Do you imagine yourself out of whatever situation you're in? Do you get so tired of the journey that you wished you'd reached the destination by now - whatever it may be? I think that is how my former student felt then; and honestly, it is me right now. I am taking this online course and I am so ready for it to be over already. Ugh! So much that I asked one of my teacher friends to hound me every day to guilt trip me into finishing. The crazy thing is my online course is no different than my former student completing his course online.
He started off with me in the classroom for Spanish 1, but that route was not easy. He barely showed up and so he failed it. Ended up taking it online. I still had to proctor it though. Made sure he was getting the assignments submitted, recorded, etc. And then came Spanish 2. How did he move on? Well, he was a graduating senior, and in an effort to give him a second chance, the Administration allowed him to move through per my request. He just had to complete both courses, of course, by the end of the school year. Not that my heart is soft. It is just that if not now, then when? He bombed the online course again - in the beginning and through most of the remaining school year. The in-person class was pretty much a repeat too. Other teachers and myself included tried to infuse this young man with positive vibes, real-word anecdotes and "coming to Jesus moments." We tried to scare him onto the straight and narrow road.
The fact of the matter is that he had to realize all of our helpful hints on his own. One day he was fed up. I can only imagine this though. He texts to me only said, "Unlock my test please." I just know he wanted to be done, even if that meant skipping through half of the material and barely recording sounds in English for a Spanish module. But again, he is no different that me. The driving force is the desire to finish. I know in a previous post, I shared about enjoying the journey - but that was in reference to my daily workout routine and psyching myself up to be active every day. Finishing this online course is different. I do not want to do it. I can see the benefits of it but because it is forced and it is on deadline, it takes the desire away.
I often remember expressing to my students they did not have to have a love for Spanish like me. They do not have to want to study abroad or continue their learning with it in college; but they had to find a way to want to be in my classroom every day. They had to find their own way to want to learn it and in return to finish the course. The same holds true for me. I don't want to do those live workouts. Well, I kind of do because the energy is totally different and I feel good knowing I am loving on myself and taking care of my body. But the online class ... I have to find a way to want to finish it too. I have to psych myself up in thoughts and in daily affirmations to encourage myself. We need each other to do that, just like my student needed me and the village of teachers to encourage him with soft and not-so-soft words.
You want to know what he said when I told him I wanted to post this picture on my Instagram page: "I could have did it without you." Yeah, you read that right! But my teacher friend claims it's a typo, so I am going to just smile and nod and add the word "not" where it is intended (by me) to be. LOL [Insert shrugs.] Teachers are used to getting the short end of the stick in this delayed-gratification field.
"Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us ..." Hebrews 12:1-3 NIV
"So let's not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up." Galations 6:9 NLT
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