So What's Your Teaching Experience?

There are a couple of ways to answer that question. Do you mean "what teaching jobs have you had in the past?" or "what has your teaching experience been like?"

I'll answer both!

My past teaching jobs:
Age 9.... smuggled paper outside during recess to show classmates how to make paper fortune tellers
Age 16... morphed from a drama to a leather tooling teacher as needed at Bible Camp.
Age 17... created epic flannelgraph scenes for Bible stories in Sunday School
Age 20... led ESL students through the wild and wonderful world of the present perfect tense, among other things
Age 21... travelled to a middle eastern country; taught refugees from a restricted nation how to make Valentine's Day cards
Age 23... helped a middle-aged student with an acquired brain injury study quadratic equations for her GED
Age 24... taught Mom how to use a laptop computer
Age 25... helped grade one students discover why bats hang from ceilings and how to run faster

My experience of teaching has been...

Varied: From toddlers to seniors, from English to crafts, in rural and urban settings, for pay or volunteering, there have been so many opportunities to teach!

Stretching: I have often felt very young, inexperienced, and overwhelmed. In these moments I've wished that I could jump ship and take a job as a delivery truck driver (or a similar job that *appears* to be less challenging).

Humbling: Sometimes I ride impressive waves of success and other times I get washed up on shore with seaweed wrapped around my ear. I'm learning that it's okay to be a 6/10 teacher some days. I'll never be perfect.

Fun: People are funny, and when you work with lots of people all day long, you're guarenteed to come home with at least one great story per day.

My teaching experiences have not all been walks in the park while snacking on marachino cherries. I've learned hard lessons about myself, about relationships, and about perserverance and suffering. But all my experiences, whether difficult or enjoyable, have developed my character and faith. Teaching isn't always where I want to be, but I believe it's the vocation I've been called to- both for my good and the good of others!