In the last 2 days I have "had to" be present at things I was not too sure were going to be worth the time (and or money). .... But having reached the ripe old age of 41 and having been in these situations before, I always hold a glimmer of hope that I'll either learn something or be pleasantly surprised or something good will come of it (since this always seems to happen). Well. It happened twice in the last 2 days.
On Tuesday, our 11th graders were not testing for TAKS, so we had a motivational speaker come to the gym to try to hold their attention for a good part of 90 minutes. If you've ever been around high schoolers, you know that's quite a challenge. We've had "motivational" speakers in the past, and I've been disappointed in the kids' behavior and had to search hard myself for the motivation in the speech. Not so this time. Joseph Jennings came and had their undivided attention for as long as he chose to speak. He's a former gang member, and now he travels the country talking to kids. He was articulate, real, honest, and carried a lot of good messages for the kids. He discussed what it meant to be a "man" or a "woman". He talked about respect. He talked about choices. LOVED. HIM.
And tonight we had a substitute for tap dancing. Part of me wanted to sneak out, but then the more mature part of me kicked that part in the butt and stayed for class. What fun. We laughed; we learned; we swiveled our hips to do double pull backs. A nice way to end a great day.
On a side note. A student said to me today, "you should write a blog". Hmmmm. I said something noncommittal. Actually, I've told nobody that I blog. Not even my husband (though I've hinted at it). I guess when I started, I figured it wasn't worth mentioning because I felt like a poser. Now, after a year and change, part of me feels like if I DID tell someone, and they knew me, and I knew they were reading, I'd start self-editing and not be "true". Who knows.
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