Clear!!

It seems like I have missed an inappropriate amount of school this year. Not because of all the fun teacher holidays or the common cold, but for teacher inservice. If you are a teacher, then you know how monotonous and useless this can sometimes be. It's always the stuff you've already heard about a million times, just with an extra twist on it. Lame. So today, when I told my students I would be out again, it made me feel terrible (and secretly like a rock star) when they all moaned, groaned, and begged me to stay.

Today was different. Today was probably the most invigorating inservice I have ever been to! I am now officially CPR and AED (automated emergency defibrillator) certified. I thought this would be a snooze fest, but it was a blast. I felt like Meredith Grey for a few brief moments. OK...maybe I'm exaggerating, but it really was interesting. We practiced on our own little mannequins and even received official American Heart Association certificates. My partner suggested that we name our practice dummy Lazarus just in case we didn't do so hot in our CPR practice. I've been to informal training on CPR before and seen it on TV, but I never realized how much physical effort it can take to perform the proceedure. The most fascinating part of the training was learning how to use the AED. This is a device that can be found in most public facilities and is just like the paddles seen in all of the medical emergency TV shows...only smaller. It tells you step by step what to do just in case you freak out in an emergency situation. My personal favorite part of the process is when you have to say, "CLEAR!" before pushing the shock button. What a rush. It's really amazing how such a small computer can help someone save a life.