My First Day As A Teacher

On October 4, 1977 I began my very first teaching job at Stephen F. Austin Elementary School as a 2nd grade teacher. After graduating from UTSA in August, I began the nerve-racking process of interviewing for jobs. Called by God to be a teacher at the age of 6, I was so eager to begin teaching that I finished my degree in 3 years. I got several interviews for positions to no avail. However, as the school year started, back when it started after Labor Day, and the weeks passed I was becoming very discouraged. I had wanted to teach in one of the suburban school districts where I had student taught near my house. However, on Friday, September 30th, I got a call from a friend who worked in the UTSA Education department placement office asking if I would be interested in teaching in the inner city San Antonio Independent School District. By then, I wanted to teach so much I jumped at the chance and drove downtown to the district office to interview. I was asked if I would be willing to get my bilingual endorsement through a district program which I readily agreed to do. An appointment was set up with the principal for Monday morning. After I interviewed I was offered the job. He explained that an overflow of 1st & 2nd grade students made it necessary to form a new 2nd grade class and the current 2nd grade teacher would form a class of half 1st and half 2nd grade students. Then he asked me when I could start. With the complete naivete of a 1st year teacher who was eager to get started, I said that the best way I could see would be to start the next day!

Stephen F. Austin Elementary was in a 100 year old building with no air-conditioning and radiator heat. The classrooms were huge with 20 foot ceilings. Half of the campus housed 2 kindergartens, 2 1st grades, 1 1st-2nd grade split, 1 2nd grade, 1 3rd grade, 1 4th grade & 1 5th grade. Half of the campus housed 14-18 year old mentally-retarded students who were bussed in from around the district. All 200 students shared 1 bathroom, 1 cafeteria and 1 playground. The surrounding neighborhood was made up of what were once beautiful victorian-style houses but were now run-down multiple family dwellings. The school was the heart of this low-income Hispanic community.

On my first day I was shown room 4. Inside the bright yellow classroom with original slate chalkboards there was 1 teacher’s chair, 1 student-height rectangular table, and 2 student desks. There was a large shelved walk-in closet for supplies but there was not one single piece of paper, pencil, or book. I had brought a notepad and pen. I moved the table and teacher’s chair to the front of the classroom. I was told that the students would be moved down from the other classroom later in the morning with their desks, books and supplies. I think I was in shock sitting in that room, but, before I could think too much, they brought me a new student! Sweet Sophie, my very first student, was a blessing as she kept me focused so I couldn’t get nervous as I was so busy making sure she felt comfortable. Looking back on that I’ve wondered what on earth must have been going through her mind when they brought her into that room that day, but, one thing for sure. I’ve never forgotten my very first student! A few minutes later 20 students with their desks full of books and papers were moved in and their teacher had duplicated worksheets for the day. That first day was a blur for me. I do know I made it through those first few days developing what eventually earned me the title of Queen of Improvisation! My sister-in-law, Cecie, had taught for three amazing years and stopped teaching and graciously offered me all her teaching materials. So after those first few days of managing with next to nothing, we went to Houston and got them and on Monday morning of the next week I had something to put in that walk-n closet. During my 3 years at that school I obtained such a variety of pieces of furniture and painted them in bright primary colors and many other materials. From that experience of nothing in that classroom on that first day , on the last day I was there I filled that closet for the summer. Teachers would come and ask if they could have things and I told them I wasn’t going to leave it vacant for the next teacher who came into the room! The adventure had just begun!



Encouraging Aunt Dorothy

From the time I was a little girl my Aunt Dorothy has been sending me inspiring words in letters, cards and books that inspired me into an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. She sent my brother and I a Children's Bible that fed my love of God's Word at a young age. She sparked my lifelong love of beautiful words, inspirational quotes and poetry with small beautiful books that I always kept in my bedside table with my Bible. It started a lifetime habit of a quiet time of meditation in my bed. It has given me a sweet sense of worship, encouragement and security that has carried me through the challenges of life and kept me centered and focused on God before I had even begun to understand the magnitude of His Love, Grace and Guidance in my life. For that I will always be eternally grateful.

