We had a Staff Meeting after school today, and I was heading home a little later than usual. My head was on my day at school, changed plans for tomorrow, and a blog post for tonight. As I was thinking, and maybe even humming along to some music, I realized that I forgot to turn onto Queen Street. I was in the wrong lane! Oh no!

For those that don’t know me, I’m very directionally-challenged. Just the other day, I went into one of the Kindergarten classrooms to throw out my yogurt cup before going outside to pick up the Grade 1’s. When I got out of the classroom, I turned the wrong way, and I actually got lost in the 20 steps it would have taken me to head outside. It’s actually quite a miracle that I make it to work everyday! 🙂

With this in mind, there was no way that I could miss this turn-off. If I did, I had no idea where I was going, and in the labyrinth of Hamilton’s one-way streets, I probably would never find my way home (no exaggeration). So I did the only thing that I knew how to do: I stopped the car and signalled that I wanted into the other lane. I made eye-contact with the person beside me in that lane, and he agreed to let me in. Yay!

The only problem was that this turning lane had a red light, and the other lane had no light. Now I had a long line-up of cars behind me honking their horns, shouting at me through the window, and making very angry faces at me behind the glass. As I sat there praying that the light would change quickly and I wouldn’t cause a major accident in the meantime,  I couldn’t help but think about my students in the classroom.

How often do I remain focused on the time? When the students ask to finish first before tidying up, what do I say? Today, all that I wanted was for the people behind me to slow down, wait a few extra minutes, and be understanding of my mistake. Will I always remember to do the same thing for my students? I wonder how the classroom and school environment would change if we didn’t always feel in such a rush.

Aviva