March 30 to April 3, 2009

I always heard of it, but I never experienced FBLA until Sunday night. The energy was high and the students were ready to compete. I spent the early part of Sunday evening helping my secondary co-op prepare for the next day's competition. She had the enormous job of organizing everything for all of our students. I was glad to be able to help even though my contribution was rather small compared to her's.

As Monday afternoon was upon us, my assignment was clear. I was assigned to be a proctor for a public speaking competition. To my suprise, this was very exciting for me. The event lasted for three hours but seemed like minutes. As the competitors were rehearsing their speaches one last time, I directed them where and when to begin. Many spectators were on hand to withness the competition but seating was very limited. I am sure everything was taken into consideration for this public speaking contest, but because the seating was very limited, I had to turn many spectators away from entering the room. The room was just too small. This, however, did not hamper the spririt of the competitors because the excitement they exuded was immeasurable. I was taken back by the energy, emotion and the professionalism these young students demonstrated during this event and for the entire FBLA convention . Experiencing and learning about FBLA was the most incredible part of my week.

It was Thursday morning and my second period students were going to begin writing their resume'. I think I was more excited then they were because I forgot to distribute a great handout I prepared for them and directed them to begin writing their resume. The handout discussed do's and don'ts of a resume' but I just forgot to review this with my students in my second period class. Although the students had formatting instructions for formatting their resume', the additional information would have been very helpful. This is the part of the week I would like to change. I have taken from this experience that my excitement for an activity or assignment has to be second to my lesson plans.