She has continued in this in so many ways through my life. My Mother, her dear sister-in-law, loved her so much too and after she passed away in 1985, Aunt Dorothy has done so many thoughtful things to fill her absence in my life. Most recently, in 2008, when a bad drug interaction in managing my MS symptoms put me in the hospital and subsequent physical therapy rehabilitation for a month, Aunt Dorothy and my sweet cousin, Mandy, brought me everything a 'girl' could need including a lovely throw for my hospital bed that made my stay so much more comfortable and peaceful and sweet phone calls too just like my own Mother would have done! My in-town kids, John & Ann Marie, took amazing care of me and yet Dorothy and Mandy did everything they could to help 'them' too, even coming to San Antonio from New Braunfels to clean and decorate my house for my home-coming. They even arranged candles and hung a beautiful print over my couch with an "All is Well with My Soul" message and lovely throw over my couch. As long as they were able, they came periodically to visit and shower me with goodies and gifts even for my birthday.

Now it's my Aunt Dorothy that needs encouragement as she battles excruciating back pain and recent back surgery. It agonizes me to hear of her pain and not be able to drive or visit her myself, so, I'm using the postal service to carry my thoughts and prayers to her. I'm searching for things to send to her to encourage and soothe her and remind her of our Lord's love and faithfulness. May God guide me in this and may my prayers carry relief, healing and restoration in Christ to her bedside! Please join me in praying for her and her family too as they care for her!

~And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. Romans 8:28 (NLT)

Update: In December we learned that Dorothy had actually been suffering from bone cancer (multiple myeloma). She passed away January 12, 2011. She now walks with Jesus in heaven free from the pain, suffering and sadness of this fallen world. Thank you Lord for giving her to us for a season. Her children and granddaughter are a perfect reflection of her legacy of kindness, thoughtfulness and her abiding love for Christ. To God be the Glory.

August 30, 1972

In 1972 I was a different sort and was upset because my parents didn't take me to church, so, when I was 16 and got my driver's license I started going to church on my own at First United Methodist Church in Boerne. On Labor Day weekend, the last day of Kendall County Fair on this Sunday for some forgotten reason I was particularly determined to stay away from my parents. We lived out near Waring at that time. So, I laid out my whole day starting with church that Sunday morning. After the service Martha & Bill, two kids a year older than me, told me there would be a youth service at 6 pm that evening. I was thrilled because in my mind I thought I could stay out at the fair all day and it would delay the time I had to go home if I went to the youth service. (It's funny how the teenage mind works sometimes!)

As far back as I can remember I had loved the Bible. When I first could read I used to read the little white Bible my mother had carried in her wedding. Before we moved to Waring we lived in a house on Main Street in Boerne. At 15 I used to walk to school and Cindy, a friend of mine, was living in an apartment on Main street while their house was being built, so we would walk together. After school we would hang around together and she gave me the Book of Psalms for Modern Man and I remember we used to read them and talk about them and memorized some of them. I thought I was a Christian!

However, at that youth service on August 30, 1972 Bill spoke and I realized with all my love of God, Church and the Bible I had never heard the Salvation message! I thought the key was to believe in God (I did!) and to be baptized. I had asked my father why they had not had me baptized as a baby. He told me he believed it was something I had to decide for myself and when I wanted to he would make arrangements for me to be baptized. I told him I wanted to be baptized on my 16th birthday. So he arranged for an Episcopal priest to baptize me and my whole family on my 16th birthday March 31, 1972! But here Bill was speaking of something more and my heart caught fire! Martha got up and said she had planned a scripture reading for the night but she felt God wanted her to read something else. She then proceeded to read Psalm 25 which was the Psalm that had touched my heart back when I was memorizing psalms with my friend, Cindy! After she read it, I stood up and told her I was the reason God had told her to read that because that was 'My Psalm'! I was so moved because I was so aware that God was telling me He Knew that I loved that Psalm! That night I gave my heart to Jesus! I’m so grateful that in God's economy, a friend faithfully shared scripture to 'till the earth' of my hungry heart so a 16 year old girl who chose to avoid going home that night was there when a small group of 4 teen-agers was receptive to the salvation message on that August night in 1972!

