Rewards of Teaching

At the beginning of this semester I had a neat experience with my Principles of Health class. After watching them TOTALLY stress during the 1st test I realized it was horrible to be teaching OUTSIDE my own style and philosophy. So, mid stream, (at least at the BEGINNING of the semester though) I changed everything to fit ME more...and hopefully fit THEM too.

I enjoyed the semester very much. I know that a year or 5 or 20 years down the road they will likely not remember ANY of my class. They may remember that they HAD Health. They may even remember ME. But not much else. So...I wanted them to learn how to learn and how to think and to believe in themselves....become something, if you will.

So off I went....and after reading their Final Exam Papers today I am grateful for following my heart. Their Final was to write a paper about their dreams/what they want out of life and how they are going to get there using some of the principles we learned this semester. Their papers amazed me...some more than others.

I want to highlight one. Let me begin by rewinding to a month or two ago. One of my students gave her presentation on Smoking. She had smoked for 15 years and it wasn't much more than a testimonial about the negative effects of smoking. Though it didn't have ANY of the substance I was looking for (research, etc) it was a chilling tale of the life of a smoker. In fact, she hadn't really done much preparing AT ALL because of being sick AGAIN. "My smoking makes my illnesses worse and my recovery slower. I want to quit."

Well, she has quit!!!! And I am so proud....proud of her. She came in and told me. And every day since I have asked ... and she is still cigarette free. I LOVE IT!!!

Here is a small excerpt from her final paper. I take absolutely NO credit, but am glad that the structure of the class enabled this change. Who knows...maybe ANY structure would have elicited the same response and change.

"There is one thing I will remember forever out of this class. You really did help me quit smoking more than you realize and for that I thank you!"

I can never take credit for that. But the rewards DO come...and I am glad for them. I'm glad these students learned more than HEALTH in my class....they learned some life lessons. Here are a few:

• I will never take part in bringing a child into this world unless I could provide everything for them.
• Communication within a marriage is important -- how to have a successful relationship
• Optimism goes a long way
• Better stress management --dealing with it in healthy ways
  
• Aging WILL happen, make the most of it

Those are just a few. This has been a wonderfully insightful semester. I can't wait to teach this course again next year. I am most grateful to have changed the way I teach to fit ME and MY style more...thus enabling the atmosphere to be more life lesson oriented than just mere health issues.