151103 Thank you for a new learning experience

So peaceful and quiet at the end of the day.

18 degrees, was it? It was such a beautiful fall day today. I wanted to go for a bike ride during the day but I missed my chance. I told myself that I'll go for a ride after work... but my plan totally failed. I completely forgot about the daylight savings...! We're back to our normal time and because of that, the sun sets an hour early. Great... By the time I was driving back home was pretty much pitch dark.

Through my art class, I'm learning things that I didn't really know about teaching before. I guess there are two main things I learned today. One is to be fair to everyone. It seems so easy and straight forward, and I think I am pretty fair to my students. However, there are certain decisions I make that I don't really think about the results and that leads to unfairness. Stupidly, it doesn't cross my mind at the time I make the decision. It only comes to my realization, only at the end, when I see how the students react. For example, I make samples for each class to demonstrate what I'm explaining. One of the students asked me if he can have the sample that I made. At first, I said I'll think about it. I had forgotten about it, and I thought he would also have forgotten about it too. However, he kept on asking me if he can have it, and I kept telling him the same answer. When the class time was over and the kids were getting ready to go home, he asked me again if he can have the sample. I didn't really give much thought and I was busy wrapping up the class, I just said yes to him. Plus, no one else had asked me if they can have it either so I guess I didn't really think that others might want it too. Soon after, a girl came to me and asked me if she can have the other sample I made. I think that's when I realized that I had done something wrong. I shouldn't have given anyone anything in the first place. If I wanted to give something, then I should have done it equally to everyone else. Unless, they deserve something special that they might've achieved.

Second, I need to be more stern with the students, especially with the rowdy ones. I thought I was always pretty tough, though not necessarily a bad cop. But maybe even that was too gentle. You just gotta be mean sometimes. I want to be loving but also be able to discipline well when needed. It's hard to find a balance.

Also, I experienced the after work rush hour traffic. I've had rush hour traffics before, but it was never on my way home from work. It was frustrating indeed, especially since it was so dark out and I couldn't enjoy the scenery. It takes me about 20 minutes to get to the school, but it takes 40 minutes to get home. Now I know how this feels...