And sometimes I feel joy and I don't know why

Driving away from school today I felt a calm joy, and it wasn't because I was leaving in the afternoon instead of the during-soccer-season mid-evening. It was because of my students, I think, even though I can't really put a finger on a specific reason why.

Let me try to think of a few...

Today after school one of my students came to me because he didn't have the vocabulary assignment he will be quizzed over tomorrow. I told him to ask a classmate to borrow it, to which he responded something to the effect that none of his classmates would be willing to help. I quickly stepped out into the hall, caught the attention of a 10th grader or two, asked if anyone had a grammar book I could borrow, and was answered with three, possibly four being thrust into my face in a matter of seconds. They're so eager! They're so loving.

I gave a history test today. I haven't finished grading the short answer part, but the girls did substantially better on the multiple choice than they did on the last one. Writing high grades on tests brings me much more joy than writing low ones (writing low ones brings me no joy at all, actually).

In English class I had the girls doing a writing activity. The finished product was an 8 line poem that they then read to their peers and examined denotation and connotation. It was a huge success!

One of my ninth grade boys, with which I have been struggling to connect, stopped me in the hallway to ask me how my weekend was and we had a fairly grown-up conversation. Moments like those redeem the times I feel that I am speaking to a brick wall.

So perhaps I do know why I felt joyful today.

Listening to another Mosaic sermon this morning I was struck by a point Irwin McMannus made. He said he's often hear people say that God has put them in places where they are unskilled so that He can have all the glory. Irwin disagreed strongly with this idea, saying that God gave us talent so that He can use it, not so that He can capitalize on the areas in which we have no gifts. I'll agree with Irwin and say that I am so thankful that God has given me talent in teaching and in relating to high schoolers so that I am able to do what I do.