Having your cake...

My Favorite Piece

Shortly after our first date, I was invited to my now husband's house to celebrate his birthday with the family.  Dinner was served, enjoyed by all.  A short time later, it was time for cake.  We all sang, candles were blown out, and then, finally, it was time to cut the cake. And that's when it happened...I heard his dad say loud and clear, "I want an end piece." Trying to be the respectful daughter my parents hoped I was, I said nothing, but thought, end piece? aren't they all end pieces? You see, I had only ever seen a cake, especially a round birthday cake, cut in wedges.  I was amazed, as I watched the cake cutting commence, to see that my husband first cut the cake down the center, splitting it in half.  He then began cutting slices, starting from the edge and going across the cake.  This made two "end" pieces, that were mostly icing, and many slices in-between that actually looked as if they had been cut from a rectangular shaped cake.  Who knew!?!

Two months ago, I challenged my teaching friends to accept the Te@ch Thought 30 day blog challenge.  My friend Susan took the challenge, and hasn't looked back.  My blog became another of those 'I'll get around to it' things, and I haven't gotten back around to it until today - thanks to Susan's challenge to her teaching friends for the month of November.  So here goes - challenge accepted...again.  

As I read today's prompt - What are the best aspects of teaching, I thought first of the usual, off the cuff responses - the kids, summers "off", touching the future....but after running through that list, I remembered cake.  No, not the cakes and cupcakes that have come into my classroom over the many years, but birthday cake.  You see, for me, the best aspect of teaching comes on the days where I become not the teacher, but the learner.  As teachers we spend a wealth of time planning our lessons, tweaking our curriculums, setting up our learning environments, so that our students might leave class having learned something each day.  But my favorite days are the ones where the plans go awry or end up pushed aside.  The days where my students teach me.  Recently these lessons have centered mostly around technology.  However, I have also learned facts about sharks, about fasting and the observance of Eid ul-Adha, that a student knows the rules of stick ball and what a pimple ball is, and that my students think all animal shelters should be no-kill shelters.  Learning - and still loving to learn. Now that's what I call having your cake and eating it, too.