Everyday Doxologist: Andrew Hall
I’m Andrew Hall, and I am a teacher at Glen Allen High School in Henrico County, where I teach biology and chemistry.
What do I do?
In Genesis we see that when God created the earth it was “without form and void” (1:2). First, God works to overcome the disorder by creating structures and spaces; then, he overcomes the emptiness by filling the world with his creatures. At the pinnacle, God creates man in His own image to know and understand his world in order to exercise loving rule over it.
As a science teacher, I participate in a similar creative work. As God’s image-bearer and co-creator, my science teaching brings order and substance to students’ minds. Students come into my class with incomplete and often disordered, inconsistent thinking about the natural world. As their teacher, I help them in a discovery process where they develop orderly explanations for understanding the world; and then I help them add depth of detail and understanding to these explanations so that they can then apply what they’ve learned to new situations.
Why do I do it?
In his book The Forest Unseen, David George Haskell writes, “When laughing children chase after fireflies, they are not pursuing beetles but catching wonder. When wonder matures, it peels back experience to seek deeper layers of marvel below. This is science’s highest purpose.” I marvel at the intricacies and relationships of God’s world from atoms to ecosystems, and I want my students to share in this wonder. Psalm 19:1 says that “the heavens declare the glory of God, and the skies above proclaim his handiwork.” I want to help my students see the beauty and wisdom of God’s works.
Furthermore, my students are made in God’s image. God is omniscient, so I want my students to grow in knowledge. God is logical; I want to hone their reasoning skills. God is relational; I want them to be able to collaborate effectively and help one another.
What obstacles do I face?
But just as our good work has become cursed under the Fall, even teaching at a suburban public school with above-average resources and family involvement is fraught with challenges. I see my students struggle with all kinds of challenges: with anxiety, performance pressure, difficult home situations, peer pressure, and the struggle to discover their identity, their sexuality, and their goals in life. I desperately want to offer them the hope I have in Christ, to share with them the truth of who they are and can be. Yet as a public school teacher, I am legally restricted in what I can say. So join with me in praying that they would encounter the gospel through other students, adults, and Young Life; and that I would be an effective witness to my co-workers.
Another challenge is the tension of having to teach a set curriculum with limited time for the sake of the end-of-year SOL tests. This forces me to evaluate, question, and cut many good lesson ideas that would develop their ability to think, to see the fun and wonder of the world, and to apply what they’re learning. On top of that, I have to struggle with decisions about how to motivate and teach all sorts of different kids. Every day has so many decisions and responsibilities. So I have to remember that it is not me, but God, Who is in final control of their learning and growth. I have to remember the truth of Psalm 127: “Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.” He is in control, and I need to rest in that and commit every day to Him in prayer.