The Meet Hope Podcast
The Meet Hope Podcast
107: Encounter Advent 5 - Jesus is Rabbi, Teacher, Messiah
In our latest Meet Hope podcast episode, we sit down with Olivia Salandra, a dedicated high school English teacher, who opens up about the joys and challenges of creating a classroom where students feel free to explore and express their thoughts. Her experiences remind us of the true essence of teaching—not just imparting knowledge, but inspiring critical thinking and open dialogue.
This episode also draws inspiring parallels between the roles of teaching and faith, reflecting on the profound impact both can have on individual growth. We delve into how Jesus exemplified patience and encouragement, qualities that resonate deeply with educators today. As we wrap up our Encounter Advent series, we celebrate the diverse ways people connect with God, emphasizing the vast, inclusive, and love-filled story of God.
Thanks for being a part of the HOPE community as we continue conversations about faith and hope! You can learn more at meethope.org or find us on socials @meethopechurch. Join in for worship on Sundays at meethope.online.church! Have a question? Contact us at podcast@meethope.org.
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Welcome to the Meet Hope podcast, where we have conversations about faith and hope. Hope is one church made of people living out their faith through two expressions in person and online. We believe a hybrid faith experience can lead to a growing influence in our community and our world for the sake of others. Welcome to Hope our world for the sake of others.
Speaker 2:Welcome to Hope. Hi everyone, welcome to the Meet Hope podcast. My name is Ashley Black and I am excited to be your host today. We are in week five, which is our final week of the Encounter Advent series that we've been doing all Advent long, where we've been interviewing different people who have some connection to the theme that we're talking about each week, and so this week, for week five, my guest with me is Olivia Salandra. Hi, olivia, hi, how are you? I'm good, how are you Good? Thanks, and so, just to let everybody know, our theme this week is that Jesus is rabbi, teacher and Messiah, and so we're going to focus specifically on the word teacher. So, olivia, you are a teacher.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:Tell us a little bit about what does your teaching job look like right now?
Speaker 3:I am a high school English teacher. This is my third year teaching, so I don't know what it looks like. Just, every day looks very, very different. Yeah, yeah, is it what you imagined?
Speaker 2:it would looks very, very different. Yeah, yeah, is it what you imagined? It would be three years ago, when you, or when you were in college studying to be a teacher?
Speaker 3:um, definitely not when I was in college, because when you're in college you have no idea what it's like to teach unless you're in front of the classroom. Yeah so, but some days it does, and then some days there's like a curveball thrown at you that you're like this is not what I thought I signed up for.
Speaker 2:Can you think back to when you first started teaching and you got a curveball, versus now, like do you handle them differently, like are you less stressed about it? I think so. I think I am yeah.
Speaker 3:I mean like in the minor terms of like a curveball. It could just be a lesson doesn't go as planned, or maybe they're not answering questions like you expected them to. So now I feel like I'm better equipped to kind of switch things around and figure out how to get them engaged. Or a bigger curveball could be like a fire drill or a fight Like our whole day is gone. So I feel like those don't happen as often, but if they do, I feel like better.
Speaker 2:Do you teach all ages of high school or do you have a specific grade?
Speaker 3:I have freshmen and sophomores this year, okay.
Speaker 2:And is that what you wanted to do when you were thinking about going into teaching? Did you want to work with high school? I did, yeah.
Speaker 3:So because I'm secondary, I could do middle or high school, but I was so far away from middle school, oh yeah, all I wanted was high school.
Speaker 2:What is it about high school? Is that you? You really wanted to be their teacher.
Speaker 3:Um, I think I feel that they are better at communicating and, like they're not as young as middle schoolers might be, so they're a little bit more mature and you can have more mature conversations with them about topics, especially as an English teacher, like that's what the subject is yeah conversation and stuff like that.
Speaker 2:So yeah, so you always knew high school? Yeah, did you have to do any other grades while you were like preparing?
