Monday, October 8, 2012

Leaving My Comfort Zone

I'm not known to be 
a person who is shy.
I tend to have an opinion.
Or two.
And often am not shy,
or scared to share it.
But...
I do not like public speaking.

While I love being a teacher,
I do not enjoy parent conferences.
Honestly,
I would prefer to write reports
than conduct conferences.

I will admit,
this opinionated person,
does not have a lot of self esteem.
I do lack that belief in myself.
I hate talking in front of others,
fearful I'm being judged
or viewed as less intelligent.

This summer,
I attended at Handwriting Without Tears 
workshop.
I sat quietly in the back,
soaking in all this information.
I've joined the HWT cult.
I'm a believer.

This past weekend,
my school hosted the 
2nd Annual ISAZ Conference
(Independent Schools Association of Zambia).
My Grade 2 teaching partner,
thought it would be fabulous
if I lead a HWT workshop.
Are you kidding me???
Apparently not.
She was darn serious.

I was nervous.
Why would a bunch of great teachers
want to listen to me?
Do I really have something to say
about handwriting that they'd want to know about?
This had to be one of the scariest things
I've ever done.
This is soooo 
out of my comfort zone.

Well then,
I had 10 teachers attend my workshop.
And guess what?
I had a great time.
I really enjoyed myself,
and I think
(hope) 
all the participants did too.

So thank you
Ms Turner
for believing in me.





3 comments:

Fiona said...

Way to go! That is why I missed takiing ASL with. I too am the samemuch more comfortable with the kids over parents. I am impressed someone got you to teach a workshop,CONGRATES TIMA I AM SURE IT WAS AMAZING

Susan Anderson said...

Good for you, Tima! You really stepped up, and it sounds like it paid off. What a great experience for you (and for them, too)!

=)

Darlene said...

I'm glad you found out that you could do it anyway and even have fun doing it. That is truly the way it should be.