Thus I need to pay attention to when I present concepts, being careful to build on solid concepts already mastered.
Faith Application:
I would extend many invitations to my students who were not baptized to experience the joy of this Sacrament. More times than not the invitations fell on deaf ears. That was a frustration for me. I was tempted to give up, for all my work didn’t seem to bear fruit.
But there were the days when I would hear about a former student who left my class being baptized years later and it dawned on me, it was not my timetable that was crucial. My job was to continually present an invitation, a Gospel message, and let the Holy Spirit do what the Holy Spirit does.
I realized that there is no “right time” to share Gospel message, for the “right time” is now.