Leading Differently Together | "Teachers" With Amy-Jo Smith
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Description
We welcome guest Amy-Jo Smith for a deep dive into the essence of teaching within the church and the broader community. Amy-Jo emphasizes the transformative role of a teacher as a nurturing guide who fosters a safe, inclusive environment where all voices, especially the quieter ones, are heard and valued. Amy-Jo illustrates the power of embodied learning and compassionate care for children with special needs. We delve into the importance of co-learning, observation, and creating a conducive space for growth, aligning with Jesus' own methods of teaching. This conversation is not only a tribute to the gift of teaching but also an insightful resource for those who aspire to serve others through education and understanding in their communities.
Time Stamps
[04:15] Teacher, mentor, and moments of care.
[07:30] Reflecting on teaching, creating a learning environment.
[11:36] Observation and listening in early childhood education.
[15:58] Prepared to guide, open to surprises, share.
[18:22] Churches should consider accommodating diverse needs.
[23:41] New educator teaches breathing techniques to challenging kids.
[24:43] Educator helps troubled child through love and care.
[30:34] Jonny and Friends organization serving families with special needs.
Links
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Email: podcast@careimpact.ca
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Editing and production by Johan Heinrichs: arkpodcasts.ca
Mentioned in this episode:
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Transcript
The environment is a third teacher. I'm not the only one in
Speaker:the room that is bringing the learning. So
Speaker:how we set up the environment really matters, and how can we create an environment
Speaker:that really draws out the learning of the students.
Speaker:What does loving your neighbor actually look like?
Speaker:This is Journey with Care, where curious Canadians get inspired
Speaker:to love others well through real life stories and honest
Speaker:conversations.
Speaker:Hey, curious Sojourner. We're continuing along in our series Leading
Speaker:Differently Together, and I'm so glad you're on this journey with me as we're meeting
Speaker:up with some pretty fascinating people across Canada. They're living in their
Speaker:sweet spots and really making an impact. Ephesians 411 to
Speaker:12 says, God gives some to be apostles,
Speaker:prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers to equip the
Speaker:saints for the work of ministry and for building up the body of
Speaker:Christ. But I wonder what does that actually look like in Canada?
Speaker:Well, you're gonna have to listen to find out because today, we're gonna get curious
Speaker:about teaching. I'm your host, Wendi Park, joined by producer,
Speaker:Johan Hinrichs. And in studio today, we have a very special guest who
Speaker:is a teacher to the core. She loves working with children and families
Speaker:with special needs and has done so around the world. Now coming to
Speaker:us from the unceded Anishinaabe Algonquin Territory, Ottawa,
Speaker:Ontario. Amy-Jo Smith, welcome to the podcast.
Speaker:Thank you, Wendi. It's so wonderful to be with you.
Speaker:Yes. I love working with you, Amy-Jo. It should be said
Speaker:that you are part of the CareImpact team all the way from
Speaker:Ottawa, but not everybody knows you. So I would love for you
Speaker:to tell us a little bit about yourself. Take us on a quick journey of
Speaker:your personal story. Well, you know
Speaker:me as one of the CareImpact trauma care trainers,
Speaker:and it is such a fun thing to be part of the team
Speaker:across Canada. But I have been in the early childhood
Speaker:education field for almost 20 years.
Speaker:And I have had the privilege I always say my greatest
Speaker:teachers and my professors have been the children that I have
Speaker:gotten to walk alongside and journey with. And
Speaker:that has been in classrooms in Ottawa where I
Speaker:currently live, where I started as an early childhood educator.
