{"id":16862,"date":"2026-03-10T13:28:39","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T13:28:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/uncategorized\/her-new-teaching-partner-taught-her-to-be-open-to-change\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T06:02:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T06:02:30","slug":"her-new-teaching-partner-taught-her-to-be-open-to-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/inspiring-stories\/her-new-teaching-partner-taught-her-to-be-open-to-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Her New Teaching Partner Taught Her to Be Open to Change"},"content":{"rendered":"

Another long, frustrating day teaching high school<\/a> English via Zoom. I peeled my sticky legs off the faux leather chair in the cramped back room of my house. Well, I got through it.<\/em> Late August, only two weeks into the semester, and I was ready to pack it in. After 27 years in education, I didn\u2019t need this aggravation.<\/p>\n

I pulled up my work email. There was a message from a woman whose name I didn\u2019t recognize: Gigi Shepherd. Was she a new teacher\u2019s aide? \u201cPlease tell me how I can join your classes.\u201d I don\u2019t think so<\/em>. I\u2019d never done any co-teaching. And I certainly wasn\u2019t interested in doing it now with some interloper. Online education was enough of a struggle. Technology<\/a> was definitely not my strength.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d started feeling burned out the year before, during the 2019\u201320 school year. The expectations kept growing. Many of my teacher friends had retired, leaving me feeling isolated. Then Covid hit. Our district switched to remote learning<\/a>. Running a virtual classroom was a grind. The one thing I\u2019d still relished about teaching was having a lively exchange of ideas with my students.<\/p>\n

No more. Day after day, I spoke into my computer screen with feigned cheerfulness, staring at an array of tiny boxes, only a few showing students\u2019 faces. For privacy reasons, we couldn\u2019t require the kids to turn on their cameras. What passed for dialogue was the occasional terse comment typed in the chat window.<\/p>\n

The email from this Gigi woman had to be a mistake. If I have to take on one more thing\u2026<\/em> Before I could muster the energy to finish the thought, the principal called. She explained that Ms. Shepherd required the passcode that would grant her admittance to my Zoom space<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s good news!\u201d the principal said. \u201cOur district is utilizing substitute teachers\u2019 skills by placing them with full-time educators. It means more help for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCan\u2019t you put her in another classroom?\u201d I said. \u201cI\u2019m just fine alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe assignments have been made,\u201d she said. \u201cThis will be a good arrangement\u2014trust me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trust.<\/em> Something else I\u2019d struggled with lately. I told my husband, my friends, even strangers, that I trusted Jesus<\/a> to guide my life. And I did\u2026when things were going well. But deep down, I knew I\u2019d become less tolerant of change. When things didn\u2019t go as I wanted, I surrendered to worry and second-guessing. Was this what happened with age<\/a>? Life feels flat\u2013you lose your enthusiasm; work is just a job, not a joy; you get stuck in your ways.<\/p>\n

Now here I was, being asked to show some flexibility. I couldn\u2019t exactly say no to the school principal.<\/p>\n

That evening, I emailed the interloper, as I\u2019d come to think of her, with directions for joining us online. \u201cCan you at least make sure she\u2019s good with computers?\u201d I asked God as I hit the Send button.<\/p>\n

The next morning, my screen was filled with the image of Gigi\u2019s husband, Paul, looming over her as he helped her sign on. Great, <\/em>that prayer isn\u2019t going to be answered<\/a><\/em>, I thought.<\/p>\n

Gigi looked to be about my age. I put her on the spot, asking her to teach a lesson supporting the students\u2019 emotional needs<\/a>. Without missing a beat, she extolled the virtues of mindfulness. I couldn\u2019t get past the sound of her voice: breathy, sweet yet deliberate, like a grade school teacher.<\/p>\n

To my surprise, the students perked up as Gigi led them in a discussion on ways to stay connected<\/a>. \u201cRemember\u2014even when we\u2019re apart physically from friends and family, we needn\u2019t feel alone.\u201d She was so reassuring.<\/p>\n

My teaching style was different. I was encouraging, yes, but louder, more direct, more of a coach than a cheerleader. \u201cC\u2019mon, students!\u201d I\u2019d exhort. \u201cYou can do this homework! Seriously. Get it done!\u201d<\/p>\n

Gigi was all about heartfelt affirmations and careful listening<\/a>. And the students responded. In the days that followed, the kids still didn\u2019t speak much, but they filled the chat window with comments that showed they were engaged in what was going on in class.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeautiful,\u201d Gigi would coo after a student shared a thought, drawing out her syllables like water burbling in a brook. \u201cBravo!\u201d she\u2019d offer another time. \u201cI applaud your efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her kind words<\/a> weren\u2019t reserved for students. \u201cI really like the way you express yourself, Lori,\u201d she told me one day after classes. \u201cWhat a wonderful lesson,\u201d she often said before we signed off. I couldn\u2019t help but be skeptical of her relentless positivity<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs anyone really<\/em> that nice and enthusiastic all the time?\u201d I asked my husband one evening. \u201cIs it some sort of act? She\u2019s got this whispery, doting delivery.\u201d Even as I was talking, I realized how petty I sounded.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, does she connect with the teenagers<\/a>?\u201d David asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, she does,\u201d I said, grudgingly.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen it seems as if whatever she\u2019s doing is working,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing wrong with being sweet<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

