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Empowering Darke County Youth
Learning from
our kids
By Bob Robinson
I have trouble remembering names. No matter how hard I try, I can spend
16 weeks working with 15 or 16 students in a classroom and, if I’m
lucky – I mean really lucky – I’ll know 10 or 12 of them. Compound that
with two, three or four classes, and I’ll know the names of maybe a
third of students I’d seen twice a week for nearly four months.
Sometimes a student will be the victim of some kind of senior citizen
roadblock… I’ll attach an incorrect name to one of my kids and drive
him or her nuts until I go through some mental calisthenics to finally
start using the correct name. Mostly.
Sound familiar to any of my peers out there? Or am I the only one with
this rare malady.
This fall it will be a major challenge since I’ll be working with more
than 75 Edison students in three Fundamentals of Communication classes
and one Composition I class.
I know faces, though. I’m great with faces. And I have behaviors of the
different generations I work with down pat! Well, almost.
In addition to teaching at Edison, I tutor students ranging from the
first grade through the ninth grade. I’ve learned to accept – even
anticipate – the different behavior patterns of different age groups. I
still have to use occasional phrases like “buddy,” “sweety,” etc when I
have a senior moment and a name escapes me. Behaviors, however, are
fascinating.
There’s the first grader who suddenly stops working and grabs my cheek,
pulling on it, and tells me my cheeks are floppy just like her dog’s.
Remember my pre-K student who ran away from me once, leaving the
library through an emergency door, setting off the alarm… Telling her
mom she did it because she could? I’d rather have my cheek pulled.
There’s the third grader who giggles every time I say young lady and,
just last week, started calling me “old lady.” I’m working with a fifth
grader and two sixth graders who are dead serious – they know their
issues and want to tackle them – and a ninth grader who’d pretty much
given up and didn’t want to be there… until he found out I could really
help him with his math.
Then there are my college students, ages 17 to mid-thirties in my
Communications class. They “ganged” up on me recently – well… in a way
– questions started following an example speech; we got way off track
and delved into the problems of the human race and the world. Just like
I did over a half century ago as a teenager. I didn’t stop to think
about it until I glanced at the clock and saw class time was over.
Our young people are sharp! Most of the time we simply don’t give them
enough credit, or the opportunity to participate at their level. They
are bright, curious but still have levels of maturity they have to
complete… that doesn’t mean their thoughts and skills aren’t work
considering.
CNO is starting to publish some of the better writings from our Edison
Darke County Campus students. Now and in the future, look for Edison
Student Commentaries and Features. I think you’ll be impressed.
In the meantime, I’ll keep trying to figure out how to match names with
faces… and learning as much from my kids as they are hopefully learning
from me.
Check out the published articles so far from Edison students:
Brexit… Similarities to the U.S.? By Savannah Hill. Click here
The Brexit Vote, By Heather Lee. Click here
The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society, By Savannah Hill. Click here
Typical Teenager to Successful Business Owner, By Lincoln Rapp. Click here
Investigative Discovery: “The Vanishing Women” By Heather Lee. Click here
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