Speaker:It's also been in the homes of families as a nanny, in
Speaker:children's ministry classrooms, as a Sunday school teacher
Speaker:in Peru, in the Dominican, in Ecuador,
Speaker:and a few other places where I've gotten to journey with
Speaker:children and families through camps and different children's
Speaker:homes. And all of these opportunities and experiences have taught me
Speaker:so much about the way we learn from each other. I
Speaker:love that. Yes. You have a diverse background
Speaker:in teaching. And I'm just curious, can you trace that
Speaker:back to maybe when you were a child, or how far can you
Speaker:trace that back when you started to love teaching? How did you fall into
Speaker:that? Well, I love that you asked that because I've been
Speaker:reflecting on a quote, by mister Rogers. And
Speaker:I have a friend who Love mister Rogers. And
Speaker:she just wrote a book all about his life because it he's impacted her so
Speaker:much in her teaching. And there was a quote that he said she
Speaker:shared with me and it's just stuck with me. And it said he said, who
Speaker:loved you into being? And in the work that I
Speaker:do in caring for and teaching children
Speaker:and now seeking to equip and care for adults and the work
Speaker:that I do as a resource consultant, trying to build capacity to
Speaker:support educators and having spaces that they
Speaker:can invite children with special needs into. I know that there are so
Speaker:many people and so many experiences that I am who I
Speaker:am today in the work that I do. And so when I think about who
Speaker:loved me into being, the moments where
Speaker:I really learned in a moment of teaching, they were
Speaker:often the moments that were not necessarily in a classroom within 4
Speaker:walls. I think of my grandma. She comes to mind,
Speaker:first of all, as someone who walked with me, and she was also
Speaker:a teacher, both in her profession and and in
Speaker:her life, in her vocation as a as a grandma and as
Speaker:a mom. And a picture comes to mind where I was in her
Speaker:backyard and she always let us help her in the garden. And she
Speaker:taught me how to dig out the hole to put the potato in, and she
Speaker:always said, you need to give it a good soaking. And there were
Speaker:those moments in my life when I was taught,
Speaker:by teachers that were not necessarily within a classroom within 4 walls.
Speaker:Another moment I remember was when I had to have surgery when I
Speaker:was about 5 years old, and I was in the hospital for
Speaker:over a week and my Sunday school teacher signed a big
Speaker:card. She had all my, my classmates sign the
Speaker:card and decorated it and brought it to me. And that was a moment
Speaker:where I learned about love and care. Wow. I really love
Speaker:that. It's so it's not so much on the transaction of
Speaker:content is what I'm hearing from you. But the going
Speaker:alongside teaching and doing, demonstrating, coming alongside,
Speaker:really demonstrating what it was that you didn't even
Speaker:maybe know that potatoes needed to be soaked, that it was something to learn. But
Speaker:as you walked along your grandma in that garden, as
Speaker:you received that compassion from your teacher, she was teaching you
Speaker:far more than a phonograph Jesus on a on a board about
Speaker:compassion. And that's very Jesus y, isn't it? He he walked
Speaker:along, and and he was a good teacher. He or he is a good teacher
Speaker:and, demonstrated that in a very practical
Speaker:ways. Well, I was thinking of that, Wendi, in
Speaker:just thinking of the life of Jesus and how he taught as
Speaker:he walked. And he taught through physical
Speaker:things like water and bread and fish
Speaker:and trees, and he taught through his life as he
Speaker:walked. That's right. So I remember
Speaker:a conversation we had when I originally asked you, hey, Micho, I
Speaker:am doing this series, and I'd really love to interview
Speaker:you on your take on teaching regarding the the
Speaker:Ephesians 4 gifting. And I remember that conversation
Speaker:distinctly saying, well, do I qualify enough as a teacher? I'm not
Speaker:necessarily a pastoral teacher in the church or in in
Speaker:the typical way right now. I'm not teaching a Sunday school class. Do you
Speaker:remember that conversation? And just digging in together, what does it
Speaker:mean to be gifted in teaching?
Speaker:Do you recall that conversation? I do recall that
Speaker:conversation. And and I remember that
Speaker:unlike Amy-Jo, you have a gift of teaching. You
Speaker:you teach in our trauma care class. I'd love for you to tell us a
Speaker:little bit more about the master class that you're currently part of
Speaker:the team in teaching, But maybe we can dive
Speaker:into a little bit about the biblical foundation that you and I were
Speaker:exploring when we were thinking through the, verse
Speaker:in in Ephesians 4 11 and 12, what
Speaker:does it mean to have the gift of teaching? Do you have any
Speaker:reflections on that since we last had that conversation?
