pressing on

     After Thanksgiving break, one of my students came to me right before class asking me to sign a slip for her to withdraw from the class.  She'd been working so hard all semester long and this request took me by surprise.  She was on the verge of failing, but I thought if she kept working hard that she would probably fall on the side of passing.  I told her that I was surprised that she had arrived at this decision because I had seen her working so hard.  I then said I wouldn't sign the form right then without talking to her about the situation more, that she should come back after class.
She didn't come by after class...
but she kept coming to class... 
I followed up with her and she said she'd decided she would work hard and that she could do this...
and SHE DID!
This is one of my highlights from this semester.
I saw so many students experience a wake-up call this semester, work hard, and then pull out a passing grade.  I also have had some students make poor decisions and I'll be assigning some Fs.  But yesterday as I crunched the grades, I was cheered again and again as I saw student after student getting a higher grade than they were assigned at midterm...

   I've been thinking a lot recently about the scripture "I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me".  I've been thinking a lot about "pressing on"...  These students have been an example to me as the have focused in and continued on instead of dropping out when things got hard and they were afraid of failing.  We are all still in the process of pressing on and discovering the purposes for which we were created and are called.  I'm privileged to be a part of their journey and I'm thankful that they bear with me as I too continue to learn how to teach and guide them as they press on.