Speaker 3:no, I was lucky that I got placed. I mean, I could have gotten placed in middle school when I was student teaching, but I got a high school.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, awesome. And what is it about English?
Speaker 3:Why English teaching? I like English because it calls for conversation and stuff like that. Like you have to discuss things and hear different opinions and most of the time there's no like wrong answer. So like kids may be more inclined to respond and just kind of say what they think, because if you can justify it, it's usually right.
Speaker 2:I love that, and is that something you feel like you would try to cultivate in your classroom?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I love that.
Speaker 2:This is a place where we can have different answers and like try them on yeah. Yeah, I try to let kids know that, like if you can justify yourself then you to let kids know that, like, if you can justify yourself, yeah, you should be right, that's cool. But I think that's so important, especially at that age, like when you're trying to figure out what it is you think about things to be able to, like, try out your opinion on something, yeah, for sure um yeah, I'm trying to think through like when I was in high school.
Speaker 2:Like, you're right, english class was probably the place we talked the most. Like it's less like memorization or instruction, or like like in math, you're like practicing a problem or yeah, um yeah. Do you have any favorite like things that you teach as an english teacher, like favorite curriculum or favorite?
Speaker 3:um, I like the readings better than the writings, because writing is more of. You have to do it correctly, like there's like a structure for it, so the readings is just basically like your emotional reaction to it. Some of the times like why the author do this and that kind of thing. So I definitely like the readings better.
Speaker 2:Do you have any readings that you like the most?
Speaker 3:I love what's it called the Crucible. Okay, I don't know why I love the Crucible. I just find it interesting, like that time period, and then the kids also get really into it, just because of the dramatics of that play. Um, but I'm teaching the book Just Mercy right now.
Speaker 2:Okay, it's a great book.
Speaker 3:I love. I love cause there's so many different topics to talk about and they get super engaged. That's awesome. Yeah, that's really cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, love that. Why do you think it matters to the students you teach to learn how to converse and communicate?
Speaker 3:I think it's an everyday skill that kids need for sure, especially no matter what field you go into when they graduate, because I know all the time, with some of the things we do, kids are like well, I'm not going to use this, why do I need to know this? But for communication. You are going to have to communicate for the rest of your life.
Speaker 2:So it's good to be able to practice how to properly articulate what you want to say, so you can get what you need, or so you can be heard, did you? Ever like. Do you ever think about yourself as a high schooler when you're teaching?
Speaker 3:Like does that ever come up? Uh, I guess sometimes I never really think about it, but I guess sometimes I was super shy in high school. So like trying to think of like okay, what is something that like the shyer kids might? Be able to participate in or like even get them out of their comfort zone. Like maybe I feel like sometimes when I was in high school I wasn't pushed out of my comfort zone and like forced, almost in a way, to like speak up and you know like yeah, kind of thing.
Speaker 2:So yeah, I love that. I think about that. I was also a very shy high schooler. And I think about that. I was also a very shy high schooler.
Speaker 2:And I think about that too. Like sometimes I I spent a lot of time trying not to be seen, and so I sometimes I think, uh, I kind of maybe wish somebody would push, have pushed me a little bit, but then at the same time I probably would have cried. So if you're listening and you have shy students, be gentle with them. We turn out okay. Um yeah which it makes me laugh just because this is an aside but when I started working in youth ministry, it's like similar to teaching. You're up front, in front of people and you have to. That's what you do.
Speaker 2:Your job is to talk, like to give instructions or to teach or to. And I remember having a conversation with a volunteer where I must have shared something, where I said, yeah, I'm actually like a shyer person, I'm more introverted, and they were like, really, I was like, yeah, I would have never guessed that You're like so, like confident, up front and you're, you're loud and you're clear. And I was like, yeah, but I go home and I like fall. I'm like how did I fall apart? But I'm very tired.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that was enough for me for the week.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but I definitely.
Speaker 3:I learned that from people like who encouraged me to learn how to communicate. So what would you say are some of your greatest hopes for your students?
