Today was one of those days.
They happen now and then, and I know, it’s best to just lay them down and move on. Tonight, though, while driving home from work, I found myself thinking about efficacy and analyzing my day rather than letting it go.
Sometimes it amazes me that after eleven years of teaching I can still have bad lessons, but I can and do. Sometimes I even have complete flops, and I think part of the reason why I do is that I either don’t make the goals and objectives of my lessons definite enough, or I don’t adequately consider the perspectives of my students, the places and mindsets from which they are participating in and approaching my lessons.
I know that simpler is generally better, but I like to try new things, and I always try to push what I feel are the boundaries of students’ abilities so that they face challenges that are difficult but achievable. In doing so, I don’t always foresee the ways lessons actually play out. I generally miss or overlook one or two possible outcomes. And when assessing students’ abilities, I sometimes miss the mark entirely.
For the students, I feel that lessons like today’s are unfortunate, but for me, these off days and mishaps can be very valuable in at least two ways. For one, they serve as a reminder to set clearer goals and to consider my students’ levels more carefully. For another, they help me problem solve, plan, and refine my lessons until they become good.
I can’t always control the way things work out, but I can control the way I respond to results that I’m not happy with, and I can do my best to learn from them so that I am better the next time around.
As for exercise:
I started the day with an early morning walk and some hand weight exercises, and I finished the day with a two mile run after dinner. In between, I did a fair amount of moving around at work.
Height174 cm | Weight77 kg | Body Fat% | |||
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