Speaker:I do. And I I I appreciated you asking that question because I
Speaker:I think it it got my thoughts going back to what is what is
Speaker:teaching. And the word, is to
Speaker:train and to teach, and the word, which is to draw out. And
Speaker:those are both the root words of education. And so I've been thinking a
Speaker:lot about that. And my brother, who is also part of our trauma care team,
Speaker:he was talking about that after our last session just on Tuesday,
Speaker:where we were talking about how do we create a learning environment where we're
Speaker:not just giving information even though that is part of we do
Speaker:have information we want to share and and facts and
Speaker:statistics and different things that we want the students to
Speaker:come away with. But so much of the learning that we're trying to create
Speaker:is an environment where the students are able to
Speaker:access some of what they already know or go on a journey of
Speaker:discovery on their own. And so I've been thinking a lot about
Speaker:how teaching is so much about that creating.
Speaker:And in my work as an early childhood educator,
Speaker:it's actually something that we talk about all the time is that we're
Speaker:co creating a learning environment. We're setting out invitations
Speaker:for the children, and then we're being surprised by what they do with
Speaker:the invitations. So we're learning alongside with them.
Speaker:And it's actually we we have a saying in early childhood
Speaker:education that the environment is a 3rd teacher. I'm
Speaker:not the only one in the room that is bringing the learning.
Speaker:So how we set up the environment really matters, and my brother Tim was
Speaker:just reminding us how how can we create an environment that
Speaker:really draws out the learning of the students? Right.
Speaker:So I'm not a natural gifted teacher, I would say. I may be a
Speaker:natural gifted student. I love to learn. I'm always curious.
Speaker:Can you walk me through that? What does it mean to be co
Speaker:learning? What does the child have to teach you? What does the environment
Speaker:have to teach you? And how are you navigating that? Can you
Speaker:walk me through an example? Yeah. Well, in
Speaker:early childhood education, it's a lot to do with materials and things that we
Speaker:put out. So for example, we had a class that
Speaker:was really interested in building marble runs. They were building
Speaker:ramps and testing how fast the marbles could go. So we thought, oh, we'll put
Speaker:out some cardboard and see if they wanna build their own marble runs and then
Speaker:they can use a different material. But we put out the cardboard
Speaker:and guess what they did? They didn't wanna build a marble run. They wanted to
Speaker:build instruments and they wanted to build journals. And it turned
Speaker:into this really beautiful creative activity for weeks weeks
Speaker:that they were very invested in. And we just had to
Speaker:kind of follow them along that journey and teach them how to
Speaker:different kinds of attachments for then for their instruments and
Speaker:put up materials where we could build on their their interest. And
Speaker:so that's the exciting part for me is just kind of
Speaker:teaching alongside, creating an environment, and then watching where
Speaker:the learning will go. Yeah. And I I love that because
Speaker:often we think education is maybe something for the
Speaker:learner, those that don't squirm in their seats, those that sit still and and
Speaker:just pay attention to whoever's at the at the pulpit,
Speaker:whoever's at the front of the classroom with authority. But what you're
Speaker:telling me is a much more humble approach bending down at their level
Speaker:and learning with them and being curious about how
Speaker:they're learning, and that is something we could take into the church. I'm curious
Speaker:to see from a early childhood educator's perspective as
Speaker:you are very committed to the church and and navigating
Speaker:that church life experience. Are there some things that we should be paying
Speaker:attention to, listening to, leaning into our educators
Speaker:in the pews in leadership that would make a co
Speaker:learning experience so that we could learn to grow closer to each
Speaker:other, learn to grow closer to God and to to
Speaker:community? Are there things that maybe that you see
Speaker:that we're bypassing in everyday church
Speaker:experiences? So one thing that I've
Speaker:found really interesting in my work as an early childhood educator is
Speaker:we have to do so many observations. So I'm not at the
Speaker:front of the room in a kindergarten class just giving information.
Speaker:Although there are times when I gather the children in a circle and, and I
Speaker:share information with them. But so much of the time I'm walking around and
Speaker:I'm recording, whether it's even just in my mind or whether it's on a piece
Speaker:of paper or with a video, I'm recording what's happening in the learning so
Speaker:that I can come back to it and I can look at where we should
Speaker:take the learning next, and I can pull out things that I'm seeing.
