I don't know how your April has been, but mine has been a whirlwind. I was just marveling this morning that May starts on Thursday. Since when has May been just around the corner? April was crazy busy for me, and May is promising to be no better. Here's what I've been up to this month:
1. School work- This includes normal lesson planning and grading; you know, all the normal stuff that teachers do all the time that takes up a lot of their time.
2. Prep for next year- About April, teachers start thinking about and planning for the next year. While this is normal for this time of year, it has been extra crazy this year because of all the changes we are making next year. We revised the parent/student handbook and the faculty handbook. We filled out technology and curriculum request forms. This past week was especially crazy as our new director for next year was in town visiting. We had many meetings as well as several promotional dinners.
3. E-book research- This technically falls under number 2, but since I've spent so much time on it, I decided to make it its own point. I have spent many hours this month researching e-textbooks. One of the changes for next year includes starting our school down the road of e-textbooks. The first subject to use e-textbooks? English. That's right; I get to be the first teacher at our school to have e-textbooks. All 9th-12th grade students will be required to have a tablet next year, which they will use to view their English books. I have spent a lot of time researching the different e-textbooks available (or not available) and the different platforms or apps they run on. I wish I could say this process was done, but it's not all figured out yet. We should be almost done with this process though, and it should result in e-textbooks for English next year. Yay! I'm excited about the possibility and the doors that it will open.
4. The play- Once again, I am directing our school's spring play. It is called The Butler Did It! and will be held on Friday, May 23rd. It is a murder mystery play, complete with lots of humor. When everything is said and done, it should be good, but we're still in process of getting it there. Right now we are working on finishing up memorization and acquiring props, costumes, and sets. April marked the beginning of the crazy season with directing the play, and May only gets worse. After school rehearsals start tomorrow, which means I lose more school prep time and some of my evening work time. However, it should be worth it in the end; I just have to keep reminding myself of that.
In the midst of all this craziness, God has really been stretching me and pushing me to rely on Him even more. I've been very stressed this month, and I know it will continue next month. However, when I get super stressed, I feel the Holy Spirit reminding me to rely on God and His strength and trust that He has everything under control. I do not do all of this by myself, but God himself helps me do it. In general, I'm very bad at this (I tend to think I need to and can do everything by myself), and God has really been showing me that such an attitude is sin. I'd like to say I've gotten better, and I have to a certain extent, but I still have a long way to go.
That being said, if you want to know how you can help me right now, the answer is to pray for me. Pray that I won't be stressed. Pray that I remember to do things when I need do them (my memory's not the most reliable thing right now). Pray that I will rely on God for His strength. Pray that I remember God is in control of everything. Pray that I will let God handle everything instead of trying to do it myself. Pray that I will be humble enough to accept help when it is offered and to seek it when I need it. And, above all, pray that God will be glorified through what I'm doing now (in school and with the play), even if that means things don't work out the way I think they should.
