Comments From Students – And a God Need Filled

I am a few weeks into teaching labs at Boise State University. It has been an interesting time. I am basically leading students through weekly labs that are tied to what they are supposed to be learning in their lecture portions of class. This is a very traditional method of teaching physics at universities. I knew what I was signing up for what I took the 2 lab classes that I was being offered. It is not a teaching job really it is a give direction job. It isn’t a hard job by any stretch of the meaning.

I have started to make some connections with some of the students already to a small degree. That is nice and it helps me in the environment. With those connections comes conversations and comments from the students.

Last week I was trying to help a student with a vector question from the lab they were doing. It took a while, and she was getting frustrated with herself for not getting it after I had explained it a few times in a few different ways. I told her that it was ok, and that it takes time to learn this stuff. I also tried to tell her that she did know the answer to the question being asked, but she kept saying that she didn’t. We went back and forth and finally it started to click. She told me the right answer and then was sort of able to explain it back to me. It wasn’t perfect but it was a start.

Then I had a similar conversation with another group of three a little later. We went over a few things regarding vectors and finally they said it was making sense. At the end of class that group, and a couple others were hanging around and finishing things up when one asked me, “This isn’t really what you want to be doing is it?” I asked what she meant by the question. She said, “That teaching these labs wasn’t what I wanted to be doing with my life was it?” I said, “No, not really, but it was where I was right now.” The group of them then proceed to tell me how they had learned more from me in the 5 minutes I worked with them then they had learned in an entire class on the topic of vectors. They could tell that I wanted them to learn the material and not just know how to do it. I said that it was important to me for them to learn the how and not just the method. Their words meant a lot to me since they could see that I care about their learning and not just getting them through the material.

But then another thing happened recently that was a God thing and reaffirmed why I am where I am, and why I am at BSU right now.

At the church we are attending in Meridian, Central Valley, I was introduced to a woman that was associated with a Christian club that meets at BSU. She had just been praying to find a faculty member to be the clubs official advisor because they hadn’t found one and they needed one before a certain date otherwise they wouldn’t be able to continue being a club on campus. She heard I was working as faculty at BSU and asked me if I would be interested. I ended up doing some email interviews with the person that is their president making sure I agreed with what they were trying to do on campus, and I ended up agreeing to become their advisor. That never would have happened if I hadn’t taken the lab job at BSU. And it never would have happened if I hadn’t been introduced to the woman at the church. And it probably wouldn’t have happened if she hadn’t been praying about it that same day to find someone.

God is amazing. He has provided positive things for me recently and just continues to show me that I am where I am supposed to be right now.