Speaker 3:if you think about them, I think I guess that they just like recognize their potential, because I think sometimes they don't want to try Like they're capable of it, but they just don't want to put the effort in, yeah, so I hope for them that they just realize that if they put more effort into what they're doing like, they would 110% succeed do you find yourself in moments where you can like see their capability and you're it's like you want to figure out how to get them there.
Speaker 2:Does that make sense?
Speaker 3:yeah, it can get super frustrating because I know that these kids are capable, like I know that they are, yeah, and they're just not like. If they just did like a little bit more, like just do your homework and yeah, you'll succeed, like I promise, and it just takes that little bit. And if they're not getting it or they don't want to do it, it gets super frustrating because I know that they can.
Speaker 2:If I think about teachers, I feel like that's a phrase that I hear all teachers say. I know you can do it. I feel like that's in the heart of every teacher. I believe that you can do this, which makes me since part of this is that this podcast is we're talking about our faith as well and not just being a teacher. But so when you're talking, I was thinking about how, in scripture, a lot of times, jesus repeats himself like three or four times specifically to the disciples, like if you could see? Like he could. So the disciples considered jesus like their teacher, like they were learning from him, and like if you look at it, he'll say something like multiple times, or he'll say he'll literally say like weren't you listening?
Speaker 2:or I always like laugh, I guess at it when I read it, because I can understand where. It's like that what you just shared, that same frustration of like I've only got so much time, like you only have a class period. J Jesus is like I only have these many years and I need you to get it because I believe in what you can do and I'm here for you, you know, yeah, um, so anyway, I was just thinking of that when you were talking of like oh yeah, we see, we see Jesus do this as a teacher, a teacher also.
Speaker 2:Um and uh and so if you think about your faith in conjunction with the idea of being a teacher, what do you think it? Why do you think it matters to you, or to anyone in general, that we sometimes engage with Jesus as a teacher?
Speaker 3:I don't really think. I even thought about it before you sent me the invitation for this podcast. But I think, like I think I mean at least from my perspective, because I'm a teacher I can see, like what I just said about like I know my students have the potential. It's just that they need to put in that little extra effort. And I feel like it's the same thing with faith, like I think God probably gets super frustrated when he sees us and he's like I know what you're capable of.
Speaker 3:You just have to, you know, put a little more work into it. So I think it could be like the same sort of thing that like you know, Jesus wants this for us. It's just we still have to he can't do all of it.
Speaker 2:Like it is up to us. At some point. There's a handoff of like I'm feeling this way because I care about you so much and I know what you can do and knowing that at the end of the day, it's up to us to like pick it up and try it out and like have the courage to do whatever we feel like we're being taught by jesus.
Speaker 2:Yeah, um, what do you think? So we're about? And so this is one of the reasons I've loved this whole series is we're talking about Jesus is so many different types of a person, right? So we've talked about Jesus is the word and Jesus is light and life, and we talked about Jesus being fully human and Jesus is lamb of God, and so this final week, like there's multiple components to it, but that you know, jesus is a teacher. There's something a little bit different about thinking about it in that way that, um, like that we get the opportunity to like learn from Jesus. Um, what would you say if you flipped it? Like, cause you are a teacher teacher, but as a person of faith. We're all students of Jesus. What would you say have been one or two things that you feel like maybe Jesus has taught you if you were to think about him as a teacher in your life?
Speaker 3:um, I think definitely something that Jesus has taught me, and this is maybe just because I saw a video about it the other day. But like love and like forgiveness. I just saw a video about like his crucifixion and how like awful it was. And then how up on the cross he literally is saying like forgive them. So I think that's just. I couldn't grasp that type of forgiveness yeah but to see it and hear about.
Speaker 2:It is something I guess you could strive for yeah, I don't know how you would ever reach it yeah, extent, but but to like you said, when you understand the impact of something, then it changes how you maybe interact with the world or how you live your life as a person. Like even just getting back to the idea of like you're talking about being a teacher and like you talked about you're reading the book.
