“You know, I used to think that a successful session meant everyone left feeling happy and smiling. Now, I’m realizing that a successful session might leave people feeling a little uncomfortable and questioning what they thought was certain.”
This reminded me of a conversation I recently had with my daughter around the whole notion of discomfort and learning. She was tackling some tough homework, and it was frustrating her quite a bit. “This is too hard,” she said, slamming her pencil down. “I don’t really need to know this anyway.” A familiar conversation…every parent knows how that unfolds.
When things seem “too hard” I guess we all tend to question whether or not the work is appropriate for us. Sometimes, it isn’t, and surely, if someone is uncomfortable or frustrated, something must be wrong, right?
I’m not so sure about that.
Maybe it’s okay to be frustrated, sometimes.
Maybe it’s okay to be uncomfortable.
Maybe we don’t need to be so afraid of that.
Anyway, that’s what I told my daughter.
But I’m still thinking an awful lot about it all myself.
2 Comments
Frustration and uncomfortableness is all part of learning, I agree. Otherwise, if we’re comfortable, why do anything? Have often thought that learning always involves a feeling of a gap, of a vaccuum. When we sense there’s a gap or vaccum, it feels uncomfortable, unnatural, so there’s an instinct to try to fill it. This is what I was trying to get at here: http://steveshann.wordpress.com/2009/02/08/first-days-in-my-english-classroom-student-disorientation/
I think I am learning a whole lot most of the time. 😉