Life's Daily Lessons

Susan Boyle & Spin Class

I bet you are wondering what they have in common. Well they actually have nothing in common except for the lessons I learned today. For those of you living under a rock (and that was me until today) Susan Boyle was on America's Got Talent. If you haven't heard her amazing voice yet, please stop reading this and go to youtube.com or google her name. Instantly you'll find a clip of her singing. I, like many people, were skeptic of her. She was awkward and goofy. I even felt sorry for her because you can hear the crowd laughing at her. Once she began singing, she put everyone in their place. It was awesome. It serves as a constant reminder to us all that we should not be so quick to judge others at first glance.

Now there's my spin class story. As I had promised myself, I committed to spin 3days a week. Today (Sunday) was my 3rd class. I was so proud of myself for dragging (I'm still in the dragging phase, because as much as I've tried to convince the hubby or others to attend, they've all passed!) to the class. It would serve as a great motivation if I had a partner but for now I'm self- motivating :). Let me preface my story with this quick one. I love my class during the week. The regulars all know each other and the instructor is awesome. They all know my name and there's one Indian guy who will randomly yell "YOU CAN DO IT SUSAAANNN!!!" I love it. So that's the other part of my motivation--if I'm not there, it's noted by someone!
So today I walk in and there's a new instructor. Taking the lesson I remembered a few hours earlier about Susan Boyle I didn't judge him because he didn't greet me or even when he ripped the clock off the wall and said, "This class is usually 45 minutes but today we may go an hour or over." He started out kicking our butts and when a girl next to me fixed her ponytail he let her know that "it wasn't time for fixing pony tails or resting" and "This is not a Sunday stroll, get movin!" I was moving alright. After 25 minutes of this, I walked out. I acutally learned several lessons here: not to take spin class on Sundays or anyday with Eric...but MOST importantly, I learned that I often do this with my students. As teachers we tend to get caught up in what a child cannot do rather than focus on what they can do and praise it. They need to know that the effort they are giving may be all they have and it should be good enough for now. Tomorrow's another day. Progress will be made. In the classroom, it cannot be made without the teacher who fails to recognize something positive in ALL students. If you are always expecting certain results and they fall short, the student will eventually give up because they will be tired of constantly trying to please you and earn your praise. They will feel like it's a battle they'll never win. So the other lesson for today is find something positive and praise them for it. It will make for happy students and teachers.