We made our way from Western Tennessee to the Eastern side of the state – Athens. We spent two days here working with Ellen Kimball and Pat Thompson. On Tuesday night, we performed at the local auditorium for what can only be descried as the most responsive audience we’ve had all season. Wow – these guys were amazing!
The next day started around 8:30am with a Professional Development Workshop for approximately 40 teachers from all over the district. This was an opportunity to share with the concepts of arts integration in the classroom. Educators are taught how to create activities that are fun, exciting, educational, and align with National and Common Core State Standards of Learning.
After the workshop, Alan and I worked in 5 different classrooms in various schools to demonstrate the effectiveness of the HOCUS FOCUS project. Teachers are always surprised by the responsiveness of the students. Not just their willingness to learn the magic tricks, but how effective it is in teaching important abstract concepts like problem-solving skills, critical thinking, and observational techniques.
Our experience in Athens, TN was outstanding – great staff, great audience, great teachers, great students! THANK YOU ATHENS!
After wrapping up in Athens, we decided to go home for a few hours. We were so close it was too hard to pass up a chance to sleep in our own bed for a night! I drove those first few hours and then Alan took over. While I was laying down on the sofa in the back, there was an incredibly loud “boom” that launched me from my sleep! Turns out we blew out a back tire – explosive enough that it also took out the brake, signal, and reverse lights on the back of the truck! We were only a few miles from a Flying J with a shop so we decided to stop and get it all fixed. Wow, what a mess! It only put us behind about 90 minutes…and we were all still alive!
