A Teacher with a Different Heart
Sometimes the simplest ideas prove to be the best ones. Jessup graduate student Shelby Le Marquand knows this firsthand. Inspired by a literature class she took as an undergraduate, Le Marquand elicited an idea when her professor read a story to the class about her dog. “I thought, I’m obsessed about my dog, maybe I should write a story too,” the self-published author said. “We have such unique relationships with our dogs despite the fact we have no conversations. I’ve always thought that God created dogs so humans can understand that love is an action. Dogs demonstrate their love for us in a variety of ways, and that inspired me.”
Her ideas led her to scribble down some notes, a beloved piece of paper she retained for posterity. Once her thoughts were in order, within about 10 minutes, she wrote a story that is now a children’s book known as “Love Like Olive.”
The heartwarming story shares the adventures of Olive, a dog who can’t wait to tell her forever family how much she loves them. But how will she help her family to understand how she feels when all they hear is barking? Olive embarks on adventures to let her heart shine through her actions while discovering the attributes of love.
“Just a few months before I wrote the book, I applied to Jessup’s School of Education’s Master in Teaching program (MAT). I discovered the program was grounded in the attributes of the Fruit of the Spirit and wrote about it in my application essay. Some of those concepts like love, joy, patience, kindness, goodness and self-control were fresh in my mind when it came time to write the book,” she said. Filled with nuggets of faith-based concepts, the book has been well received. Her former elementary school purchased it for their students as well as the Buckeye Union School District in El Dorado Hills, California. Le Marquand also hosts book signing events to fundraise for various nonprofits that promote literacy or animal rescues.
Le Marquand describes attending Jessup’s MAT program as “a breath of fresh air” because she doesn’t have to explain or defend her faith. As the youngest member of her cohort, she enjoys absorbing course content coupled with the ability to gain practical skills all within a mentoring environment. Le Marquand is the recipient of the Golden State Teachers Grant and plans to teach middle to high school English when she earns her degree.
“There’s no place I’d rather be to prepare to become a teacher,” she said. “It’s been helpful to learn teaching strategies and pedagogies through the lens of faith. I’m learning to have meaningful conversations about faith which is so helpful since I’m planning to teach in a public school setting which impacts the way I would have such discussions.”
In a culture with a lot of negativity around teaching, Le Marquand plans to approach the profession with a different posture, one that is operating from the heart. “During this process, I’ve realized that I needed to turn my skills into ways to serve the Lord. I see a tremendous need to shine God’s light in our public schools and look forward to making a difference wherever I can.”
For more information about Le Marquand, visit lovelikeolive.com.
