This past fall a woman I worked with became frustrated with the girls we were coaching. The sport was volleyball.

She turned to me, on the verge of losing her mind, and said, "I'm so sick and tired of telling these kids the same thing over and over, twenty times. They'll never learn."

I had to think about that for a second, and finally I said, "you know, it's our job to teach them. If they knew how to do it, they wouldn't need us."

Then I asked her, "if you have to repeat something twenty times and a group of people is still not "catching on" to what you mean, is it really their lack of understanding or your lack of communication skills?"

Who's really to blame? Are we really in such a hurry for people to learn something or "catch on" instantly, that teaching the same lesson twenty times is a burden? Why are we on this express train of learning? What's the hurry to learn every thing right now? What happens if it takes me twenty one times to "catch on?" Is that really such a bad thing?

Hmmmmm.

Well, this brand spanking new grad student has to type up a draft for class.

Actually my draft is based on this experience I've just mentioned. We're supposed to casually write about what we think about teaching in the secondary classroom.

I'll have to catch up with you all this weekend.
Bye, Alycia