After 30 years of teaching in the public schools, it seems to me that more and more of our students have empty souls. Taking God and prayer out of the classroom has made our students vulnerable to the negative, changing morals of our time. We are battling an enemy who encourages our youth to do your own thing, make your own rules, and look out for #1. We teachers can bring prayer back into our schools, even if we can t pray out loud. We can cover our students with prayer and change our mental and verbal vocabulary concerning them. If we are faithful in our desire to see change, God will give us a new picture for each of our Sammys.
Who is Sammy? Sammy is not an individual student but a compilation of all the students I have dealt with over the years who have had behavior problems, learning disabilities, poor grades, or who were disinterested in school, were social outcasts, or were gang members. I tried many different kinds of behavior modification techniques with these students. It was not until I solicited the power of the Holy Spirit, through my hope in Jesus Christ, however, that I began to see a difference in my interactions with my Sammys.
This workbook focuses on the changes God wants to make in us and through us. By His Holy Spirit, we can pray for our Sammys and so make a difference in their lives. These changes are described in Galatians 5:22-23 and are called Fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
This workbook has been designed as a tool to support you, the Christian teacher, in today s classroom. Within these pages you will find opportunities to evaluate your personal values and moral standards. You will find enrichment activities to enhance your already familiar behavior modification techniques. You will be encouraged to look for daily, God-given opportunities to pray for your students. It is my hope and prayer that this workbook will give you more than just teaching strategies to deal with your Sammys. It will enable you to stand effectively against any ungodly behaviors, attitudes or relationships you might observe in your classroom, in your school, in your students families or in your own private life. The effectiveness of this workbook will depend, not on whether you teach in a public or private school, but on whether you are living in the power of the Holy Spirit through your personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
And how does God want you to impact the Sammys in your class? You may be the only teacher who will ever pray for this child; the only teacher who will focus, not on faults and failures, but on the child s God-given potential; the only teacher who will give the child new vocabulary and word pictures of himself/herself. You have a unique opportunity to affect a change in a student s self-perception by changing your own attitude and vocabulary. And, by sharing these new definitions and word pictures, not only with the student, but with the student s parents as well, you may begin a change in the whole family s appreciation for this child. Never underestimate the impact you can make when filled with the power and wisdom of God. Have faith in God, Jesus answered. I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, Go, throw yourself into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. (Mark 11:22-24)
