A Prayer for Teachers
by Erin Robinson Hall
May the new pocket charts, smart boards, and colorful folders,
May the desk decor and colored pens brighten every corner.
It’s the little things, O Lord.
May the students be awake and energetic to the exact degree
that the teacher is awake and energetic.
No more, no less, O Lord.
May the emails be short,
May the meetings be short,
May the phone calls just be . . . short.
Help us out, O Lord.
May the coffee do the trick and the technology just work how it’s supposed to.
May the kinks get worked out early in the morning, and – help us all – may the substitute be fabulous.
We’re not kidding, O Lord.
May they listen.
May they pay attention.
May they lean in with so much interest that they don’t care that this really is Science. English. Art History. Music.
Let them lean in and learn, O Lord.
May the teachers be brave.
May they dare to challenge, risk more, and not be afraid of those who want what they want when they want it.
Give them some back up, O Lord.
May peace enter in.
Peace among teachers, peace among classmates, peace among parents, peace at the lunchroom tables.
It could happen, O Lord.
May cynicism be trumped by lovely surprises.
May principals and teachers make room for delight.
It is the little things, isn’t it, O Lord?
May they be safe.
May they be protected from harm and hate and prejudice and danger.
We worry. We fear.
Hold them safe, O Lord.
May our teachers truly see.
May they see each story, each potential,
each struggle seated in each and every desk.
May they see the ways they can be hope for these very kids
in these very moments.
Be Thou our Vision, O Lord.
May they remember.
May teachers remember what the essential questions really are, and what called them to this work.
May administrators remember what matters.
May we all remember what it is like to be a kid in a classroom.
May this memory shape the very lesson plans.
And the moments.
Each. One.
For real, O Lord.
Amen.
Erin Robinson Hall is a teacher, a Baptist minister, a writer, a mom, a wife, and a beloved daughter. She is and forever will be the boss of her (adult) baby sister and brother. She has been a classroom teacher in rural NC, urban Dallas, and suburban Atlanta. This prayer was first posted on Erin’s blog.