Classroom Management 101

Last night, we went to a church for an evening service. It was Kathi Shekar's church, and I have been so impressed with his servant heart this week. He has tirelessly come on all of our journeys to visit the churches and he has been Ratnakar's right hand man for many responsibilities.  His two daughters are sponsored by Marcia and her family, and it was such a gift to get to go to their home and for her to meet their family.  

We were told that there were going to be around 60-70 kids at the gathering so we decided to bring the crosses that we had done in the morning service at Ratnakar's church.  Ratnakar told me that we would be speaking to the kids and adults (and I assumed that it was all of them together as that is how we have done it at some other places.)  We planned for Marcia to share an opening prayer and  for me to speak to the children and the adults who were there (in one talk) followed by a closing prayer from Amy.  

However when we got there, the church was packed with people.

I think we counted over 140-150 kids who were there. Ratnakar thought we could still do the crosses and that the kids could share them as they worked on them so that they could be used to decorate the church walls.  I agreed and we planned to give it a shot.  At the point in the service that we passed these out, it did not quite go as planned. There were too many people and too few materials. We had stickers for the kids to put on the crosses, but we could not cut them out fast enough to pass out.  That morning, the activity went smoothly with the 50 kids we worked with, and they were so quiet as they worked carefully on their projects.  But, this was loud and chaotic since the numbers were almost triple what we had before. I had to laugh because of the whole lesson in classroom management here. If I had thought through this more before we passed out the materials, I would have been able to predict that this was inevitable. (Since I am teaching a course on classroom management at SPU this fall, I knew this was a perfect case study!) After a few minutes of letting the kids decorate them, we decided to cut our losses and collect the crosses. I brought a few kids to the front and they worked on them while Marcia and Amy gave them stickers that they punched out for them to use.  Then I asked Ratnakar and Kathi to sing a song with the children while we passed out some treats we had brought for them. I asked Ratnakar to be very explicit and to tell the kids not to reach out to grab one, but to wait patiently until we brought them around. They were fabulous and it went so smoothly from this point out.  What a lesson in thinking about the preparation, the materials, the implementation of an activity and the importance of being clear with expectations from the beginning! :) And a great opportunity to realize that when something is not going well, that it is fine to take it as an opportunity to redirect and begin again with another plan of attack. It is never too late to turn the page! :) 

·A  After our time with the children, the adults came in the church. It was then that I realized that I had most likely misunderstood and that I was supposed to be prepared to speak to the adults too (in a separate talk).  So, we conferred quickly and came up with a plan. Marcia shared first on some things that she had been learning in her Bible study.  She was so articulate and shared from her heart. I was so thankful that she went first as I was flipping through my Bible and praying for some idea on what I was supposed to talk about to these people here on this particular night. These two verses in particular stood out. 

 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. Hebrews 12:1-2 

So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever. 2 Corinthians 4:18

When I got up to share, the lights all went out in the church. Power outages are common here so no one flinched. A few people gathered some flashlights and I was able to continue to share my message. 

Since the message I gave was prepared at the last minute, I was so thankful for the chance to totally rely on God for direction and for the words to say.  (It also helps that when we speak that we get a chance to think about the next thing we are going to say as Ratnakar or his father take the time to translate for us! :) )  I talked about how we are called to turn our eyes on Jesus and that we have a choice of what we are going to focus on when problems arise. It is hard to explain the beauty of the faces that were looking back at me when I was sharing. Radiant is a word that comes to mind when I remember the looks from some of the women there. 

Then Amy got up to share her story of coming to know Christ.  It was such a beautiful and simple explanation of the gospel being a gift that God offers to the world.  Marcia and I both told her later that it was such a poignant message and that it meant a lot to us to hear her share. 

At the end of the evening, we closed in prayer and then had the chance to pray for individuals who came and asked us to pray. Once again, I was so moved and humbled by the experience of praying for people who are so reliant on God for help and mercy as their only advocate and help in times of need.  

Continuing to give thanks for these incredibly rich experiences and for these radiant people here.