My wife surprised me last week with her response to my question, “What, specifically, do you want for your children?” Her answer, “I want my 8th grade math students to be able to use a ruler!” Not what I was expecting. A lengthy discussion followed as to how anyone could spend seven years in school and not learn how to use a ruler. I mean, seriously! I rambled on about how sterile school classrooms are with their five rows of five desks, one teacher---25 students, no time for projects, etc., etc. And she said, “But it worked for us! We know how to use a ruler and we went to school in the same sterile environment.” ...or did we?
So I asked her, “Name any occasion, any year, any teacher, any activity in which you remember learning how to use a ruler!” She confessed---no memory of any. Then I asked, “How about at home?” She followed with fond memories of her grandmother teaching her how to sew and her dad showing her how he drew house plans. This prompted my only memory of using a ruler. In third grade, when I was a new student, at a new school, a boy in my class gave me an old beat-up ruler as a gift. I ran home that afternoon excited to tell my parents how cool it was that someone in my class would give me a ruler. Soon afterwards, my father took me outside and gave me an hour-long lecture on sex, and bad words, and being careful about who I played with---until my mom drew him aside and pointed out that I had absolutely no clue what he was talking about. Apparently, as was explained to me years later, the word, f@#k, was carved into the back of my “gift.”
So what’s the point? Well, this might be a stretch, but I think it’s about connections. Learning occurs in a context. It does not happen divorced from the emotions of the moment. It’s more powerfully remembered as a part of a project. The mood and attitude of the people you’re with affect the outcome.
So my wife and I started discussing how she might be able to create activities with rulers that would have a meaning beyond finishing a worksheet. And homework assignments that would encourage family members to include their child the next time they measure for new drapes.
Oops, that’s if they have time after NECAP testing and football practice…
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2 comments:
What a funny little 'ruler' story, gave me a good chortle.
I don't remember ever having been 'taught' to use a ruler, seemed fairly self explanatory to me....
I'm trying to remember when I learned, too...I can't actually remember any particular moment, but I think I must have needed one at some point, and then the tool's purpose must have been obvious enough. Of course, not everything you need to know is actually a tool, like a ruler, but I think I've always learned best when I actually had my own, internal, reason to need or want something and then had the access to the knowledge or tool or whatever - the need and the access have to come together, right?
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