I find my inspiration for this blog from a little Led Zeppelin…………..

When I heard that the river we were going down on my first rafting trip EVER was a dammed river, Zeppelin’s “When the Levee Breaks” started going through my head.  Originally written about the Great Mississippi Flood of ’27, I couldn’t help to think that that may be my fate on the river that day.  I know that sounds silly, but let me tell you why.

See, I don’t swim.  It’s not for a lack of trying, I just can’t.  I started taking lessons in 3rd grade because for some odd reason my elementary school thought all 3rd graders needed to be taken to the local YMCA to be thrown in a pool.  Imagine doing that now!!!  But anyway, long story short, I fell, got a concussion and a fractured skull on a slippery spot beside the pool, and the rest is history.

I’m not afraid of water.  Let’s get that straight.  I love water.  I love the beach, water parks, boats, etc.  It’s not a fear of water.  I even married a certified lifeguard (and no, she hasn’t been able to teach me to swim either, and again, not for a lack of trying) to make things even worse!!!  I’m not afraid of water.  I’m afraid of drowning, more importantly, not knowing what to do if I ever am in the situation of being in the water where I can’t stand or float.  It’s a fear of looking really stupid (and dying) when I should know better.

I guess to interject the topic of the blog, “my NCCAT highlight” into my rant, like many other people it was the whitewater rafting trip.  I freely admit, as my raftmates (WHO WERE FANTASTIC!!!) can tell you, I was really nervous and scared.  In fact, Joanie made sure to tell Tanner, our guide, that “I didn’t want to die.”  Haha.  Thanks Joanie.  But it really wasn’t about the dying or drowning part, it was about the fact that I was about to do something that I had never done before in front of a whole bunch of people that I didn’t want to look stupid in front of.  And as I successfully completed my rafting adventure I started to think, how many students in my class fall into the same category?  Not wanting to ask questions or demonstrate techniques or concepts out of fear of looking stupid?

I try to teach my students everyday that it is ok to ask questions.  It is ok to be nervous, because nervous keeps us on our toes.  It is ok to be scared, because we can learn from our fears (except spiders…..Jayne knows what I’m talking about) and that it is ok to fail the first time, or the ninth time that we attempt something because there is always another chance to get it right.  I really wanted to do the jumping rock on the river, but I didn’t, because I didn’t want to look stupid floating down past the rafts if I had done something wrong.  Now I regret it.  But at least it’s an excuse for me to go up there again!!! It just goes to show, no matter how old we are, we are all students at some point in our lives.

I love to relay life experiences into my teaching because it lets the students know that I am human.  I will now add my rafting adventure, which I had a BLAST ON,  to my list of teachable moments that I use in class.  I hope it will be an inspiration to my students to ask that question, try something new, or at least, make themselves feel a little better about being scared.  What are you scared of, and can you use it to better yourselves and your students’ education?  As always, feel free to sound off!!!

By the way, am I the only one who thinks they should really change the word “recovery” to “rescue” in the raft training video before we set off????