Today's Thoughts
I've written before about personality tests. I'm a fan. They seem on the mark to me, for me. I've taken the color test several times in my life and am impressed each time. Just did it the other day and was as usual blown away. Some say it's fortune-cookie-ish or generic, but to me it sounds like me:
"Anxious to experience life in all its aspects, to explore all its possibilities, and to live it to the fullest. He therefore resents any restriction or limitation being imposed on him and insists on being free and unhampered."
The other day while proctoring I wrote a haiku or two on the board.
This one girl let out such a loud sneeze that several people screamed in shock:
Palpable tension
fills the final exam room
broken by a sneeze
The kids rely a lot on teachers for reassurance. "Is this right? Am I on the right track. What are you looking for, etc."
So many questions
so much need for attention
students, teachers, both
When I was I was in high school I had a hard time with math. Once I was last to finish a test. I told the teacher I was still on the first question. He screamed at me between bites of his potato salad sandwich - "That's absurd!!!" Then he took the paper and started to walk away. I said, "Youre absurd." He took the paper and dropped it to the floor and stomped back and forth over it and marched away...
Four students remain
after most kids have finished
one would have been me
I wonder if there are any thoughts about the recent post on A.D.D, etc. Comments can posted or can also be discretelty emailed.
posted by rabbi neil fleischmann @ 2:03 PM
13 Comments:
The sneeze haiku is excellent.
Potato salad sandwich? Eewww.
Discreetly.
Potato salad
mushed up into a sandwich:
Absurd as it gets
Re. ADD, you wrote that it means you need to focus on more than one thing at a time. I think that's partly true, but not entirely. I think what happens is that you keep needing to focus on different things, and of course you can't manage all at once, so your attention is constantly being fragmented. The upshot is that you can't focus on any one thing for a useful span of time.
I don't know whether I'm ADD; I certainly had a very difficult time concentrating in school. But in my working life (which often requires long periods of intense focus), I've trained myself to do it. I can still drift off (in fact what I'm doing now is a form of drifting off), but I am usually able to force my nose back onto the grindstone.
Kishke - I really like your definition of ADD. I think it is very accurate. I would though "ADD" to the last sentence of the first paragraph the word "useful" once more.
"The upshot is that you can't focus on any one "USEFUL" thing for a useful span of time.
Or at least one thing that you need to be doing at that moment. Because I have seen plenty of ADD kids focus on computer games for much longer than useful!
Thanks for the comments K and RR.
I left out some of that math and potato salad story, though if I ever write a story about it I think I just named the title.
Good points. ADD is not easy. RR - part of what gets them into the video games may be that it is causing them to think about and do more than one thing at one (hands, eyes, choices...)
hmmm...i hear you, but watching a video or TV works too. anyhow thanks for the interesting material. have a great summer.
Math anxiety always hits a chord with me. I've faced a few tests in my life that left me feeling completely bamboozled.
In art class, the teacher strolls around. Some students frequently ask for help. Other move around their easel to hide their painting from the teacher. They don't want help? Fear the comments?
Our teacher is mostly gentle, despite his fiery red hair. But he saw me attempting to paint the color of a creek running over stones and said, urgently, "I want to teach you about color mixing" (the implied, unsaid second half of the sentence: "before you completely murder that poor creek!")
I could see as well as he did that I needed help, so I was happy to follow him to the board, but a bit disappointed when he drew the color wheel. I've known the color wheel since I was ten. I have my clothes closet organized by the color wheel. But then he took the names of the oil paints we use and positioned them at places on the color wheel and inside it (inside representing neutral colors) and drew lines to show which mixtures would be alarmingly neon bright and which would more earthy and natural. That was actually excellent help for me.
Teaching. Learning. Good stuff.
"Potato salad sandwich" was the most arresting part of this post for me! LOL It reminds me of people who eat "stuffing sandwiches" after Thanksgiving -- bread upon bread, starch upon starch. Or leftover spaghetti or Chow Mein sandwiches. Blargh!
Interesting to see that Kishke has had problems with focusing, too. And "rr": You are absolutely correct to point out that people with ADD can focus to the point of being transfixed when it comes to something they love, like a video game or a book.
rr: Absolutely re. the focusing on what you're interested in. As a kid (and adult), I could spend hours upon hours reading what interested me.
I am blessed with a core of loyal and thoughtful readers. I thank you all, each from your own angle, for your comments.
M- Sounds like a great class and a great labratory for life questions - like, who is willing or unwilling to accept help, and why or why not.
A - Thank you for sharing, commenting in your always pleasant style.
A WORD OR TWO ON POTATO SALAD SANDWICHES
On Thursday nights we had Mishmar following normal dismisal at 5:10. There was a dinner break and then there was mandatory learning till - I guess - 7:30 or 8. It was always Southern Fried Chicken and Potato Salad. They'd start setting up early and theis teacher would get some grubs, or at least did on that night.
"Ah yes! I remember it well."
Oh, I get the potato salad part; love the stuff myself. It's the sandwich part I don't get.
Anne, your "bread upon bread" example was mentioned in the Talmud, which quoted the residents of the Land of Israel as criticizing: These foolish Babylonians, who eat bread with bread.
Kishki, that is really cool to know!
Thanks Kishke.
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