Prayer: Dear Lord, we thank You that You bring fun into our lives! You bring creative ideas to our minds, and we are open today for the fun You want to bring to our students and co-workers through us. Please help us through this school year to bring honor to Your matchless name. Amen

Scriptures: Winsome speech increases learning. Prov. 16:21b, AMPC

Also, every man to whom God has given riches and possessions, and the power to enjoy them and to accept his appointed lot and to rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God [to him]. Ecc. 5:19 AMPC

Carmen Rogers held a funeral. Yes, right there in the school auditorium with her sixth grade class! As the year wound down with students getting on each others’ and the teacher’s last nerve, what would it take to get to the end of the school year successfully? Why, a funeral, of course! And other classes would be invited to attend.

This was a funeral for “I Can’t,” the Negative Attitude, complete with a coffin from a nearby funeral home, a eulogy written by the class and presented by the school principal, special musical selections, and reflections on the life of the deceased. There were loud mourners and flowers, and even a private interment at a time “convenient for the class.”

Carmen’s creative genius and her understanding of her students made her a unique teacher. The students remembered this and others of her lessons because she made learning fun. And not only did they learn and thrive under her leadership, we can be assured that Carmen enjoyed teaching as well.

Is it time that you did something fun with your students? God gives us freedom to enjoy our work, and to spread His joy to those around us. Christ will be seen in a teacher who loves his or her students enough to create lessons for them that take into account their need for fun. Curiously, this kind of fun spreads throughout a whole grade level, or wing of the building, or throughout the school, making a day brighter for all. God bless your creative, joyful, spirit as you live for Him in your school.

Copyright Shirley Wilson. Email swilson@christianeducators.org

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