Success...

For those of you that didn't know, I recently had the pleasure of teaching a group of third graders the art of computer programming. For nearly five months, these select group of kids that included my son, stayed after school for the purpose of competing against other county third graders. Their mission was to create a project about "Going Green." You know, saving energy.

Now being as though I'd never actually worked with any other kids besides my own academically, I learned two things early on. The first was that the public school system really needs to do a better job screening their instructors, and secondly, that the same methods of teaching I used on my kids would not fly.

See in sports and coaching, if the kids get out of hand, you can just make them run laps or sit the pine. In a computer lab, running laps really aren't conducive and... there is no pine! At home, if they get out of hand, well...they might meet "Sensei." He's a "black belt" I own that holds nteenth degrees in attitude alignment. In fact, often times, only a mere mentioning of Sensei brings about a whole new attitude. Sensai was not conducive to the computer lab either!

With this being the case, finding ways to motivate their genius minds was nothing short of a task. Some wanted to play games, some wanted attention, but most just wanted to eat snacks while recording fart sounds on the microphone! Nevertheless, I wanted them to understand that they had the power to create their own dreams. That "IF" they grasped these concepts "THEN" anything was possible. That "WHILE" they did their best, their future was sure to be a success!

What I found by the end was that it was extremely rewarding. That the kids rose to the occasion. That even though they didn't place in the competition, most of them had gotten the point. They understood what success was; that their reward would be more than a mere plastic trophy. Their experience would be "Forever" looped within them.

After the competition, I looked on the faces of those robot kids who took home the first place trophy. It was sad. They didn't seem to have fun at all. I'd bet what they really wanted to do was to make fart sounds!...

To read more please be sure to purchase a copy of my soon to be published book chronicling my life as a single father. Also, feel free to donate toward its costs if you so choose by clicking the donate button @ http://chroniclesofasinglefather.blogspot.com. Thanks for taking this journey with me.

Miracles and Blessings

Tron

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