Fun fact: I’ve been teaching in some capacity since I was eight-years-old. Whenever I say that, I often get weird looks. “Eight! That’s really young!” Maybe it would help if I explained how this came to be.

At the church I grew up in, we had what we called Minors in Ministry. This was created so that our elementary through high school students could help out in our various rooms. Essentially we were teacher assistants. We had a form we had to fill out, and I remember my dad taking me to a restaurant and we sat at a booth and filled it out together (this is one of the memories that I hope I hold onto forever). I was approved, and I’ve worked in children’s ministry with a wide range of ages ever since. This included working in the elementary room.

As I got older, I knew that I wanted to be an elementary school teacher. In high school, I started in the elementary room and I absolutely loved it. The experiences I had in that room were amazing and further confirmed that I wanted to be an elementary school teacher. I started out as an assistant in the room, but, after some time, I moved to leading my own small group, teaching various lessons up front, and eventually leading one of our services.

Being a lead was intimidating at first. I was the youngest in the room and some of the people in the room with me were teachers outside of Children’s Ministry. However, I was chosen so I did my best to be a lead. I loved being able to work with students, and this was one of the ways that I could do so. I continued to work as a service lead until I moved away for college. Before I did, I worked on training the person that would take my place.

While I left my home church, I am still part of Children’s Ministry today. After a couple months of living away from home, I started serving in the Children’s Ministry area of the church I was attending. I absolutely loved it. I was mostly working with two and three-year-olds, but it was a blast and I loved getting to work with kids again.

When it came time to move back home (due to COVID-19), I was sad to leave the Children’s Ministry at my new church. However both my new church and my home church were closed due to COVID. So what did we do? We recorded videos. I’ll share more about this in a future post, but this is how I am still working in Children’s Ministry and teaching even though there aren’t any kids present.

Children’s Ministry is not my only involvement. I am also involved in the Youth Ministry at my home church and I have worked with a lot of our students. I have helped with small groups and have invested my time in helping students grow. I have absolutely loved seeing the people that they are turning into (some of my kids from Children’s Ministry are now in Youth Ministry and it is one of the weirdest feelings. However, it has become one of my favorite things to see).

While I have loved spending time working in Children’s Ministry and Youth Ministry, I have loved my time in classrooms even more. I CANNOT wait to share stories with you, but that will be in later posts (I would get WAY too distracted if I started now).

I started helping in my mom’s second-grade classroom during my senior year of high school. I helped with various lessons, walked around to check in with students, and got to be part of some really cool classroom transformations (pictures and stories to come in the future). While I was at her school, I met a kindergarten teacher who I will refer to as Mrs. J. She invited me to help in her classroom. This is where my love for kindergarten continued to grow. I helped mainly with math, but I also got to see what they did for writing as well as how Mrs. J opened and closed the day. I got to be part of some really cool projects too.

After I left for college, I was really sad that I wouldn’t be at that school anymore. When I would visit home, I would occasionally stop in and help either teacher. I loved it each time I went. However, this was not my only experience at a school after I moved. I started my major and got to spend time in a local school. My first quarter, I was volunteering at the “Afterschool Club” and I got to work with students ranging from first grade to fifth grade. I made some amazing memories with them that first quarter, and that continued into my second quarter as well.

Not only was I part of the “Afterschool Club” for the second quarter, but I was also on recess duty in addition to being placed in a kindergarten classroom. I will refer to the teacher of this classroom as Mrs. K (which is actually what she was called by the students). I learned a lot while being in this class. I got to work with some amazing kindergartners and I loved every second of it. While I most likely would have continued the same thing for my third quarter, this didn’t happen because of COVID.

Instead, I helped my mom create videos for her classroom YouTube channel. I also got to be part of some of her Google Meets with her students. While it was no where near what I was planning for, it still helped me to learn about teaching.

In case you haven’t caught it, I am an Elementary Education major. I plan on teaching somewhere in the kindergarten to second grade range. I have taken many classes and have learned a lot about teaching and about students.

While I have had a lot of different types of experiences, I would not trade them for anything. They all taught me something different. They all caused me to grow in ways I never would have expected. All of these experiences continued to show me how much I love teaching and how much I want to do it as my future career. I cannot wait to continue my education and become a better teacher.

I look forward to sharing what I’ve learned, ideas, and stories with all of you. Thanks for being part of the adventure!

-Brenna/Ms. M/Teacher Brenna