Breathing a Sigh of Relief

Today was a very big day in the world of Glen. I was being observed. For those of you not in Education, it means that a professor from Nipissing came down to my school, watched me teach a lesson and graded me on it.

This is really important since our success in the program directly relates to the observations made. If we do not pass the observation, we do not pass the program. Also, and more importantly, our teaching reports are things that need to be submitted to potential employers for them to judge us on. Stressful eh?

Another awesome fact about it? This would be my first time teaching this particular class. I had been teaching the Grade 11's but due to my advisers schedule I had to teach the Grade 12 class. It worked out nicely in the sense that they had just had a test yesterday and were ready to start something new and move on. But I was now nervous for two reason.

Ohh and one more thing. It was on Two-Variable Correlation....exactly.

I spent a long time getting stressed out about this very big day. I spent more time making sure that my teaching binder was in order than I care to divulge. I planned my lesson with NASA like precision and I thought of ways to make it as engaging as possible to a group of 17-18 year olds.

The stars must have been aligned just perfectly today. Somehow, someway, I was on. I have taught, presented, or performed fairly extensively in recent years and there are very rare occasions when things click perfectly. Today was one of those days for me. I don't know what, I don't know how, but they just did. I was coming up with examples that I never even considered, I was making jokes that made people other than me laugh (for a change), and most importantly the students were engaged for the time that I was there.

I don't mean to sound too braggy, like I know that I do, but I am still riding the high from that lesson. It is days like today that remind me why I want to do this with the rest of my life. It was fun, it was exciting and I loved it. I don't expect every day to be just like this, but days like today make being sworn at well worth it.

I really don't want to take too much credit as the majority of it goes to the excellent group of Grade 12s that I had. They were really involved with the lesson, they were constantly making relevant jokes and they kept me relaxed through the entire stressful ordeal. I really don't know how I can possibly thank them for the huge favour that they did for me today.

If any of my NipFriends are out there reading this, I hope that your evaluation went/goes well. I know that you are nervous about it, I know that you are tired of lesson planning, I know that the kids are stressing you out, but most of all, I know that you are doing a great job.

Until next time,

G