Thinking

I work as a part-time trainer at a right brain enrichment centre. One of the training exercises there involves students looking at a board with an abstract image where they are required to use their imagination and explain what they see. This week's board consisted of a fairly simple image which showed a yellow circle and a blue background. Within the circle and along its circumference was a picture of a crescent moon as well as 7 stars. My students are mostly within the 7-9 and 10-12 age groups and when showed the board, almost all of them immediately said 'moon' as their first observation. In one class (10-12 age group) however, one of my students took a few moments to study the image and then concluded, "It looks like a brain". I did a double-take and asked how he saw a brain and he explained to me. After that I asked him if he could see the more obvious moon to which he stopped for a second and exclaimed, "OH YEAH!!!". Lol. His level of thinking that day must have been on a higher plane of existence. Sometimes we think too much we fail to see the bigger picture or miss the obvious things.

It is interesting to see how our mindsets shape the way we think. I have been teaching at the centre for coming to 8 months already and it suddenly dawned on me why I found it a bit hard to click with my 7-9 age group students after finishing a 10-12 age group class before that. Teaching the latter group involves a different level of thinking, especially when my student has a penchant for playing with words. After finishing that class and going to my next class, the age shift requires an accompanying mindset shift as well. Students at that age may not catch your wordplay and instead give you blank stares. And thus, after a few minutes of acclimatization, I managed to re-establish two-way communication with my students. I have heard similar encounters from my fellow teachers where they transit from a 10-12 age group to a 2-3 age group or vice versa. Imagine a scene where you are talking to Primary School kids as if they were babies. Got my drift?

Adults, because of their experiences in life tend to think much more and deeply. Our heads are filled with so many thoughts (as well as worries), all an effect of the dealings with the complexities of life. Kids on the other hand, think on a much simpler plane, which is why teaching them can be an eye-opening experience. One of my previous students from my 4-6 age group class asked me how my braces stuck to my teeth.

Student: "Teacher, how did you stick that on your teeth?"

Me: "I used special glue."

Student: "Is it tooth glue?"

Me: *stunned* "Yes, it's tooth glue!"

Student: "Was it a big tube or a small tube?" *FINISHING MOVE*

See what I mean? Kids - whether they know how braces are fixed to our teeth or whether they miss the moon for a brain - will always be kids :D