Without trying to sound pretentious, there's not a day that goes by that I don't make a concerted effort to learn something new. Sometimes it's found easily on the Internet, sometimes it takes some research. Often, it's in the simple conversations and behaviors of others. While I do have good comprehension skills when it comes to reading, I don't consider myself book smart. I once took a class a special education course in college and didn't bring a book, a notebook, or a pen for the entire semester. I wanted to see how much I could ingest simply by listening. Some might be shocked to know, I was the only person exempt from the final (there's more to this story, but some of you may hate me if I tell it). For me, observation is my go-to method of learning. For others, I understand it's a difficult process.
We all learn differently and we all teach differently. Working with children all these years has taught me that no two children learn exactly the same way, but ironically, many parents, despite their feelings that their children are unique, teach them the exact same way as their neighbors. My generation could easily be called the Dr. Spock generation. If you are thinking of Star Trek, well yeah, that too, but he was a Mister, not a doctor. Bones was the doctor. Where was I? Kids learn differently, but there is one common thread that connects them all. Children, especially young ones, learn faster when they are engaged. Sorry 21st Century Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa and even teachers, but eye contact does a lot more than a video, whiteboard, or some other screen device. I also mean that in terms of one-on-one. Put down the damn phone!
Yesterday, I was reading a book. Yes, those tangible things you can buy in stores and online and which many are housed in buildings called libraries. Oh yeah, and despite me mocking my current state, most intelligent people have houses filled with them. Most unintelligent people don't have any. So back to my anecdote. I was reading and my landlord's five-year-old granddaughter came out and started showing me a mermaid ball, telling me about her nightmare (I should write a blog about kid's nightmares because damn do they have them a lot more often today than when I was a kid), and asking me a million questions about everything and anything that popped into her head. I asked her to sit down aka still and she asked me about my friends. She was confused by how someone younger than me could be taller than me. After I laughed, I explained that age and height, while are her age are usually connected, stop being so after a certain age. She seemed to get it and then we went inside to measure her against the wall, where there was a previous measurement written on the wall.
The point wasn't to illustrate her learning, but more so myself. It dawned on me that in my years of working with kids, I've generally been on my own. So I was the tallest, thus the authority. It also dawned on me that some of my recent coworkers were shorter and rarely received the respect the other staff received, but one of the staff. who was half my age, commanded much more respect, due in large part to his height. What's interesting though, is that the most effective teachers are the ones who change levels. I've written about this before, so I won't bore you.
While the young girl I spoke with yesterday might not remember our conversation and may have to relearn the height-age paradox, it opened my eyes to how certain aged children view us. It also made me wonder at what age they stop viewing height as being about age and notice my grey hair and ask if I'm 90.
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