Experience, Experience, Experience!

The above pictures represent some of my teaching experience. I have been blessed to have been able to teach over the last three years some computer classes, as well as having several years of coaching experience. In my opinion, there is no substitute for the knowledge gained through experience. Benjamin Disraeli once wrote:

Experience is the child of Thought, and Thought is the child of Action. We cannot learn men from books.

In the classes we're taking, we learn a plethora of information regarding pedagogy, teaching methods, lesson planning, class room management, the use of technology, and many other valuable tools, however, due to the dynamic nature of human beings, teenagers in particular, every classroom situation is unique. Through experience we learn how best to deal with certain students, problems with how to teach different content and genres, and how to develop intellectually and socially as teachers.

And finally, I think commending ourselves is of up-most importance. We all make mistakes in life and should express humility in our shortcomings and be humble with our successes, but in the end we need to reconcile with ourselves the mistakes we made and move forward in life. Below is a poem I found in the dusk-cocooned vault of my attic. One in which I wrote during a dark period in my life... one in which help bring me back to the light. Although amateur in form and lacking in mechanics, the poem has a personal power to me and is the epitome of the power of writing, because it helped change my own life. As a teacher, one of my goals is to help pass on my passion for reading and writing and to illustrate the tremendous power of literature, both globally and personally.

To Whom Do I Say Thanks…

I would like to thank spirituality,

You’ve been a dear friend, always there for me.

I would like to thank the four-leaf clover, and the blade of grass

that bowed out of the way, just so I could see it.

And my family, the core of life, the

Secret sauce put in the finest recipes-their

love is my poetry.

I would like to devote to them a

Very special ‘thank you’ cup – full and blessed.

I would like to thank Father Time, and the makers

Of pop rocks and tootsie rolls, oh, and the kid that didn’t hit me with the

Iceball in third grade, I’d especially

like to thank him.

But beyond the norm, beyond the gratitude's

Of the loves of life, the air, the sea,

The scent of rain and roses, and the Gods,

There are others.

Thank you to the evil that

dwell in the every day human

the child full of painful tones

of mockery: harelips, freaks and outcasts.

I owe you so much of my pain, but as I

Think about it, isn’t the pain our greatest source of our strength, for this I say thanks.

The man who spits his whiskey drowned wit

And flames you with his intoxication.

You taught me something

In your rambling, and I thank you.

Thank you Mr. Darkness, for

Dancing with me- for getting me

Drunk and laughing at me when I fell – only

To let my legs grow stronger

When I could stand up again.

My regrets are all here, in my head

And I hope they don’t leave me

They’re the only thing that

Makes me human anymore.

You see, Life, I stand

To your challenge, and

Whether I take the victory lap, or

Behead myself in defeat, I will

Always know I played the game,

And won in my own right.

For this, I thank myself.

---- Patrick Morrow