On Wednesday, darting down the road from my Schools Attuned workshop, I was enjoying my bike ride after a long day of new information. Gliding over the smoothly paved road between the 134 and Griffith Park, I was enjoying the subtle downgrade that made the task a little more palatable.
“Oh, what’s that,” I thought, as I saw a bird maneuvering through the air. There sure were a lot of people sitting in their cars on the side of the road, encroaching on my bike lane. “They better not open their door at the last second!” And then I noticed a black dot, entering stage left as I was going towards the stage.
A collision ensued and I thought nothing of it. I pedaled a few more rotations and then I felt a new sensation, one that I’ve never felt before. “(Expletive)!” I shouted, “What is this?” I pulled at my teal tank top at the epicenter of the feeling and kept pulling until I felt like I got it, whatever it was, out (I still don’t know if I did). The sensation of pinching, with the heat of fire and the numbness of Novocaine made me stop.
My left anterior abdomen area was tingling and I didn’t get to see what decided to impale me. My best guess would be a bee, because, you see, I believe ’twas a bee! But I will never know. Three days later, and I still have a red, itchy irritation to commemorate this act.
Going back to the, week long, workshop on how to effectively teach different types of students, I looked back to my own pupil experiences. I was a B/B- student. I made it through school doing what it was that I needed to do. I never stressed about academics and I had a pretty good balance with the other aspects of, elementary through university, life.
If I had more teachers that tried to meet me on my level and assisted me to figure out how I learn, I wonder how I would have fared as a student. Maybe I would have known how to re-calibrate in a class that I didn’t find interesting. Perhaps I could have learned how to fortify my strengths, as opposed to highlighting my shortcomings. Who knows? From what I learned this week, I will do my best to implement some new strategies, in order to assist young learners in their education.
Evelyn Update: This whole week, while I’ve been in class, Evelyn has been living the life! Continuing her dance classes, meeting up with friends and family, “girl talk”, receiving a Thai massage and flaunting her new up do. I won’t attempt to share what experiences she had, but she’s having a good time and radiating her radiance, which very rarely retreats.
Humble Mumble 