Blog the Third

“Grace does not entail receiving our just reward. It involves receiving something that we have done absolutely nothing to earn, receiving a blessing when our just reward is punishment and being loved when we deserve judgment.”

— Donovan Graham

Introduction

It was 1999 and the internet was still relatively new. Y2K hysteria both amused and alarmed the global population, while on people’s bedside tables digital clocks silently ticked closer to the new millennium.

My own fears and worries were wrapped up in something much more personal and selfish than that of global computer failure. No, although computers were involved, what concerned me was my own potential lack of success as I began an entirely new system of education.

“Hello, my name is Charlotte Dickau.

I am fifteen years old.

This is my first year as a student at St. Gabriel Cyber School.

I am absolutely terrified.”

When I told people I was doing high school online they were fascinated, “You can do school online? Is that even legal?” I was less worried about the legality than about my work being assessed by a faceless entity halfway around the world. Until this time my teachers had mostly been either my mother or close family friends.

When I saw my first assignment it was like my worst fears were realised. It was weighted towards my final English grade and I did not understand it at all. Confused, I spent several hours doing trying to meet the requirements as best as I could understand them. Then I submitted the assignment and waited.

The next morning I woke up to an email.

All wrong. My answers were all wrong. Red marks covered the screen. I felt demoralised, humiliated, and ready to give up before I had barely begun.

Then I read my teacher’s note: “Charlotte, it is obvious you spent a long time on this. I don’t think you understood the assignment. I’m not going to count this towards your final grade.”

Grace. I had been given grace. My teacher, whom I didn’t know, whose face I had never seen, was giving me a second chance. I was not going to begin the year with a failed grade on my record.

The Place of Grace in Becoming a Teacher

Ferguson and Packer write that the biblical words for grace indicate “an objective relation of undeserved favour by a superior to an inferior . . . . This favour to the individual as both creature and sinner results . . . in a transformed life through an effective calling (Gal. 1:15) and the production of faith and repentance (Eph. 2:8–9; 2 Tim. 2:25)” (Ferguson & Packer, 2000, p. 280). Graham puts it more simply, stating that grace “takes everything away from us and puts it all in God’s hands” (Graham, 2009, k.l. 935). Obedience to God is a result of the grace he has given us. As a student teacher on my recent PPE I knew that it was only that grace at work in my life that made my obedience possible. I did not feel I had the strength to keep going on my own. My ‘resilience’ was not mine, it was a positive consequence of trusting in and leaning on the calling of the grace of God in my life.

Furthermore, I was experiencing ongoing grace from my AT, who continued to work with me even when I messed up. I received grace from Mark, my husband, who sacrificed access to the car and forgave my sleep-deprived negative behaviour. Even my students were gracious when I was slow to provide feedback on a draft or ran out of time to play a game.

The grace that was given to me during my PPE helped me to extend grace in turn: to my students, to the staff in the English department, and to my AT. I was only at Otumoetai College intensively for six weeks, but during that time I experienced a microcosm of the kind of ongoing grace that could make teaching possible.

The Outworking of Grace

Tait writes that “efficacious teachers see difficult tasks as challenges rather than threats” (Tait, 2008, p. 59). One of the greatest challenges teachers face is extending grace to those students who are intentionally trying to sabotage your teaching efforts. These students bring so many layers of hurt with them to school that it can seem impossible reach the inner person and inspire transformation. But grace is not grace unless it is given freely. “It is wholly unmerited,” explains Ferguson and Packer, “not evoked by the creature’s disposition (e.g. Eph. 2:1–10; Tit. 3:3–7)” (Ferguson & Packer, 2000, p. 280). As teachers we need to see our students’ negative attitudes as an ongoing challenge. Grace is not a one-time offer. It keeps going, even when the individual being offered grace refuses to receive it, it is always transformative. Although we might not see transformation in our students’ lives, we as teachers will be changed because the giving of grace is a self-sacrificial and transformative act.

Van Brummelen speaks about assessment as a form of grace, writing that “we affirm our students as human beings—unconditionally, no matter what their grades. At the same time, we help them turn bad into good and mistakes into successes” (Van Brummelen, 2009, k.l. 3103-3104). Assessment is a way of scaffolding the transformation that goes on at school, thus it, in a way, reflects the transformative nature of grace. Additionally, assessment events often provide excellent opportunities for teachers to model grace, as was the case when I received grace from my online teacher in my very first assignment in high school.

When we freely give grace to others we are far more likely to receive grace in return. This is true not just of our students but of our colleagues as well. As teachers we will clash sometimes with other teachers. We will encounter colleagues who are unpleasant, vindictive, or selfish. The wise Christian teacher knows to ask for God’s grace to be present in their interactions both inside and outside of the classroom. On a practical level, grace can mean being pleasant and friendly even when your coworkers are less-than-easy to get along with. Grace means forgiving the hurt their behaviour and attitude may cause you. With forgiveness and grace we may prevent strained workplace relationships from tearing us down.

When we make our classrooms, our department lounges, our lives places “where the grace-full Christ is King” we become more than recipients of grace,“we become dispensers of it as well” (Graham, 2009, k.l. 876, emphasis in original). As I discovered on my most recent PPE, sometimes the first person we need to dispense grace to is ourselves. I am not perfect. My sanctification process is ongoing and messy. I need grace and will continue to need grace if I am to become a resilient, efficacious teacher who is both wise and gracious.

References

Ferguson, S.B., & Packer, J.I., (2000). New dictionary of theology. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

Graham, D. (2009) Teaching redemptively: bringing grace and truth into your classroom [Kindle Edition]. Colorado Springs, CO: Purposeful Design Publications. 

Tait, M. (Fall, 2008). Resilience as a contributor to novice teacher success, commitment and retention. Teacher Education Quarterly, 35(4), 57-75.

Van Brummelen, H. (2009). Walking with God in the classroom: Christian approaches to teaching and learning [Kindle Edition]. Colorado Springs, CO: Purposeful Design Publications.