Refreshing

I had such a wonderful learning/teaching experience today in my GED class!  One of our students who graduated from the program last fall came to visit because she needed some guidance on an essay.  She is now enrolled in the local community college and stops in every once and a while for some help.  A year ago she had not yet finished her high school education and she is now just about to finish her second semester of college on the Dean's List.  She is the epitome of a success story.  I had a Social Studies lesson planned but she ended up helping lead a discussion on some tips and tricks for taking the GED.  As much as I can talk and try to convince the students how important these classes are, hearing from a peer that has just recently passed the tests speaks volumes.  We ended up having a great talk about how and why people make the choices that they do.  I always try and stress the fact that we all complete our education in a lot of different ways - but that the important thing is that we continue learning.  The students I work with find themselves in the positions that they are in for an incredible variety of reasons.  What we try and focus on during class is  a way to validate all of their experiences, while still moving forward.  The visiting student had great advice for everyone in the class and the students had so many questions for her.  It was a really interesting learning opportunity for everyone.  It also reminded me of my limitations as a teacher, and how my students can be experts at things I never will be.