Speaker 2:Just, marcy right and that has like lots of topics for conversation. And some of those topics for conversation like maybe some of your students have never talked about before, yeah, or they've thought them, but there's never been a place to like put words to them and then if I think about those like the same thing when I read that book, like it, it opens up something in you that then you, maybe it shapes how you move forward like so, just because, like, they're talking about it in English class, but now it's like this is now part of their language that they might use in other places of their life yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:That is a great connection, cause that book really is just about forgiveness.
Speaker 1:I think and like acceptance and that like you're more than I think.
Speaker 3:It's like a quote in there, like the worst thing that you've ever done. I love that I.
Speaker 2:I love that you're an English teacher and you know the quotes from the book, cause that's perfect, that's absolutely perfect. Um, yeah and so right, and that's perfect, that's absolutely perfect. Um, yeah and so right, and that's like what Jesus wanted us to know. Yeah, that's really. I really love that.
Speaker 2:And when I think about that and and just knowing you as a person, having known you, um, like, I think your students are so fortunate that they get this teacher who not only cares about them knowing English, like English literature and and knowing how to communicate and how to converse, but also, like they may not all know, but no, but for me and us, listening, like, knowing where your heart is, centered, like that you get to kind of, because of your faith, encourage them in a loving way and in a way that offers grace and forgiveness. How do you think you carry your faith with you in your everyday work? Like, maybe not even, like you're not talking about it every day. You're talking about what you're doing in class, but how do you think it like, um, because it's like the lens through which you view the world. How does that make a difference?
Speaker 3:um, I think, just knowing that, like I have my faith and that there is like I know that there's a purpose for everything so I know that there's a purpose for like my students being in my classroom. So, taking that day to day of like okay, there's a reason that they're in here, like they share like a little bit of something to like acknowledge that I hear them saying that and like that.
Speaker 1:that's if that's important to them.
Speaker 3:it's important to me, like I want to ask my students about their weekends, or like how their weekends were like what's coming up on the weekend and stuff like that. So just seeing them as more than a student, yeah, in a chair, like they're a person and yeah, they want to be seen and they want to be recognized.
Speaker 2:That's so beautiful. I love that right because that's also like just if we think about our faith like that we often talk about that like god sees us, like jesus sees us and is with us and wants to know us, and what a difference that makes for a student from a teacher when you feel like that teacher wants to know you. I think back to when I had teachers and then professors in college and there are still those few that you really hold on to that you're like they made such a difference because they got who I was and then they like pulled it out of me. Um, that's awesome. I love that.
Speaker 2:Your students are so very lucky to have you um, is there anything else you can think of about teaching that?
Speaker 3:that, just like as we're talking, you know, I don't know um, it's definitely a challenging career, but it's super rewarding at the same time, so they definitely balance each other out.
Speaker 2:How do you, how do you find that balance of like? It's so hard and it's so rewarding. What, what keeps you like in that Um?
Speaker 3:really taking in the moments of like, whether they're participating or they get something that I'm trying to get across, like taking moments and and running with them, or like holding on to them for dear life, because sometimes they're few and far in between, but they happen. So yeah, that's the whole point of it.
Speaker 2:I'm sure there are other teachers listening who a needed that reminder, or b are listening and going.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, that's exactly how we get through the year yeah.
Speaker 2:I know, before we started, you and I were talking about it's december. How are you going? It's almost break. When this comes out, you will be on break, so we'll be praying that you're finding some rejuvenation in your brain.
Speaker 2:Yeah, um yeah well, olivia, thank you so much for doing this with us, and thank you for being a teacher and for seeing and believing in your students. Hey everyone, ashley here. We're so grateful to Olivia for doing our conversation with us today about Jesus as a teacher, and today is the last of our Encounter Advent podcasts, and so we just wanted to take a quick moment to say thank you for being a part of it.
