it's been a good teaching week. there's days when i feel really discouraged b/c i don't know how to teach kids who are so young and who don't have a clue what i'm saying to them. it makes discipline nearly impossible. i put them in the corner but i can't tell them why, so they don't learn. i stop the song and say "sorry, no more dancing b/c you're screwing around" and they just look at me with tilted heads and think, "hmmm, i guess we're stopping the song early. oh well." and sometimes, it's hard to see progression b/c i'm not sure what i'm teaching them--english or music. should i be focusing on english words? pounding concepts into their minds? or should we just have fun and sing and dance and learn how to play a triangle with "baa baa black sheep" and beat the drum with "one little drummer" and fly like birds with "two little black birds" and just let the music and the melodies and the beats become part of their childhood? i tend to lean towards the latter. and when i do, like this week, i--we all-- have a really good time. i like the novelty of what i'm doing--i get to pave my own path and have a thing that is totally mine. i feel really lucky to be here sometimes.
last night yoga kicked my butt. on my run with hannah today over lunch, i honestly felt like i had been hit by a truck. but i have some major progression to report after my class last night:
1. when we were sitting stretching our legs, i could get my entire face to touch my knee and could wrap both my hands around my foot.
2. i put both my legs over my head and wrapped my knees aroung my ears without shaking like a human earthquake for a very VERY long 4 seconds...hana, tul, set, net....(one, two, three four--i've really gotten to know the first 4 numbers in korean b/c we always count to 4 when we hold our pretzel-shaped stretches. she takes FOREVER in b/t each number. "hana"...alright! no problem! i can do this! "tul"...ok, feeling good. almost half way there..."set"...wow, she's really taking a long between these numbers... "net"...PLEASE!!! LET ME UNRAVEL MYSELF!!!! I AM IN SO MUCH PAIN!!!)
3. in the beginning we sit indian style for about 15 minutes and work on breathing techniques. you'd be surprised how hard it is to sit indian style with a straight back and not supporting yourself with anything else for that long. but last night as the girl next to me struggled and looked incredibly uncomfortable (obviously a newby...i'm so beyond that...), i closed my eyes, worked on my breathing, and actually felt relaxed. amelia (the korean instructor the size of my left leg) only had to come over and straighten my back once.
3. in the beginning we sit indian style for about 15 minutes and work on breathing techniques. you'd be surprised how hard it is to sit indian style with a straight back and not supporting yourself with anything else for that long. but last night as the girl next to me struggled and looked incredibly uncomfortable (obviously a newby...i'm so beyond that...), i closed my eyes, worked on my breathing, and actually felt relaxed. amelia (the korean instructor the size of my left leg) only had to come over and straighten my back once.
8 comments:
Carolyn Sue, I am commenting on your blog.. not out of spite for that little email you sent us (of course not), but rather to tell you that I think its gross that you can touch your face to your knee.
Ewww...
andrew! so good to see your name on here!!! oh you just wait. by the time i see you next, i will be doing much grosser things than that with my body. i mean in terms of stretching and yoga type stuff. nothing else.
Oh dear me, Carolyn- I had no idea how much it pained you that we don't comment- it truly is not intentional. (can you tell I'm reading a book from old England right now?)
Anyway, the reasons that I my not comment are 1)I can't think of anything witty to say, thus I would have to say something like "wow, Carolyn, you're getting flexible" or point out your hilarious misspellings, which I will do right now.
Did you know that it is SURGE of energy, not search? (see two posts ago) And also from an email sent just to me, you spelled gorilla, guerilla. That one still makes me giggle.:)
I enjoy your misspellings almost as much as your posts.
Love you.
Stretchy Progress Hooray!!!!! this is good news!! i thought of you last night while i was in *my* yoga class. and oh, we had the most beautiful honey-golden-rose sunset that lasted for nearly two-thirds of the class. made the stretching-wrapping-touching-etc. much easier (mentally, anyway).
i'm glad you're pursuing the mean awful yoga. it is kicking my ass too. our asses will be healthier for it, though!!!
love you.
[hi carolyn's siblings!!]
"wow, carolyn you are funny."
"wow, carolyn you are getting flexible."
"wow, carolyn i just read your blog. see, i posted so it proves it."
You know I would only use sarcasm on your blog if I loved you :)
carolyn sue,
you have inspired me. Not now. Chicago is too busy, but when I move to my new home somewhere, I am starting yoga.
Way to be flexible. All I hope for you experience with yoga as it gets closer to Christmas is that you get to listen to techno Christmas carols. (like our water aerobics music.)
wow loook at me look at me! yippeee!!! so many comments! i feel so loved. :)
tricia--yes, i'm an awefull speler. (i did those on purpose.)
kate--oooo, what a great yoga class! i always do yoga at night so there's no potential for sunsets.
dena--i know you love me. :) and you know i love sarcasm.
katy--ahhh, water aerobics. that was hillarious. that lady was so intense.
(see everyone, i'm doing my part too. commenting on your comments...)
The way you feel about communicating with your non-English speaking students is how I feel when I communicate with Chance. When I manually drag him inside after he has just spent the past few minutes tearing around my backyard in a frenzy is not becuase I don't want him to run and enjoy the beautiful outdoors and get some of the energy out. It's because I just spent 2 hours walking him and I am frozen to the core and have to pee and just want him to obey me when I say "Chance come!" But he doesn't understand that and gives me these big sad puppy dog eyes (I now fully understand that phrase like I never could before I owned a dog) with a look that says "I can clearly sense that you are angry at me and I just wish I could understand why so that I could be sure to never do it again, becuase I hate it when you are made at me and I'm a good dog whose main goal in life is to please you. Please stop being mad at me. Rub my belly. Please?" And then I feel like a terrible person and rub his belly for 15 minutes to try to make up for it. But the whole point is that he doesn't really learn the lesson becuase I can't tell him what I'm mad about so that process repeats the next time we go for a walk.
PS - That was a really long comment. I think I should win the prize for longest comment.
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