apples & seeds
You can count the number of seeds in an apple, but you can't count the number of apples in a seed.
Last school year I taught Concert Choir at Meridian High School...I both heard about the job and got hired as the temporary sub just two days before school started. I hadn't planned on teaching school again for a loooooooong time...my first job out of college really burnt me and I loved just staying home with 1 year old son and teaching private lessons...easy life, not much stress, I was fine with that....but then this job came up. I thought well, I guess if it's only ONE class, I think I could handle that. So when I started, I didn't really know what to do. I hadn't been hired yet, but should I start working as if I would be hired?? I didn't know...it was definitely a unique situation...but I decided to go that way. Thinking back, I would've done things differently but you know, I suppose that's normal whenever you chart new territory with little preparation.
Anyway, sometime very early in the year (I can't remember but I don't think I had been officially hired yet, maybe I had) I gave a speech on the above quote complete with a live apple demo. As a teacher of course, you don't always know how or for whom you make a difference when you plan any given lesson, but I found out yesterday that the apple thing actually made a difference for someone!
One of my students, Chelsea...well she was a hard one for me. In the beginning of the year she kept saying she wanted to drop my class...not the best first impression--ha! But then she ended up not dropping and just sat there everyday with this bored look on her face like, "Just TRY to make me like your class, cause it ain't happening." I was ALWAYS thinking about how I could make class better for her! :/ You can imagine. I finally got her to stand up straight by making her a deal that she could sit by her friends as long as she kept good posture. That made her happy and I felt accomplished...she now smiled in my class! After that she was more herself in class and she really started growing on me:) I thought everything was cool until the spring when she started complaining about the music we were singing. She kept saying I should let the class VOTE on which songs we should sing LOL! To give some perspective, the choir was made up of about 40+ girls and 6-12 guys, depending on the day. The musical levels and motivation levels were SO amazingly disparate, it really was a NIGHTMARE trying to find music for them...SO HARD! And still I couldn't please everyone...and I suppose any teacher would've had the same challenge. Turns out she wanted to sing Grease and Disney...and there was no way I could go there with festival around the corner...and besides, I don't even like Grease so I could never teach it and I hate doing Disney with choirs because it ALWAYS falls flat (I let them do one for the final concert and it was the WORST performed song on the program). Well anyway, there was no way I could please her this time so I had to just push ahead and try not to think about it...but that is not always easy, especially when you care about someone....
So yesterday I had the below conversation on Facebook. Can I say how happy I felt inside??? Or how much I was laughing??? There is nothing like knowing that you still make a difference long after you're gone. I felt happy about that all night last night and even this morning when I woke up. Thank you Chelsea, and Derek, and Taegan...you TOTALLY made my day. Love you!!
p.s. Taegan's quote is one I shared several times during the year to coincide with my #1 rule: BE KIND:)
p.p.s. Derek is the student who convinced me to take the job after 3 weeks of VERY difficult subbing:) :)
some people are not who you think they are, 'so be kind, because everyone you meet is fighting some type of battle in their life' :)
You can count the number of seeds in an apple, but you can't count the number of apples in a seed.
Anyway, sometime very early in the year (I can't remember but I don't think I had been officially hired yet, maybe I had) I gave a speech on the above quote complete with a live apple demo. As a teacher of course, you don't always know how or for whom you make a difference when you plan any given lesson, but I found out yesterday that the apple thing actually made a difference for someone!
One of my students, Chelsea...well she was a hard one for me. In the beginning of the year she kept saying she wanted to drop my class...not the best first impression--ha! But then she ended up not dropping and just sat there everyday with this bored look on her face like, "Just TRY to make me like your class, cause it ain't happening." I was ALWAYS thinking about how I could make class better for her! :/ You can imagine. I finally got her to stand up straight by making her a deal that she could sit by her friends as long as she kept good posture. That made her happy and I felt accomplished...she now smiled in my class! After that she was more herself in class and she really started growing on me:) I thought everything was cool until the spring when she started complaining about the music we were singing. She kept saying I should let the class VOTE on which songs we should sing LOL! To give some perspective, the choir was made up of about 40+ girls and 6-12 guys, depending on the day. The musical levels and motivation levels were SO amazingly disparate, it really was a NIGHTMARE trying to find music for them...SO HARD! And still I couldn't please everyone...and I suppose any teacher would've had the same challenge. Turns out she wanted to sing Grease and Disney...and there was no way I could go there with festival around the corner...and besides, I don't even like Grease so I could never teach it and I hate doing Disney with choirs because it ALWAYS falls flat (I let them do one for the final concert and it was the WORST performed song on the program). Well anyway, there was no way I could please her this time so I had to just push ahead and try not to think about it...but that is not always easy, especially when you care about someone....
So yesterday I had the below conversation on Facebook. Can I say how happy I felt inside??? Or how much I was laughing??? There is nothing like knowing that you still make a difference long after you're gone. I felt happy about that all night last night and even this morning when I woke up. Thank you Chelsea, and Derek, and Taegan...you TOTALLY made my day. Love you!!
p.s. Taegan's quote is one I shared several times during the year to coincide with my #1 rule: BE KIND:)
p.p.s. Derek is the student who convinced me to take the job after 3 weeks of VERY difficult subbing:) :)
Looooove it Annie! haha that's so awesome. And I'm so happy to see a blog post from you too . . . you're always honest and true and inspiring! xoxo
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