A Comfort Crew

On February 4, 2016, my beloved colleague Denise Colby and I presented a webinar for TVOntario's Teach Ontario site about Minecraft. I felt that it didn't go as well as I had hoped. My opinion was the minority but I couldn't shake the disappointment I had with myself or with how things progressed. I have a hard time "letting things go" when things bother me and one of my strategies for dealing with challenges is to talk about them, a lot. I spoke about my feelings with:

• my husband, James
• my co-presenter, Denise
• the TVO director of Educational Partnerships, Katina
• my principal, Bill
• one of the participants and a fellow TVO webinar presenter, Diana
• my parish priest, Father Hansoo

Everyone had very reassuring things to say. Some of the advice and words of comfort included ideas such as "if learning happened, that's the important thing" / "from other people's point of view, the session was good" / "the only one who noticed that anything was 'wrong' was you, because you are your own harshest critic" / "I can totally relate to how you feel right now". 

I really want to thank my "support team" for all their help. I needed those cheerleaders because even though the message might not have penetrated my stubborn soul, the emotions were certainly clear: "I hear you" / "I'm sorry you feel this way" / "I'm here for you". 

I hope every student who faces disappointment and setbacks have a similar amount of members of a "comfort crew" to assist with feeling better. They need it, like I do.