This was why I didn\u2019t want to team-teach. I had my own way of doing things. I didn\u2019t need someone making me feel inadequate.<\/p>\n

September came, and I found myself settling into a routine. There was an intimacy to online teaching with Gigi because our \u201cclassroom\u201d was basically a live stream of our homes. I caught glimpses of her husband and two sons passing through the house. Her German shepherd<\/a> and my Bernese Mountain dog made appearances. We traded big-dog stories. The students delighted in these diversions and began to turn on their own cameras, sharing more of their lives.<\/p>\n

After school, Gigi and I got to know each other better. She\u2019d studied French in college and taught English and French for 12 years before becoming a stay-at-home mom when her sons, Dylan and Jack, were born. When Dylan\u2019s high school French teacher had gone on maternity leave<\/a>, Gigi had agreed, with her son\u2019s support, to sub for her. She\u2019d been subbing for the past six years.<\/p>\n

We talked about our mutual love of movies, food, singing, dancing, family and faith. I shared my grief at losing my mother a few years ago. As the weeks went by, Gigi showed a more serious side too, talking about significant challenges she\u2019d faced in her younger years and how the love of family and friends had gotten her through. \u201cI learned to put my trust in God<\/a>,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

There was that word again: trust.<\/em> Only now I understood. Gigi\u2019s ebullient spirit wasn\u2019t some Pollyannaish denial of problems. It was a determination to be grateful, to celebrate life, to choose joy<\/a>. Not just to talk about faith but to live it. Maybe that was the real reason I\u2019d felt threatened by her. She reminded me of the person I\u2019d been before letting worry and stress grind me down. The person I aspired to be again.<\/p>\n

One night, I asked Jesus for direction. \u201cAm I now so brittle and insecure that I can\u2019t just \u2018be\u2019 with someone new you\u2019ve brought to my life?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSlow down,\u201d I heard him say. \u201cListen. Speak with kindness. Receive<\/em> from Gigi. It\u2019s okay to admit you have more to learn<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Buoyed by Gigi\u2019s presence, I tried to take a more positive tone with students. I used affirmations<\/a> and meant <\/em>them. I even practiced speaking more calmly and smoothly\u2014almost the Gigi coo of comfort.<\/p>\n

Sometimes Gigi asked me for advice. It was gratifying to think that I could be a help for her too. I looked forward to seeing her each morning, to the rapport we had teaching, to our afterschool chats. She wasn\u2019t an interloper. We were a team.<\/p>\n

At the beginning of October, in creative writing class, I shared with the students an essay I\u2019d crafted as a model for an upcoming assignment. They were to write about an object or experience that was meaningful<\/a> to them. As they followed along onscreen, I read aloud my story of being 14 and desperately wanting my mother to buy me a pair of trendy hip-huggers. She\u2019d resisted because she thought they were too risqu\u00e9.<\/p>\n

I read the final paragraph: \u201cI wish I could ask my mom now about how she managed to stay true to her instincts even though she realized I\u2019d be upset. Her small act took courage<\/a>\u2026.\u201d I choked up and couldn\u2019t go on.<\/p>\n

Gigi deftly took the baton from me. \u201cStudents,\u201d she said in her gentle voice, \u201cMrs. Uebersax has given you a great gift. She has opened up and shared a true story beautifully written from her heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

I stared at her face on the screen, marveling at her understanding and compassion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow she\u2019s giving you the opportunity to look inside yourselves and write your own story that has meaning and truth,\u201d Gigi continued. \u201cI know some of you have had hard times during this Covid year<\/a>. But won\u2019t you try to connect with yourselves and with us by expressing yourself through your writing?\u201d<\/p>\n

For a moment, no one said a word. It felt like a sacred silence<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In mid-October, Gigi and I finally arranged to meet at a park. I was blind-date nervous. Would our carefully forged online bond feel the same in person?<\/p>\n

After a quick, awkward hug, we sat in lawn chairs eight feet apart, Gigi\u2019s long hair whipping in the wind. Her face glowed as she savored a chocolate croissant I\u2019d brought her. \u201cI just want to be quiet<\/a> for a moment and take it in,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Then she played a samba song on her phone, and we danced a bit, swaying to the rhythm. I felt delightfully young, the pressures and worries<\/a> of the past year lifted.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so glad we were teamed up together,\u201d Gigi said. \u201cYou feel like my soul sister<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

As usual, she\u2019d said it better than I could have. But I didn\u2019t mind. It wasn\u2019t a competition. No matter how the school year unfolded, I knew I would be grateful to share every day with my trusted colleague Gigi, the wonderful new friend<\/a> God knew I needed even before I did.<\/p>\n

For more inspiring stories, subscribe to <\/em>Guideposts<\/strong><\/a> magazine<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Another long, frustrating day teaching high school English via Zoom. I peeled my sticky legs off the faux leather chair in the cramped back room of my house. Well, I got through it. Late August, only two weeks into the semester, and I was ready to pack it in. 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