This is a Test

I have a reputation as a hard teacher.

I also have a reputation for being fair and fun. That seems like a pretty good mix to me, but today I am painfully aware of the hard part.

Today is Summer Reading Test Day, and almost all of the students in this class sat in these seats last year. They know me. They know my tests. They know my expectations.

So they are sweating.

At the beginning of class, we prayed together. When I handed out the test, I said, “I’ll be praying for you while you take your test.” But still, they are sweating.

They write feverishly about The Old Man and the Sea, about The Glass Menagerie, about Fahrenheit 451. They bubble in A-B-C-D while thought bubbles above their own heads grow and rise and pop again and again. They check the upside-down clock on my wall. They reread what they have written and edit. They ask for clarification. They lean intently over their desks, noses to a literary grindstone.

I usually use this time to learn names, writing them over and over again as I look at faces, reading the tidbits of information they wrote on 3x5 cards for me the first day of class. But there are few new faces, so that doesn’t take long.

As I go through my information cards, looking for specific details to connect me to them, I begin to pray for each one, just as I had promised.

And then I think, “What if I let each one KNOW I have prayed specifically for him, for her, by name?”

I get out little post-it notes and begin writing:  “God, Bless Ellis as he tests.” One row at a time, I write notes of prayer. And then I put them on their desks. A few look surprised. One especially confident fellow begins to tear up. One girl, whose answer to “What else do I need to know about you?” was “Pray for me to excel in this class” smiles up at me when I drop that note onto her desk. 

This is a test. Theirs was over classic literature. Mine was over prayer and promises and powerfully changing the spirit of another person with just a few words. Theirs won’t matter in three months; mine will last an eternity.

I think I passed.

Now, excuse me while I unleash my red pen on these essays so that we can move on to the next hard lesson.