Cougar Pause: LCA Teachers Provide Personalized Attention To Students
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Kate Harmon-
As a teacher and a parent at Lakeland Christian Academy, I have seen firsthand the advantages of an education at a smaller Christian school. I have two sons currently attending Lakeland. One of my sons could be described as more of a struggling learner. While he has no diagnosed learning disabilities, school does not come easy for him. School often represents a lot of work and frustration. As his teacher and his mom, I have often struggled and earnestly prayed for answers on how to best help him. One of the biggest answers to my prayers has been the faculty at Lakeland Christian Academy. My son entered high school with the great fear of Algebra and the looming required End of Course Assessment that he knew he would have to pass to graduate from high school. He is terrified of testing in general and was lamenting this upcoming trial while at a friend’s house. The friend’s mom, Rebecca Monsma, was saddened to hear these fears expressed. She had a degree in math education and had previously taught. She has a great passion for teaching Algebra. This conversation led to her initiating a conversation with me about how she could help my son and eventually led to her volunteering to teach a class at Lakeland for students like my son. The class would help students that were not as successful in the context of a larger classroom and needed specialized attention. She was willing to do this just out of her desire to serve the Lord and help students like my son. What an amazing testimony of how God works! The class ended up ranging from four to six students. She not only taught them math, but how to study, how to stay organized, and how to plan for their future. She individually met with each of them outside of class to tutor them, encourage them, and discuss these areas of their lives. I received frequent updates on my son’s progress. These notes were always filled with positives and helpful suggestions on how I could help and encourage him in his progress in her class. I could see throughout the year how the individual attention was making a difference in how my son learned. It was also exciting to see how his confidence grew in an area where he had struggled considerably. In the past he had not wanted to seek help but now, with added confidence, he was willing to ask questions and pursue getting extra help. As a teacher, I can identify with how hard it can be to teach a group of students who are discouraged and may have given up on learning because they just haven’t seen success or are not willing to put the work in that was necessary. Monsma took this on as a great challenge. Her hard work was rewarded when these “strugglers” all ended up not only passing, but doing well on their End of Course Assessment. A few weeks ago, I asked my son to name a few people in his life who had “loved him well.” Near the top of his list was Monsma. This experience is not the only one where he has received personal attention and has been “loved well” in and out of the classroom. I have been grateful to find him sitting on a classroom floor going over Spanish flashcards with his Spanish teacher. She could have made him do this by himself, but she recognized that he needed the personal interaction of doing them with her. His English teacher took time to go over papers with him before he turned them in so he could learn from his mistakes. When she discovered that he excelled at a creative writing assignment, she encouraged him that he could be a good writer. These are just a few examples from the past five years of his Lakeland education. He was one of many students to experience such personal attention. As a teacher at Lakeland, one of the things I enjoy most about my job is how well I am able to get to know my students. Many of the students that I will have this fall as seniors I taught when they were seventh-graders. Because I had them in seventh grade, eighth grade and 10th grade, I get to know their strengths and weaknesses pretty well. This knowledge is so helpful in planning lessons and making sure every student in my class is challenged to learn. I have also taught a class like Monsma’s class that had 10 struggling English students. It was a joy to see the difference it made to have more personalized attention. While I have not perfected what this always looks like and there will always be students teachers struggle to reach, I at least feel like I have an increased opportunity in a small Christian school. Personalized attention and care from teachers has made a huge difference in my son’s education. I thank God that he has been able to receive that type of attention at Lakeland. I rejoice as well that as a teacher I am able to provide that kind of education to my students.
