I had my first real night teaching TKD on my own last night. I had volunteered to fill in while our chief instructor was gone on vacation. I had about 10-12 kids at 4:45 and 4 kids at 5:30 (one of them was my daughter). The first class was intermediate and advanced levels and the second was beginners. It was way more challenging than I expected, although I should have known better with younger kids at mixed levels. They ranged in ages from 7 to 13.

It is tough to keep your eyes on everyone and teach to all levels, but luckily I had Toby to assist and help me keep an eye on things, including my behaviour! He told me at one point to "not be impatient" and I realized I had been tapping my fingers. I was probaby more nervous than impatient, but it helps to have someone to point out how it looks.

The whole experience sure gives me a new level of respect and appreciation for good instructors! I was following the chief instructors written instructions and following the regular format. We did warm-ups, forms and boxing. I think I would have eliminated boxing, but I guess part of the challenge is keeping everyone engaged if you do anything for too long. A result of our ADD/TV generation perhaps? In any case I think it led to the strange dream I had last night. I was giving a seminar at HP on my martial arts experience. I had brought about 10 handouts and about 50+ people showed up (it's starting to get a little fuzzy). I can remember having an assistant but I can't remember what they were doing besides distributing handouts. I can remember someone being disruptive just as I was going to start. I think they got a cell phone call. Other people started to shush them and I began the seminar. I talked about the years that I had practiced TKD and mentioned that I had practiced Kuk Sool Won for about two years. Everyone started to ask questions about that and I tried to refer to the handouts, but I had given mine away and there weren't enough to go around anyways. A couple of people started to talk to each other across the room about it and I got disgusted and ended the seminar after only 20 minutes into the one hour seminar. I was planning on giving a demonstration on stretching and ki breathing (it's funny because I forgot to do stretching in both of my classes last night) and just gave up. I can remember that after the meeting I wasn't ready to quit, but I started to make plans for how I could make the next seminar more effective. I guess it's easy to see what my sub-conscious mind was working on!

Our chief instructor is back today and I will definitely be there for class. We are supposed to have a meeting soon to discuss plans for the Eagle location. I think I need to spend some extra hours assisting and teaching classes before the new location opens so that I can be successful. I am really getting to like this teaching stuff, although I can see I still have a long ways to go and a LOT to learn! It is interesting that I really would have guessed that I would have wound up teaching Sunday school or something first, not TKD and motorcycle riding! Oh well, I am sure it all has a purpose in the grand scheme of things. That's enough for now.