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Is mentorship something you’ve considered as part of your role as a Christian educator? Why or why not?
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When I was a High School home room instructor I took on a mentoring role with the Junior and Senior course. Accompanying them on mission trips to Jamaica and the Mexican Border. We ministered to some of the neediest families in these communities and also had some time to sight see and explore a different culture. As I worked with the teenagers, I tried to give them object lessons that would hopefully come to mind throughout their lives of the truths in Gods word. Encouraging them to set goals, keep the standard for their lives high, and when they don’t succeed at something, it doesn’t mean that they can’t, it just isn’t YET. Perseverance and Prayer.
As I have been involved in primary and elementary teaching for the past 9 years, I have stepped away from the traditional mentoring role in the lives of older students and have moved into a foundational seed planting role for 7 years with pre-school and now in the 2nd grade. I still feel like I am modeling and role playing ways for children, even very young children, to actively minister to and help those they come in contact with. I do make an effort to build students self-worth by showing them who they are in Christ, and how John 3:16 in the Bible is just for them. In my classroom, everyone gets a freeze-pop on freeze-pop Friday’s, but not everyone wins first place, not everyone gets a trophy, sometimes you might win, and that’s great, we celebrate, and sometimes you might lose, and that is a part of life. We need to be happy for the game we are participating in and be happy for the other team or individual who won.