October 2021 Monthly Summary

October was a month of God’s help for endurance. As I met with Jesus this month, he did a tremendous amount of work on my insides so that I will be able to move forward with more grit and joy.

Simple Pleasures

This month, my friend Kara and her friend came Northern Virginia for the Voice of the Apostles conference! After work, I met them there for the evening sessions. God conquered last minute travel logistics and health issues to speak clearly.

This session was aligned to much of what God has been showing me this month about meeting him on the cross.

My students reflected on what they’ve learned about Identity through art! Check out this video to get a sneak peek of what they’ve learned.

This month, Fourth grade presented their Inquiry Projects on DC Community. I was abundantly proud of them, but especially this student who joined our class at the beginning of the year. As someone who is at early levels of English proficiency, he gave a bilingual presentation to the class. It’s been a joy to see his language skills begin to blossom!

This month, several students were inspired by a small group reading book to write their own secret codes for home use. Here, one student is explaining her code’s symbols to another.

Third grade found various ways to model division!

At the house church I attend, several young members helped me color in a crown for Jesus and castle as we worshipped him as King.

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My friend trusted God to launch some prophetic painting workshops! Here is a reflection I painted on the moment in 1 Kings 19 when God calls Elijah out of the cave.

Celebrating good news in advance with Ada Ehi’s “Congratulations”

Themes this Month

• Yearning
• Healing honesty, Spirit of Truth
• Meeting Jesus on the Cross, Endurance
• Salt, The Greatness of God
• In my dreams: Leaving my students on field trips to play like a child
• God bringing me flowers, the faithfulness of his love

This month, my discerning of spirits took dramatic leaps forward! In counterbalance to some of the things God’s been showing me, he has been inviting me into an even deeper rest. For the sake of maintaining in endurance, I have it on my calendar to meet with him in specific locations in the Heavenlies on certain days. He keeps naming and showing me new places.

Radically Different Abilities, Radically Different Approaches

Lately, I’ve noticed some large developmental differences between my classes. The majority of my current Fourth Graders (last year’s Third grade) are blossoming, trading in much of their former dependence and anxiety for greater academic and developmental maturity. My current Third graders are somewhat academically stronger than my group last year, but have a great deal of emotional learning before them. As someone who started teaching at this school in August 2020, I don’t know what it would be like to teach in this setting without the influence of the pandemic. As someone who taught second grade for years before the pandemic, I can say for certain that these students are capable.

These developmental differences are shaping the way I teach them about God. Since Fourth grade was with me last year, many of them have caught a great deal of zeal for the Lord. I say caught because to be honest, I taught them many things but only the Holy Spirit can soften hearts. With this group, my goal is to build on their hunger so that they will increase in intimacy with Jesus.

Due to all of that investment and the work of God on their hearts, these are the some of the questions Fourth graders asked in October, when given the opportunity.

Third grade is coming to me with much less background or expectation of the nearness of God.

In order to meet them where they are at, I have decided to acknowledge how simultaneously distant and close God can seem through our Word of the Day and a constructivist approach. With this group, my goal is to help them become more hungry to know God for themselves. I will be writing more about this in detail soon.

Their thoughts on Why God might feel hard to understand (before discussion):

Their thoughts on How we can know God (before discussion *verses added*):

Growing Awareness (after discussion):

Prayer Requests

Please pray:

• That God would give me the grace to live vibrantly in a time of ambiguity (Romans 8:28)
• To see the Heavenly host he’s put surrounding DC and stand on his plans for the city 2 Kings 6:17-20
• That God would help handfuls of people I love to struggle well (1 Timothy 6:12, 1 John 2:14, John 14:3-4)

With sincere thanks,

Haley