Round One Over!

Here's to having my first quarter of teaching under my belt.

"You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't how hard you hit; it's about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep moving forward."
-Rocky Balboa

The reason I put this in here is because my first quarter of teaching reminded me of a boxing match. Coming into this gig, I didn't really know what I was up against. I knew it was going to be tough, but how tough and what it entailed was beyond me. So I took a deep breath, stepped into the ring, and sized up my opponent. He threw a lot of heavy punches right off the bat. I took more than a few, dodged some, and even blocked a couple. But I didn't fall down. The bell finally sounded, and I had made it through to the next round.

Now I'm recovering, relaxing, and regaining strength. I now know what I'm up against and have a decent idea of what I have to do to conquer it. In this next round, I'm going to come out swinging.

Sometimes teaching can be tougher than the Russian Concussion.

Every corps member will have one or many "TFA moments." These are instances with students that help you realize why you're doing this crazy job in the first place. I had a couple at Institute, but I finally got one here at Wheeler this past week. J is my student with Autism Spectrum Disorder. He's pretty high functioning and is one of my smarter kids, but he struggles to properly communicate with others around him and needs a lot of extra help. When he's uncomfortable with a situation, he shuts down. Since about a week ago, he's been coming into my room during breaks and actually starting conversations with me.

Last Monday I had a couple students hanging around my desk as I was trying to enjoy a quick break between classes. Out of the blue, J asked me, "Mr. Talevich, who is the best teacher at the school?" I was a little surprised at this question, and before I could respond, another of my students said, "I bet Mr. Talevich thinks he's the best teacher." I told them that I didn't think that was so and gave some fluffy speech about how there were a lot of great teachers at this school. "Not a lot of students would say I was the best because I haven't taught that many students here," I added.

"Well, to us you are," J replied.

Am I actually the best teacher these kids have ever had? Absolutely not. But at least I'm making a positive difference in their lives and they are realizing it. Little TFA moments like this help so much. And by the end of my stint here, maybe I can claim that title or at least come close.




To celebrate my recent successes and to give me something to do now that the North Shore waves are breaking too strong for freediving, I bought myself a mountain bike. I got the one from Costco that I've had my eyes on for a while. It's a Schwinn and it's pretty nice. After riding it around a little bit, I still like my Specialized at home better- it's a little lighter and just has a better feel. But it's tough to beat that bike. This one is full suspension and from what I've done so far, it can handle a little roughness. But I'm going to need to take it in for an early tune up because the shifting's a little bit off. Plus I already got a flat tire just from riding it a couple days. I tried patching it up but I'm not sure if I entirely fixed the problem. We'll see tomorrow. I really want to ride out to Kaena Point and then end up at a beach where I can watch (or do) this all day:
I wish I could say that was me, but it's not. It is one of the better shots I've ever taken though. The waves here are nuts, nothing like the ones on the West Coast. Back home, you could just lie down on your board and the wave would do the work. You need a little bit more skill to sponge these ones, and I don't think I'm quite ready. The kids at this beach at the farthest northwest tip of the island were pretty good though. One day I'll get out there and join them, but I'm going to do what's best for my spinal chord for now. Which is lie in the sand with a nice drink and take in the sun.