Experiencing a Teachable Moment

During my preparation as a Physical Education Teacher Candidate, I learn countless lessons about events that will occur in my future profession. Many of my teachers use the term "teachable moments" when events occurs and we can learn from them for the future. One of the lessons I have learned is that events occurring outside of school, specifically at home, can have an effect on how students behave during lessons. It is important to know this so teachers don't jump to conclusions when trying to figure out student behavior. Luckily, I was told by Junior's mother about some events occurring at home, so I was informed. I was expecting Junior to not act like his usual self because of the changes at home.
A term to describe how Junior was acting would be "Frazzled." He was having a hard time focusing on what I was saying and was even asking me questions like it was the first time we met when we have been together for over 7 weeks now. We went bowling and at first it seemed like we had lost our progress we made since the beginning of Project Dream. Since I knew what was going, I gave him some more leniency than normal. He started out bowling with the ball between his legs and didn't want to hear any of my tips.Then after a few frames he started to listen better after I expressed to him that I was beginning to get disappointed because I know he can do better and he wanted to prove it to me. He started to bowl just like the way we have been working on with the ball on the right side of his body, fingers in the bowling ball holes, and holding the ball with his palm up!The best part was that as he was using the form I was teaching him, his score increased and his last few frames he bowled a 9,7,9 and a spare in the tenth frame. His last 4 frames were his best I have ever seen him bowl! I was happy to see what I was teaching Junior was being reinforced by his score!By being patient and persistent I was able to help Junior succeed. The process was a lot easier and less stressful since I knew about the other events in his life that were occurring recently. At first I was a bit nervous that we were going to have a rough night but I thought about what I have been learning about in Cortland's Phys Ed program. I then felt confident in my ability to adapt and help Junior succeed because of what I have learned and know!