Principal's Pennings
Principal's Pennings
Last Friday, Miss Chancellor was our principal for the day, as a result of an auction purchase. Her jobs included greeting students at the door, making announcements, visiting classrooms, handing ice cream to every student at lunch, going out to lunch with Mrs. Arndt, teaching a math class, planning a rousing game of volleyball between faculty and 7/8 grade students, AND writing the Principal’s Pennings for this week’s Eagle’s Cry. Miss Chancellor chose to write about the great things that happen when going to a Lutheran school. Here is her article:
There are many great things about attending a small Christian school. I have been at a small Christian school my whole life since preschool until now. Having a small school is great because you meet people and you truly become great friends and not just people who sit together at lunch. All the kids in my class have been in the same class as me since kindergarten or preschool. Now we know what makes each other happy and also what makes us upset. We know what to talk about and what to do together. At a small school you get to know everyone in every grade and so you don’t have as many problems with older kids not really caring about the younger kids.
Sunday is Mothers’ Day, and my thoughts quite naturally go back to my own mother. She went to live with Jesus twenty-nine years ago this month. Thoughts of her still bring an occasional tear, but most often a smile accompanied many times by a chuckle as I remember certain instances. Mother would have never considered herself a comedian, she was much too shy for that. However, many times she was funny, and the source of much laughter for the family. Most times she wasn’t even trying to be funny, she was just being herself, which is often much funnier than someone who is trying to be funny.
How do we, as parents and teachers, deal with children when they sin, or how do we deal differently when they make innocent mistakes? There is a difference. Sin is against God’s Law, a wrong! An innocent mistake may be accidently spilling milk or knocking a vase off the shelf. In this PP, I’m speaking of innocent mistakes.
It is Administrative Assistants Day as I write this. That made me think of the job descriptions for our administrative assistants, which might go something like this:
- Sort mail
- Screen visitors to the office
- Type as needed
- Answer the phone
- Handle registration procedures
- Make sure all school forms are turned in on time
- Disperse medications as dictated by law
- Assemble handbooks, etc.
Working in a PSA department, many years ago, really opened my eyes to the struggles of teenagers, most of whom were not being raised in a Christian environment. These kids had either social, emotional, or behavioral issues. I learned that year not to be judgmental, but to look beyond these issues to what was concerning for each child. I learned a most important lesson from these teenagers. I liked all the kids in that group, even though there was not one of them who did not have severe problems like the ones mentioned. They were all in the PSA department because they were no longer allowed in the regular classroom. They still needed their education, but were beyond fitting into a classroom.