When my students ask me why I wanted to become I high school teacher, my usual answer is, “I want to help young people figure out who they are and whose they are.” Growing up in a church worker family, it is no surprise that my siblings and I are all working for the church. Teachers that inspired me to become a teacher are Miss K. Imes, of Bethany Lutheran School in Long Beach, California, and Mrs. P. Brucculeri, of Los Alamitos High School, Los Alamitos, California. Both teachers showed me how fun learning was and how fun learning could be; they found ways to challenge me, even when I felt I was the smartest student in the room.
Going from Bethany Lutheran, a large Pre-school to 8th grade Lutheran School, to Los Alamitos High School, a huge public school, I immediately felt small and that I didn’t have much of a relationship with my teachers. I knew they wanted me to do well, and they had high standards, but something was missing… as I came to find out later, it was Jesus. Don’t get me wrong, I had an outstanding high school education, and I was more than prepared for college, but I knew that I wanted to teach in a Lutheran High School one day, where we were all connected through the One who created all things. Bethany showed me was that it is not too difficult for teachers to make relationships with students, but as I have grown up more and more these past few years, I have come to realize that those relationships were fostered and nurtured by the Holy Spirit. So when people would hear that I wanted to be a church worker, some would challenge me and say that I should work in a public school to do just the same thing, to be a light in the darkness (Eph. 5:8). “For public schools need Christian teachers too!” That is true, and I could have gone down that path, and I know God would have worked through me. When I did my student teaching, however, I witnessed (and am still witnessing) students walking in darkness, even at Lutheran schools.
Just like being a church member helps us grow in our faith, working in a place rooted and grounded in the love and saving grace of Jesus Christ helps me to be a better teacher, coach, friend, sister, and daughter. It is easier to explain grace to a student needing extra time on a math assignment when I can connect how God gives us grace each and every day. But, I didn’t become a Lutheran teacher so that my job would be easier. I became a Lutheran teacher because I felt God was calling me to serve in this position. My mom, Carol, and my dad, Gary, both serve in Lutheran higher education. If you noticed, I used the word serve. From my early childhood days of helping Mom move choir chairs around at church, or helping Dad move boxes at Concordia, I can remember them saying, “it’s what we do.” A job for me has never been about the money, and while at times I worry, a quick call to Mom or Dad reminds me that “God will provide.” We all have callings. God could have called me to work in a public school, and I would have gladly served. I believe that wherever we are though, God works a calling in us, and through us plants seeds of faith. Just as the sower sowed seeds on all types of soil, even the sower was needed in the rich soil.
I have the unique privilege of teaching at a Lutheran School where I get to remind my students everyday that Jesus loves them, died and rose again to save them. I get to be a witness to my students every day of the trials and thanksgivings of having such faith, and I get to be a light in the darkness. I get to serve a church that is continuously looking for workers of the harvest, that we may help our young people understand that “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward [all], not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:9, ESV). For all of God’s promises are made yes in Christ!
Anna R. McDaniel, Math Teacher at Faith Lutheran High School
I am currently working on master’s degree in Educational Leadership from Concordia University, Portland, graduating in October 2017. I received my Bachelor of Science degree in Education (Secondary Ed: Mathematics and Theology, LTD) from Concordia University, Nebraska in December 2015.
