Reflect

As I grow older I always hope I will learn lessons by association. Usually not. I judged a group of videos for a video contest because some of my students had entered the contest and they needed judges. This goes under no good deed goes unpunished. Well in the process I watched the group of videos I was given and then I left them on my desk and came back a week later and watched again and did the evaluation. A good process. I had calmed down about some of the videos and I found things I had not seen before and liked. Experience #1.

Experience #2
A friend send me a chapter of a book he is working on. I read it and responded right away and not as pleasantly as I should have. I did not learn the lesson from Experience #1. I did not learn by association. I need to learn the lesson of reflection. The brain is a sometimes wonderful thing. Give it some time to mull over an event and the brain will smooth out some of the rough spots, it will help you see what is important and remind you of some lessons you need to look at.

Without time to reflect I stuck my foot in my mouth and I can do better.

Maybe I will learn to reflect more often. After all it is what I would like my students to do every once in a while.