Trusting my instincts

What a week, kids. The weather has been crap, but I still got in some running. This is good, because it helps me stay sane. I've noticed something though; each time I've headed out I have second guessed myself about something in my gear/preparation etc. and made a last second change to my plan. And every time it has negatively affected my run (sockless with new shoes+3 miles=giant painful blister; over-layering for the weather = too hot and fatigued way too soon in my run). As I'm fairly new to "serious" running, these are all valuable mistakes in that I've noticed my instincts are good and if I'd just trusted them I would have had much better running experiences this week.

Yeah; like I'm going to pass up a chance for Star Wars references

Running wasn't the only time I got to test out my instincts. As it turns out, my teaching instincts got a workout this week, and fared much better than my running ones. That means i actually listened to them and things worked out. The plan had been for me to take over my mentor teacher's class for a couple days while she led a Writing Workshop clinic for other teachers at the school. Of course, being an intern teaching student I have to have a certified teacher in the room so a substitute was set up, you know, just in case and to satisfy the requirement. Thursday morning comes, I've planned out the two days' lessons with my mentor teacher and am ready to go, sub safety net in place In walks the principal who tells the sub and me that the building is short one sub, and asks if the sub would mind taking another class and would I mind taking this class solo...wait; what?! 

No adult supervision!

So yeah, as it turned out, I got to teach solo for two days (Friday had another substitute shuffle at the last minute...). I knew it was a big deal for the principal to trust me with this class and I didn't have time to second guess myself. I had to rely entirely on the plans and my instincts for how the day was flowing. I now know my  teaching instincts are solid; the two days went incredibly well (Friday was a little less stellar, but the schedule was so far off of normal that even mentor teacher would have felt it somewhat). 

Sure, I have a long way to go yet before I am ready for full-time class ownership; but, this two days were monumental for a couple reasons. One, it proved that I am on the right path and my instincts are sound. Two, I felt the confidence of those around me (confidence in me to take care of their kids). This was a huge deal and I don't take the trust lightly. Student teaching will be here before I know it. Now that I've had a taste of the full experience I'm even more excited to get there.