Oh! The Time....

 Where does the time go? It seems like I am lacking in the category of time these days.   And what is time? Other than your most precious commodity.   Donating it to the cause of educating the next generation sometimes seems like an endless void.  

Then again,  what else would I do with this time I have left?  Might as well see how much of it I can use to help the future...  And others.

Today was the last day of the Earthquake Lab for my Earth and Space class.  

 And I'm happy it is finally over.

It took an extra day for the kids to finish their structures.   And there was plenty of complaining!   

"Mr. Allen!  The Tape won't hold."  "Mr. Allen,  We need hot glue!"  "Mr. Allen....  This is stupid!" 

I told them I knew it was stupid,  and that is why I selected this lab for this class.   Something...."Even they should be able to handle...."   

But alas,  there were several groups who did not finish.    And they will soon be complaining that it was unfair that they did not pass when everyone else who actually tried...did!  

Focusing on the failures is easy enough,  however,  there were plenty of groups who succeeded.   Many of them were the motley crew of misfits that usually lack the motivation to do anything that has to do with learning.    I was even impressed that some of them designed unique structures that actually passed the earthquake tests!  ( I knew they are smarter than they pretend to be...)

Still,  I think I learned the most from this lab.   Basically,  what NOT to do next time I assign it.   I was talking with another teacher who told me a few things from the time she taught it and we came up with several new ideas to implement if we ever do this again.  Perhaps new material next time as well. 

In the end,  I was mostly pleased with the results.   No one who submitted a tower, failed.  Even the most flimsy and crooked structures managed to hold the weights and survive the earthquake.  Some of them even maxed out the weights to see who could hold the most.   ( Only one tower managed to pull that off.)  There might be a price to pay when it comes to "materials and cost,"  but the structures held firm.   And that was worth noting.  And satisfying!

I wanted to post this event tonight, because I don't know if I will have time over the next coming days.  I have a Robotics Event to judge  on Saturday and a couple of Basketball games to attend tomorrow.  And then there is the grading that is piling up.   The freshmen have a bunch of assignments that are all due on Friday.  With Saturday being mostly spoken for,  I will find myself burning the midnight oil on Sunday...  The only day to do laundry, plan for next weeks lessons, and hopefully catch up on some sleep.   I would LOVE to squeeze in a long run sometime this weekend as well,  but time is now in such high demand,  I don't know if I will be able to pull it off.   We shall see. 

And that is the real heart of the issue, isn't it.   Young people have so much time that they seem to spend it like water.   But as we adults get older,  we suddenly realize we are crossing "a desert" and need to use our time wisely. 

 Ever second seems precious.  

There were times when I would spend 30-40 hours on a single origami model, and then give it away.  Time was such a surplus!   Now,  if I want to tackle a model that is even slightly more complicated than average,  I have to plan an entire day for it.   And it ends up being less than I would have hoped.  

But isn't that what makes life so adventurous?  Not knowing what tomorrow brings and living each day as if it were your last.  I would say that teaching has become the adventure I have been looking for after  many years of "safety."  I still get anxiety before each class, but now I find myself willing to embrace the challenge a little bit more each day.  Is that normal?  

Perhaps.    

If I manage to somehow stay in this gig for more than one year...  or 10!   I will hopefully have more data to go on and update my thoughts then....   As for now,  I will continue to ask for God's guidance and blessing.    And thank him each and every day that he chose me to come here and do this.  That includes the bad days as well as the good days.   For even the bad days are precious learning moments that I can use to help myself and maybe everyone else in the future.  And every second counts!