And lest those of you in public schools think this doesn't apply to you, realize that God's truths are universal. God's truths should be such a part of us that we can't help but speak them in our daily conversations and in our lessons.

Let His truths permeate your conversations and lessons.(Check out the post ' How to Counsel a Student' for more insight.) Be approachable and show them that you're there to help them grow. We need to take the time to counsel them - whether it's about their behavior in our class or an interpersonal dispute or a tough situation they're facing. But if this is all we ever do, we're not going to make much of an impact on our students. I know that in a busy day, it's much easier to just hand out a detention and be done with it. Counsel students don't just hand out punishments.Teach them what it looks like, and put forth the effort to help them develop it.

Model integrity in your own life and expect it of your students. Our society today has little value for integrity, yet we all respect it when we see it. If we're pushovers or wishy-washy, we are a poor example of Christ's authority and leadership. On the contrary, we must have high expectations. Caring more about our students than our policies in no case means we should start letting everything go. Have high expectations and hold students to them.In these cases, we must pray for wisdom and remember that the growth and maturity of our students is our main goal. Sometimes what's best for a student doesn't line up perfectly with our plan. As we talk about in Take Heart and Teach, sometimes a student needs some mercy. Too often we get so entrenched in our policies that we miss the point - that we're here to help our students grow. Care more about our students than our policies.But we can be kind and firm at the same time.

This doesn't mean that we are a pushover. We must be kind and understanding of our students' struggles. When we're mean or grumpy, we turn students off and are a poor model of the Savior we serve. We discuss how in my post ' How to Show Real Love to the Kids (Even When They're Not Acting Lovable).' And it's not enough to just say we love them. God is love, and if we want to show Him to our students, we must also love them - all of them.

Love learning 2014