It's that time of year already. I start filling trash cans in my classroom with the piddly little papers and crumpled sticky notes I find shoved in every nook and cranny. I attempt to declutter my book shelves and do the mountain of end of year paperwork required of every teacher. My students seem to have a burst of energy that has no end and to keep them focused on end of year review is like trying to keep a bull calm in a china shop. My fifth graders have their first end of grade test Monday and today was our last cram session (although I'm pretty sure their poor brains are so full that whatever we covered today was oozing out their ears quicker than it went in!).
Today we took a math assessment on the geometry we have covered the last two weeks. Question 7 on the assessment (weird I remember the number, I know) had three shapes: a triangle, a quadrilateral, and a hexagon. The question said: All of these figures are: a. Polgons b. Quadrilaterals c. Trapezoids d. Prisms. Now, if we hadn't just covered quadrilaterals and triangles then I wouldn't have thought anything about 99 percent of my students choosing quadrilaterals as their answer. But imagine my surprise (or the absolute disdain I had of my teaching ability) when I found they had all chose that answer. Do they really think a triangle, a three sided figure, is a quadrilateral? I took the time after the test to place this question up and ask them to look at it again. The students read carefully and suddenly their faces and expressions began to change from "what is she doing?" to "what was I thinking". You could see the gears turning and then then the lightbulbs went off and they said, wait I put the wrong thing! Only one of those is a quadrilateral! Why did I put that? But the most impressive responses were, "I didn't read and look carefully enough. I saw the four sided figure and picked quadrilateral. I didn't even look at the other shapes." And the most pivotal response? "I looked at the square first, assumed the rest were four sides as well and picked quadrilateral. When I glanced at them quickly, they all looked similar." It was a teachable moment for my students but it wasn't teachable to me until later today.
The teacher in me thought about this question all day. Probably because I realized I still needed to cram in a few more geometry lessons, but partly because I think I needed a lesson from it. My mind creates analogies out of the simplest things. I wondered to myself as I drove home, how often do people look at me or other Christians and say, "When I glanced at them, they all look similar to me." How often do they look at my words or actions and assume or think I'm not a Christian. What I was realizing is that while my walk with God now is closer than it's ever been, it wasn't always that way. What was my testimony speaking then? Did people assume I was like the rest of the "world" or of the world? Did they see a light in me or did they see something completely opposite. Even now, being a Christian, strong in my relationship with the Lord, there are times and situations where I'm sure I need to do better. What does my life say to others who are watching me? Do they assume I'm an unbeliever because of my words or actions or can they assume I'm part of God's people? It was an eye opener for sure. I want people to see God in me. I want it to pour out of me like never before. I want the fire I have to illuminate those around me. I want them to know and not assume anything except that I'm a child of God.
You know the old saying, if it looks like a duck and it quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck. We should look like a Christian and act like a Christian so that people know we are Christians. After all, we may be the open door for someone to see God in us and come through the door to accept Christ and realize his power and authority to abide in them. If that door is shut because of our actions or behaviors, then we may have turned someone "off" to God. How sobering a thought that is.
Today my experience with quadrilaterals transformed into conviction. God works all the time. Even in a simple geometry quiz.