P.S. When I was in elementary school on the south side of San Antonio, my mother started taking my brother and I to Harlandale Methodist Church. I was so excited when I was about to enter 3rd grade because the church gave all of us 3rd graders our very own Bible with our names written in gold! Not long after that night in 1972 I opened it to the dedication page and AMAZINGLY the date I had received it was AUGUST 30, 1964!!! Eight years to the day before I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior.

The Story Behind the Glowing Cross in My Picture

I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in March ’99. After the diagnosis it was difficult for me to keep a teaching job due to concerns & discrimination by employers but as a single mom of 3 I needed to stay employed! In 2000 I finally accepted a job in Seguin 40 miles from my house. Although at the time I wasn’t even using a cane, I had to deal with spasticity of the muscles in my legs so the doctor kept giving me different medications to try to see if they would help. She had me taking these at bedtime so the muscles would relax overnight and hopefully be calm during the school day.

In early spring of 2001 I called the doctor for more advice to get relief. She suggested I add 1 mg in the morning. She said we could ‘play’ with the dose because the maximum dose was 32 mg and I was only adding to the 1 mg at bed time. The next day I took it when I awoke and as I rushed to get on the road for my 45 minute drive to Seguin I vaguely recall a moment of problems with my equilibrium but I kept going. Next I remember driving down 1604 (about 12 miles from home) and at a red light, right before I reached IH10, I bumped into the car in front of me. The man got out of his car to look at his car. I got out and apologized but he didn’t even look at me, just got back in his car and kept going.

The next thing I remember was walking into my classroom. The 2 teachers whose rooms were on each side of mine were standing in the doorway and I remember being aware that I was late and talking briefly to them and going to the blackboard and writing a morning journal topic for the students and asking them to start their journal writing. Then the principal came in and told me that I needed to get someone to come pick me up because I needed to go home! This didn’t even concern me! It just made sense to me! I sat down at my desk and realized I didn’t have my cell phone so I asked one of my students to go and get it out of my car. When she brought it to me I called my son, John, who was alarmed saying they had been calling and calling me! I just asked him to call my father in Boerne and ask him to come pick me up! Obviously, I was so ‘out of it’ that none of these things seemed the least bit out of the ordinary and my disoriented state caused the other teacher to immediately contact the principal to come to my room! : (

It seemed like just a few minutes before my dad and my stepmother, Janette, arrived. I got in the car with my dad and Janette got in my car to drive it home. I became aware that I had a reaction to the medication and I got on the phone and tried to reach my doctor to find out what to do, but I was told she was unavailable and the on-call doctor just advised me to stop taking the medication! Duh! After we got to my house I found out that my kids had all been afraid to go to school because evidently I was so late that the school had called looking for me! I found out later that a 45 minute drive had taken me 80 minutes! Plus I have no memory of the drive on that busy interstate usually full of 18 wheelers!!! Out of that 80 minute trip my only memory was of bumping into that car!!!

It was about 36 hrs before I could stay awake for any length of time. I found out most of the details from a phone call the next evening from one of the teachers concerned about me. It was 4 days (including a weekend thankfully!) before I was clear enough to return to work!

The day I returned I went to the office and was talking to the principal and secretary telling them the doctor had said I had experienced a reaction to the medication that caused me to have transient consciousness. I made the comment that Jesus must have driven my car so that neither I nor anyone else were hurt on that dangerously busy highway!!! Right after I said that, the secretary remembered she had my school picture. She pulled it out and when she looked at the picture she said, “Oh My God!” There was my picture with the “Glowing Cross”! I've asked several photographers about it and no one could explain it! To me it's clear that the Lord was telling me He definitely was there with me during that trip!!!

It wasn't about me, it was the Power of His Love Shining Through and No Doubt This Story Is Meant to Be Shared to His Glory!!!!