kiraland

i got a job. not just any job but a full time teaching job at a school i really love. at a school i’ve been subbing at where i have felt welcomed and loved by the other teachers. to say the least i’m pretty darn excited about it. i’ll be teaching 6th graders math and social studies. i can’t wait. math with stretch me and grow me. social studies will be a joy and a chance to share my heart for the world. i’m so excited to start writing lessons and start decorating my classroom. my heart is so happy. 

as i got this job though i had to chuckle about where God placed me. my heart aches for the impoverished of the world. for those who others don’t believe in. for those who the world hasn’t given a second glance and yet i have been placed at an affluent school. ironically enough that seems to be where the Lord keeps placing me. i have worked at 2 different youth groups with kids from affluent homes. a camp for kids who come from wealthier homes. a school overseas for the upper class and also at a country club. as i reflected over my past and over where my heart is, i can’t help but see that there is a reason for those placements. for now i am called to love on the wealthy and hopefully share my heart at all times for the impoverished. during this school year i’m called to broaden the world view of the students i teach just like i did in Thailand. i am called to show them the love of the Lord and the things that bring him joy and the things that bring him sadness. hopefully they will leave my class with a heart for their neighbor and the whole world. if i can do that then i’ve done enough and my heart will be glad. 

I love kids. I love the crazy things that come out of their mouths, like these two hilarious statements said to me this week:

In a kindergarten class I was explaining the concept of more and less. I was saying that I could eat more than William (one of the goofiest boys in the class) because I am bigger than him. However, I continued, maybe one day when he is bigger he will eat more than me. One of the other boys raised his hand and with complete sincerity said to me “Ms. Weiland, when William is bigger you’ll be in heaven”

Then on the playground a 1st grader came up to me. She said, “Do you want to know something creepy?” To which I of course said yes. And she proceeded to say, “Mr. Williams went on a date last night!”

How can you not smile with those kinds of things always being said to you. I came across this email and these were some of my favorites.

Enjoy today and everything childlike about it.

i’ve been on a few substitute teaching jobs in the past couple of months and have already learned a great deal. first off i kinda love it. its fun to see different classrooms. to see different teachers ways of doing things especially classroom management. its so nice to spend the day with a bunch of kids. however, i’ve got to admit that it makes me sad that i don’t have my own kids but hopefully one day soon that will change. until then i’m going to soak up these days. each day i make a note of things i want to do in my future classroom (books to buy) which is great. with subbing though i’ve also learned there are some essentials to make the day phenomenal:

1. a whistle: you never know when you go out to recess what shenanigans the kids will get into and its nice to not use you voice hollering for them to quit and get back to playing nice

2. stickers/non-peanut candy: its nice to have some kind of reward in case the class can’t control themselves. i don’t love bribing kids but with some thats your best option (or taking away recess…about the equivalent to the world ending for a small child). and with all the peanut allergies you can never be too careful

3. bandaids: figured this one out the other day when a boy stapled his finger for fun and was dripping blood all over and i couldn’t find the teachers stash….definitely adding those to my bag

4. picture books: its always good to have some books to read. usually the kids have read all the ones in their class…its nice to have something out of the ordinary

and the very most important and best thing i’ve ever done subbing

5. learn every student’s name in the first 5 mins: it blows their mind that you would take the time and that you would want to know them each personally plus it saves you the headache of hollering “hey you get back to work”….best classroom management tip ever.

hopefully someone will have a opening in their school and give me a job based on my substitute skills!

I’m trying to wrap my head around the past year of my life. I started 2010 in Thailand finishing up my last few months of teaching there (which was probably one of the best life decisions ever). Then I moved home to travel around the country for the summer before settling downtown working with the Kivu Gap year. I spent 12 weeks living with the girls in the program before moving home to care for my sweet grandmother. I spent a month taking care of her each day before she went to be with the Lord (some of fondest memories of her in my whole life).

The holidays were suddenly upon us, as well as a KCO/Kivu reunion. I traveled around the south visiting the boyfriend’s family and just when I thought I was actually going to get serious about settling in and getting a job I get a call saying that I can join a team of individuals traveling to Australia. What? I’m sorry. What is going on? When did I become a vagrant? Ironically enough, I always wanted to be one. I always envied the guys at camp that lived from summer to summer filling their days with amazing adventures. Well guess what…wish granted. (However, I was hoping that maybe at 26 I could have a real job that actually included a paycheck every two weeks). There’s beauty in everything though. If I had all my ducks in a row like I planned, I wouldn’t be able to travel with this disaster relief team to help with all of the flooding that is currently happening in Queensland, Australia. I’ll be honest I’m excited about the opportunity. I’m excited to help. Yes, a little wary in some regards but mostly just thrilled to be part of this. 

So here’s the plan. On Sunday I fly to Tulsa and then drive to Fayetteville to stay the night before driving to Dallas the next day. On Monday, we will fly to LA where we will board our plane to fly to Sydney. Once we arrive in Sydney we will rent three cars and drive the 12 hours up the coast to Brisbane. For nine days we will do whatever we can to help before driving back down to Sydney to fly home on the 5th. Then I’ll do the whole first part of the trip again before arriving back in Denver on the 6th. If you could be praying for all of the people on this trip as well as though affected by this disaster that would be wonderful.