LIKE MANY EDUCATORS, I am a doer. In record time, I can grade, prep, research, complete forms, write short or extensive reports, and do some serious damage to my never-ending to-do list. So, I hate it when people waste my time, especially at school when every free minute is precious.
I remember a particular high school student who seemed to enjoy wasting my time. He loved to talk to me about…everything. One day, he came to see me before school began and started talking about a TV series. Since I never watch TV, I had no interest in this discussion. Although I smiled and made eye contact (and didnotlook at my watch), my mind kept thinking about all the tasks on my to-do list—the papers that needed to be graded, the emails I needed to send, and the copies I needed to make. Not only was this student wasting my time talking about a silly show, but he was using up mybesttime—first thing in the morning, when I have enough energy to produce the most efficiently. I struggled to keep my cool as he prattled on about the show while myto-do list continued to call to me.
But after half an hour, the topic changed. He started talking about his home life…his fears…his struggles with self-image. That’s when I realized that he had needed that first 30 minutes to talk about something trivial (in this case: a sitcom) before he felt safe enough to trust me with the hurt in his soul. Those 30 minutes of sitcom talk were indeed not a waste of my time. That time made a difference to this young man, paving the way for connection.
Through this interaction, the Holy Spirit reminded me that I am called to be an ambassador for God in my school, and representing Him is the most important item on my to-do list. One of the best ways I can do this is to connect with my students by listening.
From that day on, I made a conscious effort to embrace the time I spent building meaningful connections with students. Thankfully, the Holy Spirit was patient with me as I practiced focusing on God’s priorities rather than my own. My to-do list still called to me. But so did the Holy Spirit. And after years of practice, I got much better at following His call. To this day, I believe taking time to listen was the most important and impactful thing I did as an educator.
Judi Landrum, Ph.D., served as a teacher and dean in both public schools and private, Christian universities for over 40 years and has published numerous articles on literacy-related topics.
