Put on Earth to do.
Kennedy Shock is an alumnae of The Co-op Fellowship who discerned and followed her calling to public education.
When I was in college, I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I left. I was an English major, and I loved it. But I had no plans beyond my four years at the university. People would often find out that I was an English major and automatically assume I was going to teach upon graduating. I remember being so annoyed by those comments because for the entirety of my college experience (and life before that), I really did not want or plan to teach. Both of my sisters had been teachers, and I wanted to do something different--even though I didn’t know what exactly that something was.
Looking back on my college experience, I notice now how the Lord was preparing me to teach later on, and I’m so grateful for the ways that He worked in those pivotal years. The two most notable ways the Lord was preparing me were through my internship with the youth group at OU and through my summer experiences volunteering in Southeast Asia.
During the summers after my sophomore, junior, and senior years, I went to Hong Kong, Cambodia, and Laos to teach English language learners at various English camps. I started toying with what it would look like to teach English in Mississippi once I returned home from my third and final year working at an English camp in Hong Kong. After graduating and taking a year off to discern my next step (Thank you for the job while I figured everything out, OU!), I applied for the Mississippi Teacher Corps program, class of 2019. Upon getting accepted to the program, I knew that it was the right next step for me, and I was elated.
I really believe the Lord used my summer trips volunteering in Hong Kong and my time working at the church to open my heart and my mind up to the idea of teaching in the states. I was so blatantly opposed to the idea before those experiences (and mostly during as well), and then, little by little, I realized that with all the things I enjoyed doing and with all the skills I possessed, teaching just made sense.
I’ve found that to still be true today, as I’m wrapping up my second year of teaching high school English in Marshall County. Teaching gives me the chance to do three of the things that I feel most passionately about.
Create
Read and share powerful stories
Build relationships
There is an extremely specific feeling I get when I’m working on creating content for lessons that I’m excited about. It feels therapeutic and exhilarating, to work on something that I’m both good at and enthusiastic about. As cliche as it sounds, when I get into lesson planning like that, it feels like I’m doing the thing that I was put on the earth to do. I don’t know how else to describe it, but it’s truly the best feeling.
“It feels therapeutic and exhilarating, to work on something that I’m both good at and enthusiastic about…it feels like I’m doing the thing that I was put on the earth to do.”
Creating lessons, while exciting, is not the only way I’ve found purpose in teaching, though. Another thing I love about teaching is how it gives me the opportunity to connect. Everyday when I walk in my classroom, I get to connect with students and build valuable relationships. As a teacher, my hope is that I can be a reliable presence and provide a safe space for students who are beginning to navigate young adulthood. This is easier said than done many days, as balancing that lofty goal with the tremendous workload and seemingly unrealistic expectations, but it’s the hope nevertheless. That’s why I keep showing up everyday. I do enjoy creating lessons, but when I’m exhausted day after day, it’s the students that I show up for. And it is only by the true strength of God and His good grace that I am able to continue showing up day after day, and that my students continue to allow me to teach them day after day.
The last thing that I really love about teaching is being able to provide stories and content that help students connect to people around the world. Last year, I taught a unit of short stories about various characters across Southeast Asia (a handful of which I actually wrote for my honors thesis in college). It was one of the most rewarding experiences to watch students learn about people different from them, and learn about places they’d never heard of on the other side of the globe. I got to facilitate this bridging of human understanding as students learned to empathize and relate to characters in Cambodia, Hong Kong, and Laos. During the weeks of teaching that unit to my 9th graders last year, I felt like I was living out my calling from the Lord in a way that I’d never felt before. That feeling has given me hope that I can continue to find purpose in this job that I’ve chosen by using the skills and interests I already have.
Kennedy served with The Co-op Fellowship from 2018-2019. She is pictured here with those who served alongside her at Oxford University United Methodist Church.
It’s in teaching that I’ve found my deepest purpose and my most valuable relationships. It’s in teaching that I’ve learned the most about myself--both my strengths and my limits. It’s in teaching that I’ve learned to rely on the Lord, each and every day. It’s in teaching that I’ve learned to find my worth and identity in God, instead of the things that I do. I’ll be forever grateful for the Lord’s hand in my life, and how He guided me to teaching.
The Co-op Fellowship
If you are exploring a call to ministry, The Co-op’s Fellowship Program is your next step. This is a nine month leadership and formation program for recent college graduates that is based in the local church. It is designed to help young Christian leaders learn and practice an integrated life of faith and work. You’ll be getting practical, on-the-ground experience that will make you a better, more marketable candidate for both future graduate study or employment. Learn more by clicking here.