Radiococo Broadcast #03
Time is relative
I want to preface this month’s broadcast by saying that working at Saturday Kids has afforded me the luxury of working with kids in small class sizes. I know some of you reading this are teachers in public institutions who may not have this luxury. I just want to remind you that you are doing so well despite everything!!
In one of my Saturday classes, my 6-year-old and I had a little moment while making a cardboard robot:
I laughed at her adorable dramatization. Later, after I put away the craft materials, I thought, “wow, maybe that’s what a month really feels like for a 6-year-old. 150 years!”. Being a 6-year-old was probably a long time ago for us, and it can be tough to imagine what that was like. This wonderfully interactive site illustrates exactly how time can shrink and expand with age. Now you can mathematically justify why time seems to fly by as you get older!
Being biologically far away from a 6-year-old also means that it is easy to undermine kids’ feelings and thoughts. Especially so when it comes to our expectations of what they can or cannot do. I work primarily with kids under 10, and the most challenging part about that is not even the kids themselves. It is training others to understand them and meet them where the kids are at, not where you are at. The biggest unconscious challenge for most instructors is: wanting to go at their pace, not the kids’. This is not a race to the finish line, the kids get rushed enough in other parts of their lives, and we certainly do not need to add to that.
One time in a preschool class, we were talking about our names. All the kids know me as Miss Fongyee or just Fongyee, so they got really excited when I shared my surname, and that it consisted only of two letters–N and G. They were incredulous! Suddenly everyone was shouting their last names and spelling them out for me just to make sure that I got it. (Do you remember the sense of accomplishment when you learnt to spell your name? I don’t, but I feel the secondhand joy through the kids). When they settled down, one of them exclaimed: “Just two letters?! That’s not fair! You can write your name so fast!”. What amused me was that her surname has three letters. Just one more, and it made all the difference. But hey, when you are still learning to read and write, you could be one letter away from a meltdown. One month could feel like 150 years, and we are all trying our best here (-:
Thank you for tuning in this month!
This month’s play-list
This site that turns words into drum beats. If you type Radiococo it sounds pretty cool.
My pals at Studio Playfool take Lego to the next level (think: lego AND paper?!)
This lovely little thing I learn about Naples, espresso and charity