Cherish Every Moment

Week 2 has come and gone, and the students and myself have survived our first week of rotations. This was first time that we really had a routine going. The first week of school we were all getting our feet wet and getting to know one another. This second week we hit the ground running and I began teaching. 

My feeling was that it was a very successful first week. There was one little hiccup in the middle. I was teaching a lesson on place value relationships, and I had created a presentation to go with it. In my mind, the presentation was great and made total sense. That first group showed up, and I started going through it thinking it was great. Problem was all of the students had the deer in headlights looks on their faces. I knew what I was talking about, but they had no idea. I had to quickly adjust on the fly, and basically scratch everything that I had in the presentation. I just started talking and writing my own thoughts down in the simplest way for them to understand, and it surprisingly worked. It's just funny how you find all these ways to present information and you think it's going to work, but then it just bombs. It was great learning experience though, and I'm glad I caught the problem before I spent the whole day doing the same exact thing and have no one learn anything. 

We had curriculum night this week too. I am not the most comfortable speaking in front of adults, but give me a room full of children and I can ramble all day. So I was extremely nervous going into the night. It ended up not being that bad, though they could probably tell I was nervous which may have given them sympathy towards me. I did have multiple parents come up afterwards and tell how much their kids enjoyed being in my class. It was a cool feeling to have these parents tell me their kids liked me because everybody wants to be liked. Now, I know not everyone is going to love me...

That day was a busy day, and after curriculum night I went out to eat with the Whitney's. It was just great way to take our mind off of school, and really kind of get to know each other better. I'm still the newbie learning the ropes, and it was fun to just get to hang out with them outside of school. 

My biggest takeaway from the week, though, is to cherish every moment and take advantage of every opportunity. You never know when it's all going to be gone, and you would hate to look back on things and have regrets. It's so important to make sure that the people in your life know that you care about them and love them. Make sure you cherish everyone in your life because they are there for a reason. I'm blessed to have a wonderful family, good friends, and 100's of students that I have been able to work with. Love and cherish each and everyday you get on this Earth. 

R.I.P Colonel