Today is ‘Follow my own advice Friday’.
I am bad at this. Not as bad as I used to be, but worse than most I think.
I learned how to deal with this in actual teaching, long ago. I realized
what the student didn’t know, the student didn’t know. They didn’t know
what I couldn’t get in the presentation, they didn’t know how much I
still needed to learn about the lessons further down the road, or even
the lesson I was teaching that day. I realized I only needed to prepare
for that day, and prepare enough to give them the best information I
could in that time. And it worked. I always had enough to give, even if
I didn’t have the entire topic figured out. Less is more is the motto.
But when it comes to the relational and conversational arena, there I still
struggle. Once again, I have made progress, but still have an inclination
to try to cover every angle, every argument, every idea, all at once.
I think of myself like a very curious and energetic dog. Yes, you can teach him
or her to heel and stay and sit and come, but underneath all that learned behavior
is still a dog that wants to run and roll and bark and jump and splash and lick.
I am that dog when it comes to talking about something. My wives and kids have
been my main trainers and they have had some success, but they know they are
dealing with a certain type of dog, so most of the time they are understanding.
“Don’t try to teach an entire course in one lesson.” – Kathryn Murray
