” I Teach. What’s your super power?” This cute gift from a student lives near the front of my classroom for my daily viewing.

• It reminds me of the kindness of the student that gave it to me.
• It reminds me that at least this one student feels that I might actually be a super hero.
• It reminds me of what I want to be. After all, if I am not a super hero, what else is there?
• It reminds me of the unrealistic expectations that I place on myself. After all, if I am not a super hero, then I have failed, right?
• It reminds me of those failures because really, I am not a super hero.
• It reminds me that I will never really be a super hero no matter how hard I try.

Super Hero Teaching

Teachers start each year with many expectations and dreams of the perfect classroom.

Some are placed there by our administration. Some are placed there by students. Some are placed there by parents. Most are placed there by ourselves- the super hero teachers.

We need the perfect lesson. We want to meet the need of every student in our room sometimes to the point that we feel we need to create ten different versions of an activity. We will build a new bulletin board each month to ensure students do not become bored. We will teach and then re-assess five times to make sure a student is successful. We will learn to floss in rhythm with our lecture to gain student attentiveness. We will attend all new workshops to make sure we do not fall behind with current teaching trends. We will attend every event invited to by a student. We will eat three meals a day at school as a result of needing time to prepare and grade. We don’t want to let anyone down. We do not want to be the reason our dreams do not become a reality. We do not want to be the teacher that does not meet the requests of those around us. We do not want to fail. We are super hero teachers after all.

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Teaching Reality

At some point in our teaching career, the reality hits. Our super hero cape has rips. Our super hero leggings are too tight. Our super hero power has somehow been stripped from our classroom, and we are left with the what we truly are: tired, over committed, overwhelmed.

For a seasoned teacher, this will happen more than once. For some of us it happens yearly.

Learning from the Ultimate Super Hero Teacher

There have been several points in my teaching career when I have faced the reality that I am not a super hero. I can attempt to be the best. I can strive to engage the most, but at the end of the day I do not deserve a cape nor do I have any special powers.

Then why do I keep this cute item in my classroom?

Because more importantly than everything I listed earlier, it also reminds me that God does not intend for me to be a superhero. He did not give me this career with the expectation that I be perfect or that I reach the pinnacle of “Super Teacher”.

He placed me here to glorify Him. Today, His glorification might be a successful lesson. Tomorrow, it might be a classroom full of students that master a very difficult concept. But next week, His glory might be shown through a mistake that I make. He might show His glory through the tears that I can not hold back. He might use a tough moment in my life to show my students His love and grace. He, after all, is the real super hero teacher.

I would encourage you today to trust this Super Hero with every aspect of your work. If you teach in a classroom, step back from the extreme expectations and allow God to fill your room with Him. If you teach your children at home, remove the thought that you need to be perfect. If your life crosses paths with kids in any other aspect, forget about “getting it right”. Trust the Creator, who knows all, made all and loves all, to be what we can not.

He is the only real Super Hero. Let Him be yours.

” He determines the number of the stars
    and calls them each by name.
 Great is our Lord and mighty in power;
    his understanding has no limit. “– Psalm 147:4-5