Teachable Moments

Originally posted in December 2010 at Living & Loving in California

As a teacher I make detailed lesson plans each week.

There are some lessons that I don't anticipate having to teach and therefore I am unprepared.

These unplanned lessons are what we call Teachable Moments. Some are hard. Some are easy and quick. And then some are just plain old funny.

Here is one of those Teachable Moments.

We celebrated 2 student birthdays at school on Friday. I always buy a cake for each student so they each feel special and I also buy a "back up" cake just in case I drop one or in case a student sticks their hand/face in it.

Our birthday routine is: we sing, they blow out candles, we eat cake. That's not quite the way it worked in my room on Friday.

Here I am singing 'Happy Birthday' and presenting the cake. 

And here I am 10 minutes later laughing because my kiddo doesn't know how to blow out a candle and I don't know how to teach it. This was my Teachable Moment. 

I'm laughing hysterically because I am in the process of teaching this particular student how to blow his nose...

So when I say, "1, 2, 3 Blow" the student proceeds to blow his nose...

without a tissue...

onto the cake. 

Another reason why I buy a "back up" cake. 

Have you experienced a teachable moment with your kids/ husband/ wife/ dog?