I got nothin'

Wednesdays are just hard days. Yesterday I ran the soil analysis lab for ecology (this takes both lecture and lab time on that day to complete, and it requires an hour of set-up/break-down time for me - though fortunately, a number of the students stayed to help me break the lab down a the end). And it's just kind of exhausting because it's one of those things where everything has to happen **right** for it to work. (And there are several procedures, and sometimes people kind of gallop past the directions and then wind up getting caught because they messed something up and have to go back and re-do things - and this is even with me printing out copies of the cookbook directions for each process and taping them to the lab bench next to the set up for the procedure).

And I gave an exam in my other class for the day. Which is still sitting on my desk to be graded.

I got home, was fighting a sinus headache. I *really* didn't want to go to Wednesday night but figured, "No teens will show up again and I can either go home or can go to the adult Bible study class instead"

Two girls showed up - one who is a member here and a friend. So I taught the class for them. It didn't go well. For one thing, they're both shy, so they didn't talk. And I made the rookie mistake of not insisting they put their cell phones up...so they would periodically stop and check for new texts. (As great as cell phones are for some things, I kind of hate what they do to some people).

Also, I don't know...I guess I find teenaged girls harder to relate to than teenaged boys. (Or maybe it was just the particular groups I've had). I think it's because I remember being a teenaged girl - the nerdy, awkward kid I was - and I look at these particular girls, both are pretty and dress well and seem to be popular in school, and I find myself back in the place where I had nothing really to say to the popular kids because we inhabited such different circles. (Now that I think of it - back when I had a group of mainly boys, a couple of them were the nerdy type...so maybe it's not a gender thing but more of a popularity-status thing). And I know, that's my issue and I have to get over it, but it frustrates me that I get the feeling that these girls would rather be ANYWHERE than in my class. I don't know. We have really no other teenagers so unless we get guests or new people join, it's me and them. (If I were more pushy and assertive I'd go around and tell people, "I can't do this any more. Can you take it over?" but as I'm one of the younger adults who's not a parent*, I'm probably the logical person to do it.

(*There's a whole problem with dynamics when the parent is the Sunday School or youth group teacher. So it's better to have a trustworthy adult who is not a parent of any of the kids in the group to take charge.)

Or, I don't know, maybe it went better than I thought, it's just I wasn't feeling well and hadn't prepared as much as I might. Next week I have a lesson that is partly dvd and partly discussion so hopefully that will go better. (And if worse comes to worse, there are worksheets. So if they won't discuss, I can hand them Bibles and worksheets and make them work.)