“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5
Kelly Fish
BCS@Home Teacher
My name is Kelly Fish, and I have been a part of the Bellevue Christian community for 6 years. Before teaching 3rd and 4th grade in the BCS@Home program, I taught 4th grade at Mack Elementary.
I've always recognized in myself a love of learning. My acute sense of wonder and curiosity is partly why I feel so at home in the classroom. In a moment of whimsy eighteen months ago, I rented a viola and signed up for my first music lesson. Had I ever read music or played an instrument before? Nope. I'd plucked around on a guitar, but it had been awhile. It had also been awhile since I struggled—really struggled—with learning something new. My job is to walk students through the learning process, so I shouldn't have been surprised when my musical challenges led to nerves, frustration, and many, many mistakes. I also shouldn't have been surprised when hard things became easier after lots of practice. Who knew? What a gift it's been to remember what it's like to be a student.
One of my favorite scholars, Carol Dweck, says, "If parents (and teachers) want to give their children a gift, the best thing they can do is to teach their children to love challenges, be intrigued by mistakes, enjoy effort, and keep on learning." Hang on—did you catch that? Enjoy effort. I usually value effort, even embrace effort, but enjoy it? Enjoy the hours of squeaking before my viola sings? Enjoy getting twenty-five multiplication problems wrong before the concept finally clicks? To enjoy effort, we must have faith in the learning process. And it's hard.
Your students aren't the only ones learning and growing in this season. You may relate to my first few weeks as a violist, wondering how I would ever produce a beautiful sound. My hope is that we would thrive, not merely survive our challenges. May we acknowledge the ways we've grown, have hope for who we're becoming, and discover joy in all our effort.