Speaker:And I think it's taught me so much about observation and
Speaker:listening. Because so much of the job is observing
Speaker:and looking a little deeper and saying, what could be going on
Speaker:here? And listening and listening even deeper
Speaker:for what the child might be already learning and already accessing so that I can
Speaker:add another layer. And I think in the church and in our
Speaker:communities, it makes me think, what if we listen longer?
Speaker:What if we observed more to know what other
Speaker:people are thinking? And maybe it's the the kids in the back row or the
Speaker:people in the back row that that aren't even getting a a place to have
Speaker:their voice heard. And I need to step closer to
Speaker:them and listen longer so that I can hear what they have to say.
Speaker:So it's a sense of letting the children come and don't
Speaker:hinder them. I I think Jesus had a strong word with those
Speaker:adults that were adulting doing serious church under the tree, I imagine.
Speaker:It may not be under a tree, but he's let the children come. And though
Speaker:those were teaching moments, they were colearning together in those
Speaker:times, weren't they? And, also, what I hear you telling me is that it's
Speaker:not just somebody with just good communication skills in,
Speaker:like, verbal oratory excellence, that they're
Speaker:just, like, downloading, like, a fire hose of information.
Speaker:There's something reciprocal that's happening when there's
Speaker:teaching going on. I learned from you, you learned from me,
Speaker:and together, it's like this dance back and forth and
Speaker:can arrive to new conclusions or arrive to deeper
Speaker:understanding, not only in the content, but what I'm hearing you say is
Speaker:in each other, understanding each other, which can often
Speaker:be overlooked as we are in pursuit of doctrine, as we're
Speaker:in pursuit of right thinking and godly principles and
Speaker:bible verses and a lot of good things, but we miss
Speaker:hearing each other colearning together in those moments.
Speaker:And and I think, yeah, Amy-Jo, you have a lot to teach us. I think
Speaker:that's beautiful. I'm being taught. Well, I I love that word you used,
Speaker:Wendi, reciprocity, because I think that describes so
Speaker:much of what, we're talking about in that learning. And
Speaker:and when I come in with a humble and an open heart and a and
Speaker:a one a wonder, so much of what we do in early
Speaker:childhood education is a wondering. And I actually had a
Speaker:wonder wall on my wall where we we put our questions,
Speaker:and I put my questions because there's things that I didn't know. And the
Speaker:children would ask questions and sometimes we didn't know the answer. So we'd put it
Speaker:up and we'd wonder together and we'd go deeper into the whether it was
Speaker:wondering where the puddles went in the spring. And one of the children said, I
Speaker:think they get sucked up into the sky. And, actually, that's pretty much
Speaker:what does happen. Yeah. So then we go and learn about evaporation,
Speaker:but there was just so much in that process that was a dance of
Speaker:listening and learning together. And I wonder with what
Speaker:you just told me now is that if there's people listening that
Speaker:have or are curious if they have the gift of teaching or they clearly
Speaker:do, I wonder if that eases the burden of
Speaker:having to be the know it all just because you're the teacher that you have
Speaker:to have all the answers. And sometimes we shoot ourselves in
Speaker:the foot by trying to pretend or or put the pressure
Speaker:on that we have to know everything rather than be curious together
Speaker:and to discover together. I do sense this new
Speaker:generation up and rising. They wanna ask questions. They want to wonder.
Speaker:Mhmm. They wanna be curious and and know. And rather than being
Speaker:threatened as a teacher, I hear you saying, hey. Let me wonder with you,
Speaker:and maybe be that guide on that pathway. Still further
Speaker:ahead, you do have knowledge. It's not like you're anything goes,
Speaker:but you're just a few steps ahead but wondering with them.
