Cheerleaders, Lots to Learn, Pass It On.....

I have a new job I started in June. It's just a part-time job near where I go to school. I have not worked in an office since 1991. Needless to say, so much has changed in technology since then. I'm filling in for the office manager who is on maternity leave so I have been working a litle more hours than usual; only about 20 hours a week. The office manager will return the end of August which will be great because I can go back to only working 10 to 12 hours a week! My hours are Mon, Tues, Thurs. & Fri. from 9-2, with Wednesday's off. I will be returning to school in September, where I will be taking about 8-12 credit hours. Just another year and a half and I will graduate with an English degree! Yahoo, a life-long dream I've had to finish school, something I started two decades ago. I will be the first one in my family to finish with a college degree. This will be a huge accomplishment for me and I'm really excited about it.

But I couldn't do it without the support of my family and friends around me....my "Cheerleaders!"

Speaking of Cheerleaders.... I got a call from a gal I met at PSU, last term. Her name is Gail. We both hit it off the first day we met outside of our English Lit. She has two daughters that are grown, and she is a junior in college like me. We are each others' "Cheerleaders." She called me today while I was just finishing up working to just say that she just "had to call someone and tell them what happened today in her class." This was after she had called me earlier that morning to tell me how intimidated and over her head she felt in taking this upper level class. She went onto say that everyone in class is already a teacher or a theology professor, with degrees. She went onto tell me how hard the class was but that she was learning alot. I listened to her, and smiling, recalled a time when I took an upper level class like that at Concordia, and I was the only undergraduate student in the whole entire class!Everyone else was light years ahead of me, i.e, they were all going for their Masters' degrees now and/or "boning" up in a specific area of teaching! Talk about feeling intimidated. I let Gail know that I knew exactly how she felt. We commisirated some more and then she was off to her intimidating class and back to work for me......

Then later this afternoon, my cell phone rang and it was Gail again and this time she sounded very excited and told me that "she just had to call me and let me know what happened in her class today." I loved that she felt free to call me and tell me about her accomplishments, everyone needs a "cheerleader" in their life! I'm Gails "cheerleader" and she's mine as well...... :) I have spent a number of year's (and still am) my kids' "#1 Cheerleaders too!

Gail called to tell me that everyone was given the same assignment to do in her class, but no one had done it correctly, except for her! Wow!!! She had gotten an "A" on the assignment! I told her congratulations and told her I knew that she could do it! What a confidence booster this was for her!

I know what that feels like. After taking a few upper level courses (that I happened to get an "A" in), I felt like it really boosted my confidence in myself too.

I remember how interesting it was too, to see the different attitudes of the teachers in the class that I attended. Some were very eager to learn and some were in there because they "had" to be. And then there were some who were incredibly creative and it was fun to see how they were integrating their new knowledge they were learning in the class and were very eager to share what they were going to do in their classrooms with their students. It was amazing. And then there were some who barely showed up for class and felt really "put out" or felt that they "knew this stuff already"......hmmm......and of course when it came time for them to give their respective presentations to us (we all had to give a presentation on what we had learned from the text we were reading), I can't recall anything that these one's who had been "put-out" even said!!! I only remember the creative teachers and what they shared and taught me in their presentations!

It just goes to show that just because you may have a degree in something.....you still have lots to learn!!!

Another favorite poem:

What Have I Learned

What have I learned but

the proper use for several tools?

The moments

between hard pleasant tasks

To sit silent, drink wine,

and think my own kind

of dry crusty thoughts.

-the first Calochortus flowers

and in all the land,

it's spring.

I point them out;

the yellow petals, the golden hairs,

to Gen.

Seeing in silence

never the same twice,

but when you get it right

you pass it on.

-Gary Snyer (Teaching with Fire-Poetry that sustains the courage to teach, by Sam M. Intrator & Megan Scribner, editors)