Speak Life

It was language class. We were learning about possessive words, and to give the students some practice, I said, “Let’s see if you can make up a sentence with a possessive word in it. Think of something that belongs to you—maybe one of your favorite things—and make up a sentence using your name as a possessive word as you talk about that thing.”

Seeing that the students were looking a little puzzled and unsure of exactly what I meant, I said, “I’ll go first: Miss Beiler’s students are smart and kind.” I had not thought this out ahead of time. It was a spur-of-the-moment sort of thing that I made up when I recognized the need to give my students an example sentence. But soon I realized that I had done more than model a possessive word. Suddenly my students were more attentive than before. They were smiling. They were making up thoughtful sentences of their own.

As I reflected on this little interaction later, I saw that it beautifully illustrated a theme that our staff team has been focusing on in our staff devotions. We have a list of core values that we review each week, and one of them is “Speak life.” We had just watched several video presentations that were centered on this theme, and now I had experienced a simple yet clear demonstration of its potential in my own classroom.

In our work as teachers, we have the tremendous opportunity to speak words of life to our students. Proverbs 18:21 tells us, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.” This is a sobering yet exciting reminder. The part about death is sobering. In fact, James prefaces his discourse on the power of the tongue with this solemn recommendation: “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness” (James 3:1 ESV).

But perhaps sometimes we focus too much on the negative side. The flip side is that we possess the power to speak words of life, and this is an exciting opportunity! The words we say to our students each day hold tremendous power to impact their lives, and it is our privilege to hold that power and to use it wisely.

Students come to your classroom with the unspoken question, Do you care about me? They may not even formulate the question to themselves, yet they are always wondering (consciously or unconsciously), Do I matter to you? I hope that in all our classrooms, students can hear and see and experience a resounding positive answer to that question. Yes, you matter to me! You are loved, accepted, and valued for who you are. Our words play a big part in this.

Probably all of us can think of some things our own teachers said that impacted our lives. I recall a note that my eighth-grade teacher wrote on a paper he had graded and returned to me: “I’ll expect to see your application for a teaching position here at WMS in about five years. I’m looking forward to it.” While this was not the only factor that influenced my decision to become a teacher, it was certainly an encouraging nudge in that direction, and the fact that I remember that note all these years later tells you how much it meant to me.

Whether they are spoken or written in a note, our words can encourage our students and plant tiny seeds that have great potential.

“I know this is hard, but you can do hard things.”

“Mistakes are part of learning; give it another try.”

“I love your sense of humor.”

“You have some wonderful artistic talents.”

“I saw you being kind and helpful to your classmate.”

What words of life will you give to your students today?

Photo by sydney Rae on Unsplash