The worst students

So... I got in trouble for my behavior during our Google group hang out this past Thursday evening. It was the first time I had been successful in joining a hangout (Internet issues all summer at my house) and I found the draw feature while the meeting was going on. I didn't realize everyone in the meeting would be able to see what I was doing. 

I promise I meant no harm in what I was doing. I eluded to this in the post I made with the image from the Google Hangout from last week.

I am very excited to be a part of this group and I hope I have not caused any problems for anyone. I received an email from a group member (kind of like the team-leader actually -- much more seniority in the group than I have) that berated me any my actions. I was out to eat with my husband, son and father-in-law when I received the email (not exactly what I wanted to read in the middle of my meal) two days after the meeting.  I hope to be able to continue as a part of this (in my view) prestigious group. This is what I honestly believe God put me on this Earth for - to teach kids about computer science. I have never been this happy as a teacher before. 

I honestly hope they know I did not mean any harm, and I especially did not mean to hinder anyone from being able to pay attention or to receive help during the meeting (which is what I was accused of doing in the email). My personality is not that of a "normal" teacher; I have always felt more comfortable in a programming shop or in my computer lab at school than I ever have been in a normal classroom. 

This whole incident has caused me to feel anxiety whenever I see an email in my inbox about anything to do with the CS project from this summer.  It's ridiculous and I hope it goes away soon...

I guess teachers can be the worst students sometimes...

I didn't realize until I was in my twenties that I actually love to learn. I had already graduated from college and was working as a programmer and I couldn't get enough knowledge. I would read anything and everything I could on the Internet (this was in 2001 so that net was still young but not in its infancy -- kinda like a rebellious teenager -- everything looked kinda off and CSS was just coming to the forefront of web programming which was helping everything finally become more polished and professional). Up until that point learning had been my job. I was a student and had been since I was 5 in kindergarten. I learned something new every day and I took it for granted. I never looked at it as something I should be grateful for.

Now, I am absolutely grateful that I had wonderful teachers in elementary and high school, and college. Some of the teachers that taught me are the ones I currently work with now. (Some of them are teachers I never had, and I am grateful that I didn't have to sit through them lol)

I hope that both of my children are as blessed as I was in school. Having a bad teacher can change your life. If someone doesn't believe in you, or someone is mean just for the sake of being mean, that can color your judgement of learning and can change your entire life. I want to be a positive influence. I hope I have been over the past 11 years.