Speaker:I love that, and I think of it as a guide that's taking us on
Speaker:a trip. And, you know, we're we're going into the mountains, and so I come
Speaker:prepared with my map and with my idea of where we're going, and I have
Speaker:my backpack and I have my preparations for the things that
Speaker:could happen just in case, but I'm prepared to be surprised along the
Speaker:way and to maybe take a detour and find a
Speaker:beautiful scene that I didn't expect to see. But I do have a
Speaker:direction that I'm going. And I think, like you're saying, some
Speaker:people may not realize that they do have something that really
Speaker:is something that other people need and some dots
Speaker:that can help them connect. And so when we come in with
Speaker:that idea, I do have something that I wanna share. We don't
Speaker:have to have all the answers, but we can be a guide on the journey
Speaker:for others. In your current work in Ottawa as
Speaker:a consultant, with the education system there
Speaker:for families with special needs, you've also volunteered and
Speaker:done a lot of work with Joni and Friends. We haven't talked about that
Speaker:yet. But working with children with differences,
Speaker:can you tell me what that teaching experience has taught you
Speaker:through those experiences? Well, I was thinking about
Speaker:this and reflecting on your question of, you
Speaker:know, who are the people that have really taught me over the years
Speaker:and influenced me. And I remember my friend, Jill,
Speaker:invited me to my first family camp for families
Speaker:of children with special needs. And I learned so much from
Speaker:watching her and watching others journey alongside these
Speaker:families and children and laugh with them
Speaker:and swim with them and just celebrate their abilities. There's
Speaker:a talent show night. And every year, I
Speaker:think for about 10 years, I had the privilege of journeying with
Speaker:families at these camps. And every year, there's just so much ability and so
Speaker:much to celebrate. And I think watching
Speaker:others interact taught me so much about
Speaker:how we need all these parts of the body. We need all these parts
Speaker:of the body to be included. And when we make a
Speaker:little space and we push over, whether it's a physical
Speaker:space for a wheelchair to come in or whether it's, you
Speaker:know, some sensory supports for children that are struggling with noise and
Speaker:with sensory input. When we make space, we're so much richer as a
Speaker:community. And I've had some conversations in in some churches. Well,
Speaker:we don't really deal with those kind of things in in the greatest sense.
Speaker:But then I I have to wonder too, if we're not dealing with differences,
Speaker:are we excluding them without even knowing? Are we creating those
Speaker:wheelchair ramps? But not always even in the physical sense. Sometimes
Speaker:the invisible things when we have children or adults with neuro
Speaker:differences, are there sensory spaces? Are there quiet spaces? Are
Speaker:we mindful? And I think that's a lot of pressure
Speaker:possibly on on a church to get it all right, but it's
Speaker:really not that. From what I'm learning from you is just pay attention,
Speaker:to listen, to get to know the individual because each
Speaker:person comes with invisible or visible
Speaker:needs that could be accommodated if we would just simply
Speaker:let them teach us what it is they need to thrive and to
Speaker:flourish because everyone is designed for community, but
Speaker:how do we make that happen? I imagine that's a bit of your
Speaker:work in the school system with families as they're trying to navigate
Speaker:regular school with neuro differences and and special needs.
Speaker:Can you share some insights that might be helpful for
Speaker:churches who are also wanting to be accommodating and
Speaker:create some universal design so that everybody is welcome.
Speaker:Yeah. I love what you said about letting them teach
Speaker:you. And I think that is the phrase that stuck out to
Speaker:me because so much of the work that I do, and I work currently with
Speaker:early childhood educators, so preschool and helping the
Speaker:children transition into the school system and prepare them for
Speaker:kindergarten. And so much of what we do is we talk about,
Speaker:again, coming back to that observation and that questioning
Speaker:and wondering, and not just coming to an assumption that this behaviour is
Speaker:because they don't want to be a part of the group or they
Speaker:don't want to listen. So much of it is also in what we teach in
Speaker:our trauma care class, right, is that coming back to
Speaker:curiosity and wanting to stay connected
Speaker:in those moments of wondering what's going on, what what's a layer deeper? We talk
Speaker:about the iceberg in our trauma care classes so often about
Speaker:what we see is just the tip, and there's so much underneath.
