I coulda been a contendah!
.
Or, in this case, a science teacher.
I work with a sweet little boy who is very verbal. The output is extensive, but the input seems difficult for him. Example...
On Monday, the first thing he walked in my room, he said, "Miss Linda, how come when my sleeve gets in water, my arm gets wet?"
"Because your shirt soaks up the water."
"Oh. What's 'soaks up'?"
Pause for a moment. How do you explain 'soaks up'? The thing is, we shouldn't need to explain the idea; most children observe the interaction of water to fabric/sponge/whatever at a very young age and develop a gut-level understanding of what 'soaks up' means.
I immediately discarded the idea of trying to explain with words and tried to figure out a way to demonstrate. Ah! I keep paper plates in the room (for lunches that might overflow in the microwave), and I always have a glass of water to drink, and paper towels to clean the therapy table. (I wipe it with alcohol between sessions).
So... I poured a little water onto a paper plate, folded the paper towel several times along the long side to present a concentrated surface, and dipped just the corner into the puddle of water.
"Look! See the water climbing up the paper towel? See it going up? Water follows water."
"Can I do it?"
So I cut off the wet end and gave him the paper towel, which he duly dipped into the water and watched it absorb upward as I repeated, "See? Water follows water." Then I cut off the wet end again, and we repeated the cycle twice more.
As I threw the last soggy bit in the trash I said, "Okay, time for speech-work," and we went on with our normal activities. But as he walked out the door 20 minutes later, he was reminding himself, "Water follows water. Water follows water. Water follows water."
I enjoyed science classes... well, chemistry, biology, and geography. Physics wasn't fun, but that was a less-competent instructor, I think. Regardless, I think my creative spark arose from years and years of explaining things to youngsters -- simplify, simplify, simplify!
Just wish I could do it all. *checks my credentials* Nope; still only human.
Automatic cross-posting isn't working. Please comment on the Dreamwidth post.
.
Or, in this case, a science teacher.
I work with a sweet little boy who is very verbal. The output is extensive, but the input seems difficult for him. Example...
On Monday, the first thing he walked in my room, he said, "Miss Linda, how come when my sleeve gets in water, my arm gets wet?"
"Because your shirt soaks up the water."
"Oh. What's 'soaks up'?"
Pause for a moment. How do you explain 'soaks up'? The thing is, we shouldn't need to explain the idea; most children observe the interaction of water to fabric/sponge/whatever at a very young age and develop a gut-level understanding of what 'soaks up' means.
I immediately discarded the idea of trying to explain with words and tried to figure out a way to demonstrate. Ah! I keep paper plates in the room (for lunches that might overflow in the microwave), and I always have a glass of water to drink, and paper towels to clean the therapy table. (I wipe it with alcohol between sessions).
So... I poured a little water onto a paper plate, folded the paper towel several times along the long side to present a concentrated surface, and dipped just the corner into the puddle of water.
"Look! See the water climbing up the paper towel? See it going up? Water follows water."
"Can I do it?"
So I cut off the wet end and gave him the paper towel, which he duly dipped into the water and watched it absorb upward as I repeated, "See? Water follows water." Then I cut off the wet end again, and we repeated the cycle twice more.
As I threw the last soggy bit in the trash I said, "Okay, time for speech-work," and we went on with our normal activities. But as he walked out the door 20 minutes later, he was reminding himself, "Water follows water. Water follows water. Water follows water."
I enjoyed science classes... well, chemistry, biology, and geography. Physics wasn't fun, but that was a less-competent instructor, I think. Regardless, I think my creative spark arose from years and years of explaining things to youngsters -- simplify, simplify, simplify!
Just wish I could do it all. *checks my credentials* Nope; still only human.
Automatic cross-posting isn't working. Please comment on the Dreamwidth post.
.