High School Students: A Mob of Wild Vagabonds or Unique Individuals?

We all "stumble in many ways," I heard this morning. Yep, we do. And "love covers a multitude of sins." Thank God.

I substitute teach nowadays, mostly at the high school or middle school level. And in doing so, I have discovered a new level of understanding of "Love your neighbor as yourself." It helps me to, as much as possible, and when I can, deal with students as individuals instead of as a group. That is, when I try to, for example, relate to students face to face, one on one, as much as that is possible in a classroom, if I think to myself, "Students are people too," it makes a difference.

I know it sounds funny, but I mean, the "multitudes" (in this case, students) seem in my mind to clump together as this mob of wild vagabonds, but actually they are unique individuals with separate sets of hurts and experiences and hopes, aspirations, feelings, needs. It helps me to adjust that mindset when I can. In other words, treat them the way I would want to be treated ("Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"). Talk to every kid with respect and every group with respect. I thought I was already doing that, but I have come to realize that many times I have gotten angry and frustrated with  or fearful of students who misbehave, and just made things worse. So I'm working on not getting angry and frustrated and still being in control of my emotions, handling things without necessarily blurting out the first thing that comes to mind just to snap people into shape. Being quiet for a second usually works, but when I'm in the middle of a sentence it throws me off and I feel I have to immediately get things back the way it was before the rudeness began. Instead, I am immediately offended and react instead of being calm and in control.

Everybody is a person with needs, not just automatically someone who might hurt me or someone I need to control. Sounds kind of obvious, but at a deeper level something of a revelation to me lately.

I wasn't really trying to shame these two girls, but I was talking, and everyone was quiet but them, so I said, "I can't believe you two are sitting there having a conversation while I'm talking. That's really rude." They shut up and I finished what I was saying. Later I thought I wish I would have thought of something more gracious to say. But I didn't. Maybe next time I will. It did the trick, though. So, I don't know. You learn something new every day.

Lord, help me to handle situations like You would, not just blurt out something that might work but might not be the best way to handle things. Help me to allow You to be in control and not feel so driven to be in control, but rather at peace and sensitive to Your Spirit. In Jesus' Name, Amen.