September 11, 2009
There is no doubt we love to learn new things. As a matter of fact, we would consider ourselves 'learning junkies.' So this summer after yet another laptop died on us, our editor convinced us to give Mac a try. Being the afore mentioned junkies, we were both very excited at the prospect of learning something new—how to use a Mac. We decided it couldn't be all that hard, after all, our first computers were Macs (but we won't mention how looooonnng ago that was). We certainly did learn a lot about a new computer operating system this summer and continue to do so. However, what was most fascinating about this experience was what we realized about ourselves as learners.
We decided that in lieu of the time it would take to play around and do all the discovering of what our new computers had to offer, we would sign up for a 'getting started' class. Armed with our brand-new-just-out-of-the-box Macs, we went into the local Apple store for our class. The class was composed of 6 students and one instructor. It took place right in the store alongside other shoppers and class takers. There was quite a bit of noise and a lot to look at. Can I just say that as we waited patiently for the instructor to get around to those in the class that had greater needs than us, we were distracted by the noise and all there was to watch? Even though we felt as though it was a good class and worth our time, we left with what seemed to be more questions than answers.
After our first small group session, we couldn't help but to think about our students. Did they ever feel as we did today? We wondered if during whole group or small group instruction they found themselves distracted by other things going on in the classroom while they waited for us to support other learners or even to get around to them?
A week after our first class, we decided we wanted a bit more guidance with our new computers. This time we signed up for a one-on-one lesson. When we arrived we were surprised that the first thing our tutor wanted to do was chat with us. He was interested in our background knowledge, purpose for being there and wanted to discover our skill level. We were able to be very specific about what we were interested in learning.
The next hour flew by as the instructor worked with us on our new concepts. He started from our current skill level explaining, modeling; guiding and then letting us try on our own. The instruction wasn't too slow or too fast, but just right. He made sure that we didn't leave until we were quite proficient so we would be successful when we tried independently.
Once again on our way home, we found ourselves talking about our students. Our experience with the small group and then the one-on-one tutoring left us with renewed passion for the importance of the side-by-side coaching and tutoring all of our students need, want and deserve. Congratulations to Apple for coming up with a wonderful model (and for those of you who are curious, we use both operating systems now, quite proficiently).