Speaker:So what we see may be a behavior that
Speaker:we are curious about. We don't understand it or
Speaker:we're frustrated about if we're honest. But in the
Speaker:trauma care master class, you have been teaching people how,
Speaker:in the churches, how to look beyond the behavior. What is
Speaker:the need underlying that? Right? And what are some of those
Speaker:discoveries being found? You're you're currently teaching. Maybe you can go into a
Speaker:little bit about the master class, why we are teaching that
Speaker:in into churches and ministry leaders. What are some of the
Speaker:things that they're discovering as they get curious behind
Speaker:the behavior? Yeah. And and like you said, Wendi, those
Speaker:behaviors, they're not easy. And the classes and the
Speaker:participants that come together as we journey through our trauma
Speaker:care learning, we're very honest about the challenges
Speaker:that these things are not easy and they're not necessarily
Speaker:straightforward. And part of the gift we give these children
Speaker:and individuals that come into our communities is that gift
Speaker:of patience and curiosity and willingness to ask
Speaker:those deeper questions. And we're we're hearing things from the participants
Speaker:who say they wish they'd known this earlier. You know, it's a foster mom
Speaker:who has been fostering for 10 years. And she says,
Speaker:oh, this is just so good. I wish that I'd known this 10 years ago.
Speaker:But we always say in our course, when you know better, you can do better.
Speaker:That's right. And it's not going back, but we can go forward, and we can
Speaker:go forward with more compassion and curiosity. And and really the heart
Speaker:of all of this, which I get to talk about daily in my job and
Speaker:it just brings me joy. It's talking about connection.
Speaker:We're built for connection, and we're longing for
Speaker:connection. And so much of this is just how do we stay connected through
Speaker:the challenges and work to rebuild connection when it's broken.
Speaker:That's really beautiful. Because sometimes when we think let the children come and
Speaker:don't hinder them, it's like putting a do not enter sign on the church
Speaker:or in our our kids' program or ministry or whatnot
Speaker:or that person that's difficult has a difficult behavior we're not sure what to
Speaker:do with. We're thinking it's just a blatant like, you can't come
Speaker:in. But, actually, what you're telling me is is sometimes
Speaker:we we give messages. We send messages that you do not belong
Speaker:if you can't fit in these things. So so hindering can
Speaker:be not looking behind the behavior. Hindering can
Speaker:not being aware, but you're right. When we know better, we do better.
Speaker:And I I love the passion that you and and the other
Speaker:associates on our team bring into these settings as
Speaker:people are just like these light bulb moments saying, oh my goodness. I
Speaker:can't wait to get back into that setting or back with my child or
Speaker:back into the church and pursue those connections. Can you
Speaker:give me an example, sort of a before and after example,
Speaker:of when you were able to connect with a child or an adult
Speaker:and what that difference was in your relationship and even in
Speaker:your teaching ability with this the student?
Speaker:Well, one of the first thing that comes to mind is is an
Speaker:educator that I was just talking to this week. And she's fairly
Speaker:new to the profession, fairly new to her job, and she's been working with
Speaker:some really, really challenging kids. And
Speaker:she just soaks in everything that we
Speaker:talk about. And I come back a week later, we were talking about breathing techniques
Speaker:because some of our children are really struggling with regulating.
Speaker:And some of them come from really difficult home situations where they're
Speaker:not getting that practice. And so we talk about this also in our trauma
Speaker:care course, you know, about helping to regulate the
Speaker:vagus nerve in the brain that helps calm the body. And
Speaker:so I taught her the roller coaster breathing, where you go up and down the
Speaker:fingers. And I came back a couple of weeks later and she has
Speaker:the whole group of kids coming in from outside, sitting on the carpet,
Speaker:these kindergarten kids, and they're all practicing the
Speaker:breathing and coming up with their own on their own their own
Speaker:creative ideas. And so I watched this educator who's the other day,
Speaker:she said, Amy-Jo, I just learn so much from you every time you come.
Speaker:And really, it's her willingness to I send videos
Speaker:and links to some of the trauma care information, and she watches them and
Speaker:she takes ideas. And there's a little girl who is in
Speaker:her care who comes from a very difficult home situation.
Speaker:And she came in really through all of her behavior asking that
Speaker:question, am I wanted? Am I cared for? Am I
Speaker:loved? And, you know, we talk about the Karen Purvis quote.
