FREEDOM!!!

At 9:33 AM I walked out the door of the Biblical Learning Center at PBU and did my best William Wallace impression FREEEEEEDOOOOOMM! After what has been a very long and by the end wearisome semester, I am finally free... for three and a half weeks that is. In the rush to finish school as fast as possible, I took 20 credits this semester, I hope to never do that again.
Now I love to read, but this semester ended up being a bit ridiculous. My required reading included Genesis - Esther, a 750 page Human Development text, Pilgrim's Progress, The Wise Woman, The Little Princess, The Man Who Was Thursday, War in Heaven, Out of Silent Planet, The Great Divorce, Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Till We Have Faces, The Four Quartets, and various other text book reading. IT was exhausting, it was frustrating, and many days I felt like I actually learn more when I am not in school.
Among the frustrations there were many bright spots and breaths of fresh air. In February I had the opportunity to spend two days in an elementary school teaching adapted physical education. I must admit I had some reservations to go in an work with kids with various disabilities, unsure of my own abilities to relate with the students and relate PE and sports to them. This anxiety quickly ended as the kids came in and I found that it was just the same as working with kids who don't have disabilities. Love them and share your love of sports and activities with them. My favorite class ended up being a class of five boys who were all autistic. It was amazing to see the difference between the Teacher I was working with, who had a love for these kids, and their regular teachers, who viewed it only as a job. I got to play with them, chase them, teach them to use words to express themselves, engage one boy who always keeps to himself in a group game (he talked in class for the first time ever the following week) it was all so awesome to see kids grow and make progress, not just in their abilities to play sports or participate in PE activities, but to learn about relationships, communication, and motor skills that will help them in their daily life.
Another teaching opportunity was through something called Kid's Sport. This is a program my school runs that serves the double purpose of providing PE for home school kids and providing us with opportunities to grow as teachers. I had a class of about 18 students from age 13-17, can be a tough group. The 6 year old group is tough because they are all over the place, my group is tough because they are worried what others will think about them, or question why they should do an activity, or try to figure out what they can get away with. Most of this is solved by my physical size, booming gym voice, and the beard helps too. It ended up being a great time to teach and participate and coach these kids. Many of them do not have a regular PE teacher and have poor motor skills, many simply lacked the confidence in their abilities and just need someone to be their fan. One example was a day when we were playing flag football. Everyone had to rotate through playing QB and I kept encouraging one girl to take her turn (I saw here throw in the practice drills and she was amazing tight spiral and all) she kept saying no I can't I'm not good at it. I told her she was and this went on for most of the class. Finally everyone else on the team had been QB and she was the only one who was allowed to be QB under the rules we had. One last word of encouragement and she ends up throwing the game winning TD as the class period ended.. AWESOME!! (and a big high-five) This is what I love about PE encouraging kids, teaching life skills such as teamwork, sportsmanship, relationships, health and wellness, things that can transfer into everyday life regardless of your career or age. I love giving word of encouragement, the high-five, and see kids smile and see that they really can do these things and have their sense of confidence and self worth grow. No offense to other school subjects but it is not often that a teacher says "Awesome! that was great how you filled in that scan tron sheet! High-five!"
I am excited now for a great summer, time to relax, read some books I have been wanting to read for a long time, get back in the gym, and gear up for two semester worth of Greek this summer. I am really looking forward to OBX and our little Ocean City trip next weekend. Well gotta go, check for my next post, probably about 6 months from now as the trend has been going.
Brian