First day in the trenches

I helped out with the afternoon session yesterday and I have to say that it was a lot of fun. The kids are more or less how I remember them from last week (and it's still summer) but this time I had the chance to really take part in their education as well as observe them on a deeper level. Again, it's great to see how much they work together and it's great that I had the chance to encourage that along with the rest of the instructors.

At the same time, they're kids. It's actually pretty funny to me to notice one of them doing absolutely NOTHING when they've got nothing to do. When you "grow up" usually you get to a point where you can find something, anything, to do. I forgot how easy it was to shut off when I was that age. I don't mean they're talking or being distracting, I mean they're doing nothing. Sitting, staring past their monitors at the wall instead of finding something to do. And what's even better is that they snap right back into place once you ask them what they're working on. That's the kicker, that they're right back on task the moment you say something. Sort of reinforces the whole teacher/student model.