About Wendy Byard
We have to work at love -- commit and plan for it!
Wendy is a wife, mother of three daughters, college English teacher, former high school English and history teacher, Presbyterian deacon, and author of Teach and Reach For Classroom Miracles! Lessons on Teaching With Love. She also directs a church youth group.
Why Wendy Wrote Her Book
Every day that Wendy Byard enters her classroom and sees her students' faces, she feels blessed. "I have the awesome opportunity to love my students and help create miracles in their lives," Byard said.
As a professor at Mott College in Flint and Lapeer, MI, and former North Branch, MI high school teacher, Byard has taught hundreds of students about composition, history, and literature. However, as she continued to teach, Byard said one lesson became clearer and clearer, a truth standing above the rest. This truth is what led to Byard's new book Teach and Reach For Classroom Miracles! Lessons on Teaching With Love.
"It seems God has been trying to teach me a great lesson. It wasn't enough that I was a knowledgeable or skilled teacher. It wasn't enough that I worked hard. It wasn't even enough that I cared for my students. No, I began to understand that God wanted much more from me -- what he wants from all teachers. He wanted me to love my students and show it."
Life Experiences Led to a Belief in Miracles
Byard, a graduate of Michigan State University, has had many experiences which lead to this belief. In addition to being a college professor, Byard is a wife of sixteen years, mother of three daughters, ongoing Big Sister in the United Way Program (over ten years), and an elected, ordained Presbyterian deacon. She has served in many positions at her church, including chairperson of the deacons, but most currently Byard is overseeing a new youth group. Through these many experiences, she says she has witnessed "everyday miracles" due to love.
"When you love your students, when you do everything in your power to show them that you do love them, day in and day out, in all your thoughts, words, and actions, it is truly amazing the transformations you witness. Just recently, I have been praying for a student and working hard to make him feel valued and respected in my class. Already, I am seeing God's love at work in him."
Other Experiences On Life's Journey
In her undergrad years at MSU, Byard, who earned a journalism degree, wrote for the nationally renown college newspaper The State News ('85-'86) and covered Lansing politics for a news service. At the University of London, Byard studied journalism and reported to newspapers back home. After graduating MSU and before her career in education, Byard was an account executive for two different advertising agencies: Group 243 in Ann Arbor and Grey Advertising in Chicago.
In her spare time, Byard enjoys attending her daughters' sports events, running, swimming in the family pool, playing with her Boston Terrier Joey, and boating with family and great friends on Lake Fenton, MI, where she grew up and graduated from in 1982.