Speaker 2:Heather is also time with us yeah we've been yeah, like you said, we've been so grateful for all of our guests who have given their time to share a little bit about their personal lives with us and to reflect with us about who Jesus is, and we hope that, as you have listened or you have read scripture, or you've reflected on the art or the music that we've sent each week, that you too have maybe discovered something new about who Jesus is to you, and if there is something that feels really profound and you want to share it, we would love to hear it. So feel free to email us. My email is ashley at meethopeorg. But, heather, as we finish up this series, we are now past Christmas. We're heading into the new year. For some of you listening, it might already be the new year, but happy new year. Yeah, is there anything? Having done so many of these conversations, is there anything for you that you're like reflecting on at the end?
Speaker 4:I think that for me, it really reiterated something that has already been a core value for me, but that is the importance of community. So I think each of the speakers or visitors that we had, you know, talked about how God did things in community right.
Speaker 4:Jesus being the word, well, it's communicated for others. We, you know, and light he is light. You know, we are seen by others, he is seen by in community. We are um. You know, we talked to uh the Abads and we talked about, you know, the physicalness of God and how all of our body works together and um, and that's the image that God gives of the church as a body. And um, and then we wrapped up before Olivia, we spoke with a chief, battalion, george Reed, who, or battalion chief, george Reed, who talked about, um, the community, that band of of first responders working together and living together and rushing into danger together For like a higher cause, yeah, for others right.
Speaker 4:For the sake of others, and really that's what education is too it's for the sake of others, and so I think, so much of my experience. This Advent has been a reminder of how God calls us to be contributors, calls us to be partners, calls us to be encouragers within larger community.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I really agree with that. I love it and I think for me, another thing that I've really reflected on and enjoyed being a part of this Advent is the like, the vast wideness of all of the different stories that we had on the podcast. Like all of the different, like we had someone who works in lighting and we had medical professionals and we had fire professionals and we had a teacher and we've had um.
Speaker 2:When I was I shared diversity, yeah and and then also we had music, and we had poetry and prose, some of which was not necessarily from a like faith author, but right is inspired, but the theme is the same as the topic and the, and then we've had art, and I just um, something I've spent been spending a lot of time thinking about lately and something that I I really loved about all of this is just the reminder of how, like beautifully wide and diverse and like the, the kingdom of God is like there's, like the, the, the, the's like the, it's easy to forget, like, how possible it is to see god in everything.
Speaker 2:Um, and it reminded me of this quote by this author I like. Her name is sarah bessie and the. The quote is the story of god is bigger, wider, more inclusive and welcoming, filled with more love than we could ever imagine. There's room here for everyone, and I just was so aware of that doing this encounter series this Advent because we tried our best to incorporate so many different components. So, no matter we talk about like being wired by God, right, no matter how you kind of connect or relate to God, that it gives you an opportunity to maybe experience God in a new way. So that's one of my favorite things, always, every time we do this yeah agreed.
Speaker 4:I love that. It raises the value of the fact that God speaks to us in different ways. Yeah, we're wired differently and that's okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and that's one of the things I love about doing the podcast. I say that all the time, and so we're going to continue to be doing the podcast into the new year. So if you haven't listened before and you started listening because of this series, I would invite you to keep checking us out. There's a new episode every Monday and we've got some great things coming up, so I'm looking forward to that. Heather, is there anything else you want people to know about here at Hope into the new year?
Speaker 4:I always want to encourage you to check out our website. Go to meethopeorg slash today. See what small groups are coming around. There are all kinds of things, from book studies, video studies, bible studies all different ways to connect with people. You just want to come and have dinner? We've got that too. You know that's on third Tuesdays. So there's all ways to connect and meet and grow together in community towards our common goal of, you know, being more like Jesus for the sake of others.
Speaker 2:Awesome. Well, heather, thank you for being here, and doing so many interviews. Thank you to our listeners, and we just we wish you a very happy new year.
Speaker 1:Thanks for being a part of the Hope Community as we continue our conversations about faith and hope. If you don't already, please join us for worship on Sundays or on demand. You can learn more at meethopeorg or find us on socials at Meet Hope Church.