Music to My Ears...

Today I was asked to temporarily cover a Beginning Guitar class whose teacher had run into car trouble.  I was told it was only for a few minutes, for which I was glad, since I hadn't the foggiest idea what to do with a guitar class.  I was to take attendance, pass out guitars, and have students practice what they already know until the teacher got there.

Some of the students were a little more than Beginning level, and I heard them playing the intro to "La Bamba", so I sat at the piano, uncovered the keys, and began playing the intro with them, and then went on to the rest of the song.  I don't read music, I don't REALLY play the piano, but I do know chords, and if I knew the tune I could play a passable accompaniment, so for the next ten minutes, students would play some of the songs they learned while I accompanied them on the piano.

Still without lesson plans, I was glad when the replacement sub came in.  "I'm doing YOUR job today," announced the resident sub, "and you're covering all Mrs. H's classes."  Then she handed me the rest of the roll sheets, the classroom keys, and the sub folder.  "And no, she there are no plans."

I looked at the rosters and noticed familiar names of former students, and heaved a sigh of relief.  Then panic ensued when I realized I had 4 more Beginning Guitar classes to cover, and two Beginning Choirs.  I prayed that the Lord would give me the wisdom to figure out what to do, and lo and behold, I saw the week's objective on the board:  "The students will be able to name the parts of a guitar and their functions."  I smiled and I knew God had ordained this day.

Back in July, my husband, my eldest daughter, her husband and daughter, and I were blessed to have been able to fly to Anchorage, Alaska to visit my son and his family for my grandson's first birthday.  While we all stayed at his house and enjoyed a holiday, my son couldn't join us in the day due to a Leadership Class that he was taking.  One of the things he had to do for the class was to teach a 15 minute lesson on a topic of which he believed himself to be an expert.  

The night before his presentation, he asked me if I would listen to his lesson and provide some feedback.  For the next two and a half hours, he gave his lesson over and over, as I listened attentively again and again, until I almost has his entire presentation memorized.  His topic?  The Guitar, including the parts and functions of the parts of the guitar.

So, for the rest of the day, I gave the lesson on the parts of a guitar.  I have never enjoyed teaching classes more for which I didn't have lesson plans from the teacher than I did today.  Today, I didn't need lessons plans from the teacher -- I got them from the master.  And The Master.

"For I know the plans that I have for you..."