Speaker:She was someone who worked with children from hard places
Speaker:and has done a lot of beautiful research on healing for children who have
Speaker:gone through trauma. And she talks about
Speaker:sometimes the children that need the most love ask for it in the most unloving
Speaker:ways. And so this little girl is having a lot of really
Speaker:challenging behavior. And those educators
Speaker:have told her over and over again, you're wanted here, you're loved,
Speaker:you're cared for by their presence
Speaker:and their words. Even though other programs, I think, would have
Speaker:told her, you're not welcome here. You can't come back because of her challenges, but
Speaker:they've been willing to stick with it. And she has
Speaker:beautiful moments now of connection. And even she's able to access
Speaker:some of her sadness, which is actually a really good thing. She's able to cry
Speaker:instead of just lash out. And so that's where I I saw a dance
Speaker:between an educator who's curious and willing to learn and a child
Speaker:who is being connected with, and it just brought me a lot of
Speaker:joy. Yeah. That's really beautiful. Earlier, I referring to
Speaker:Ephesians 411 to 12, where we we know the
Speaker:apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers, and, obviously, we're
Speaker:focusing on the teachers, are there to equip the
Speaker:saints for the work of the ministry for building up the body of
Speaker:Christ. I'm just curious the intersection of somebody
Speaker:like yourself who has an innate God calling of teaching.
Speaker:You can't stop but reciprocate that with others and and
Speaker:co learn together. But what is it that we could learn as a body of
Speaker:Christ to do better together with the other callings and
Speaker:and leadership styles? What is it that we could do to
Speaker:work better together and to really make
Speaker:the most with those in the church who have the gift of
Speaker:teaching? Well, I think because I'm
Speaker:just always looking through that lens of time with my little people, I
Speaker:think of a circle time in kindergarten. And there are some
Speaker:voices who are really, really ready to just take over the whole
Speaker:circle, and they're very forefront and they need
Speaker:space. They do need space to talk. But I think of so much of it
Speaker:is a dance of trying to bring out the ones who are quiet and the
Speaker:ones who are maybe not as willing to share, but have really good things to
Speaker:say. And I think maybe some of
Speaker:this journey as a community, as a church community, is how do we
Speaker:make space for the voices that may be more in the back row
Speaker:or the ones that may not be as vocal? How
Speaker:do we really pause and make space for them? Because we have so much to
Speaker:learn from each other. And I would imagine
Speaker:someone with the gift of teaching like yourself who is maturing in their
Speaker:giftings and utilizing that as they grow, they're probably the
Speaker:ones that I would wanna lean into to really be
Speaker:able to be good observers of the environment in creating
Speaker:safe and conducive spaces for learning, not just in in the
Speaker:construction of of the 4 walls, but in the environment to health
Speaker:felt safety so that people can reciprocate so they feel,
Speaker:like, welcoming to to share their voice that their voice matters.
Speaker:I would tend to want to lean into their
Speaker:giftings to create that atmosphere. And I've
Speaker:learned so much from others too, Wendi. And just even this Tuesday in our
Speaker:teaching session we were debriefing after on, a lot of it is
Speaker:is how do we even as adults, we need safe places. And sometimes
Speaker:we have things that the students share, you know, we're talking about
Speaker:the children that we work with, but it brings up some of their own journey
Speaker:and their own story, and there needs to be space for that to be held.
Speaker:And as we're creating that space together, it's coming in with an
Speaker:intention for it to be a place where we can we can share and we
Speaker:can trust each other with our stories. Yeah. And
Speaker:so teaching isn't so much of a, I'm the teacher, so,
Speaker:therefore, I have authority in the room or in this dynamic of the
Speaker:relationship. It's almost like a earned secured
Speaker:authority of a voice that somebody would want to come to for
Speaker:learning together. I think of in the the
Speaker:Bible, in the New Testament, Lois and Eunice
Speaker:taught Timothy, and it wasn't like in a lording over it, but they were
Speaker:nurturing. They were creating space. This little young Timothy who
Speaker:had so much promise, they were just
Speaker:encouraging him along. I I think of Priscilla who taught
Speaker:Apollos and and Phoebe. She was a deacon in the church, all
Speaker:female teachers that we may think sometimes, well, the the
Speaker:teachers maybe have to be males in front of the church, and I'm not gonna
Speaker:get into that whole male female thing. But it it's so less of
Speaker:an authoritative thing as a a nurturing, a
Speaker:co learning, a helping other people to grow,
Speaker:which there's a lot of room at that table. Don't we all need
Speaker:teachers? Don't we all need Lois and Eunice's around us
Speaker:to see those gifts and abilities to co learn with us? And I'm
Speaker:just grateful that you're one of those in my life. I learned things from you
Speaker:when you're teaching trauma care or when we're interacting. You're
Speaker:not the one speaking up all the time. That would probably be me. I have
Speaker:to hold myself back. However, you help
Speaker:create that environment even in our team, which I'm really grateful for.
