To some of the readers of this blog, the memories of math class long gone is pleasant, while to others, one hopes that there were more interesting and challenging times! I remember before the advent of calculators or computers of any popularity, yes, and even before slide rulers, that we had booklets of tables for calculating things like logarithms and exact degrees, minutes and seconds or trigonometric ratios to several decimals using the charts included. I can just hear some of you saying, I vaguely remember doing those long calculations and never found any practical use for them! Glad to be rid of them!
Not so quickly, please! In this day and age of computer access to things never imagined, there is a program called Google Earth and if you want to download it for free, you can do something interesting. The images which you see there are from satellites circling our earth giving us a view previously reserved for military types. If you type in the following co-ordinates, you will see something new to you but familiar to me - the Academy! 35º 10’ 10.95” N and 33º 21’ 08.37 E. You will see a large red roof which is the three storey school building with a white roof in front of it which is the Primary school and another smaller red roofed building which is the library where Marian works. The black area to the left is the enclosed futsal field and the grey area beside it is the basketball court! So, you can have a heavenly perspective of where I am working!
Not far away is the place where we live located at: 35º 10’ 08.82” N x 33º 20’ 32.08” E that building with the several circles on the roof is our home here in Cyprus!
I have to be thankful to the Lord for this past week in many ways but this is the main one: I went two days without having to deal with any discipline problems!! Thank you! Now before you think the job has gotten too easy let me share a few of the things which are part of my day and in which I try to bring the love of Christ in a tangible way.
Case #1. A week ago Thursday I had to suspend a young man for a vicious angry outburst in art class. When I had the father come in to take the son home, he thanked me and appreciated the fact that I had tried to help his son. Explosive anger as I have never seen before was at the root of this misdemeanor! He was to return to school on Monday and did. As he entered the school I reminded him of the counsel which I had given him about seeking alternative ways out of the situation as he felt anger rising in his spirit. He assured me he had remembered.
Now move ahead to Wednesday and guess who is sitting in the outer office? The same young man for another outburst of foul language and refusal to listen to a teacher. As he sat in the ante-room, I sat down with him and tried to walk through the details as I had been told them. Well, I guess I had been told in correctly or my memory failed me but I observed for myself a rising anger which resulted in him trying to tear his knapsack in pieces and when that didn’t happen he threw it across the room and grabbed two handfuls of his own hair and banged his head against his knees telling me he did not want to speak with me. I left for a few minutes and returned later speaking in a very calm voice telling him his actions were unacceptable. In the meantime I had checked with the teacher involved and corrected my slight mistake in the order of events! I called the father again which gave the young man some time to cool down. As the father came into my office and we sat without the son, he said that he might as well attend the school to keep an eye on his son. Then he broke down in tears and just sobbed. To me, he had reached the end of what he could do for this young man of 14 years.
In offering some help, I suggested that we needed to have someone involved who could help modify some behaviour. I tried to explain that this did not mean the son was bad but needed some help. I will wait until Monday to see if he accepts my suggestion. If so, I have some hope that this irrational behaviour can be modified.
As I have learned more about the home, I find that the son is under very strict discipline and often blamed for things in the family of which he has no responsibility. So when he came to school on Thursday and I met him, I offered to treat him at the canteen on Monday if he could get through Thursday and Friday without any problems. He smiled and seemed appreciative. Well, we made it through Thursday without incident and when I met him this morning, I praised him and he smiled - just one more day!
As fate would have it, guess who shows up in the office mid day? Yes, he was there! But not for discipline - he had been playing futsal and had injured himself! Thankfully that was all! Off to the hospital and a cast for a week should rectify the problem! I am on the hook for a treat on Monday!
But as I work through this case, I see a young man who is intelligent and yet struggles with a family life which is beyond his control. Like the Samaritan, I trust that my words and gestures are like oil on a wounded soul!
Case #2. A teacher arrives in my office waving a discipline report on a 17 year old student - female this time! Her conduct in class had been disruptive, interfered with the learning of others, was disrespectful of authority and on top of it, just plain rude! As the VP and I sat there I asked the young lady to explain what happened. How is it that what a teacher sees as serious, students see as merely trivial and nothing to get upset over? I had been told that this young lady was quite a challenge and thought that no one could do anything to her. Well, as we talked I asked her to give me one good reason why I should not suspend her. When she could not come up with one, I showed her that I had her Mom’s phone numbers and was prepared to have her come to the school to pick her up. I was getting through when she asked in Greek what a suspension was. When explained, the tears began to flow and she knew she had met her match and I was not about to back down and was certainly not accepting of her behaviour regardless of what she thought!
I motioned for the VP to leave the room and I followed her out to leave the student to think for a few moments. We agreed that we had gotten through to her!
When I returned, I told her that I was not going to suspend her but would have her sign a suspension form that if any of those four things happened in any class the remainder of the year, she was out. After signing she thanked me! I said there was one more thing that was necessary - she had to apologize to the teacher involved.
I left the room and they did reconcile! Thank you Lord!
The next morning on entering the school, she smiled and put out her hand to shake mine and said thank you!
One of my aims in disciplining students is to have them understand that I do not dislike them but their actions. In addition once they have accepted the punishment, I tell them that the issue is over as far as I am concerned and we move on. The joy of seeing the response is worth so much! In Christ there is hope and a new way!
I share these not to bore you but to give you an insight to two small incidents in the weeks work. The easy way would be to take a rubber stamp approach to discipline but as a Christian institution, I feel compelled to take and treat each case as unique and endeavor to bring God’s grace to bear in situations which need teaching and love often more than strict discipline! So, thank you for your prayers for wisdom, I continue to trust in His faithfulness each day and it is marvelous to see how He provides it as needed!
The media lab which was purchased through donations made to Baraka International Ministries is now functional and many appreciate the teaching advantage this presents. Thank you on their behalf!
David
posted by David & Marian Sloss @ 11:54 AM
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