Speaker:Well, it makes me think, Wendi, as you're listing these
Speaker:people, and I I think of the verse that came to me when I was
Speaker:doing some Jonny and Friends work. And Jonny and Friends is a
Speaker:organization that serves families with special needs around the world, you mentioned earlier.
Speaker:And I was a part of mentoring some of the interns who
Speaker:were coming as college students, and, really, it was a very
Speaker:shaping time for them. And it was the verse in Thessalonians that
Speaker:talks about, we loved you so much that we shared not only the gospel,
Speaker:people because it was a very embodied experience. There
Speaker:was not a lot of time at the front of the room. We were walking
Speaker:alongside families, and Joni is
Speaker:herself a quadriplegic and experiences life
Speaker:in a wheelchair. And she talks so much about the embodied experience
Speaker:of working with people where we have to get on the floor with
Speaker:them. We have to incarnate into their worlds just as
Speaker:Jesus came into our world in a body. And the things that we learned
Speaker:through that experience in reciprocal, mutual
Speaker:benefit. That's beautiful. Now to wrap things up, I'm
Speaker:wondering, Amy-Jo, if you have any words of wisdom or
Speaker:maybe that next step, that baby step for us to grow as
Speaker:teachers if we have the gifting. And and those are we maybe don't, but we
Speaker:could still learn and grow into that. Are there any next steps that
Speaker:you might wanna encourage us to to try? Well, I
Speaker:think one thing that was sitting with me as I was reflecting
Speaker:was words from a Quaker,
Speaker:teacher. His name was Parker Palmer, and he talks so much about
Speaker:the teaching journey is really one of going within
Speaker:and getting to know ourselves better as we get to know our
Speaker:students. And so I would just say I would encourage
Speaker:some reflection time, Maybe even think on that question that
Speaker:we talked about. Who loved you into being? Who were some teachers in your
Speaker:life that were really impactful in those moments? Maybe not at 3 o'clock on
Speaker:a Wednesday afternoon in your grade 3 classroom when you
Speaker:were learning math, but what were some of those moments of teaching that have
Speaker:impacted you? And then what are some things that you really want to
Speaker:share with others? And how can you start listening to the ones
Speaker:that may really benefit from that information and from that knowledge
Speaker:and passion that you have. Well, I love that. And Johan
Speaker:Heinrichs, our producer, will be helping us all with that.
Speaker:On Mondays, we have a journey with prayer, which is a contemplative
Speaker:experience, a 5 minute contemplative experience based on the episodes
Speaker:of the Friday previous. So stay tuned this coming
Speaker:Monday for a contemplative experience where you can journey within
Speaker:and with God. And, Amy-Jo, I just wanna thank you so much for taking
Speaker:the time to share with us your story, and thank you for coming on
Speaker:the podcast. Thank you so much, Wendi. It's been a
Speaker:joy to be here with you. Thank you for
Speaker:joining another conversation on Journey with Care, where we
Speaker:inspire curious Canadians on their path of faith and living
Speaker:life with purpose in community. Journey with Care is an initiative of
Speaker:CareImpact, a Canadian charity dedicated to connecting and
Speaker:equipping the whole church to journey well in community. You can
Speaker:visit their website at careimpact.ca or visit
Speaker:journeywithcare.ca to get more information on weekly episodes,
Speaker:Journey with Prayer, and details about our upcoming events and meetups.
Speaker:You can also leave us a message, share your thoughts, and connect with like
Speaker:minded individuals who are on their own journeys of faith and
Speaker:purpose. Thank you for sharing this podcast and helping these stories
Speaker:reach the community. Together, we can explore ways to journey in a good
Speaker:way. And always remember to stay curious.
