Early Childhood

My grade school days are long behind me, but there is one memory that immediately comes to mind. In second or third grade, we were all excited to learn how to maneuver the fluid motions of cursive writing. On the first day of school we received a special tablet of paper that was a bit rough to the touch and was a beautiful color of champange. No longer would we be using the lighter green paper with wide lines. Now we were going to learn to write with flair. My excitement was off the charts, I was going to learn something that my older sisters had mastered several years prior. To my horror, when it was time for penmanship the teacher collected all the new paper and handed out the old light green paper with fat lines that now also graced angled dashed lines. We used that paper for penmanship drills for weeks. The joy of learning a task that would put me on the same level as my older sisters was dashed.

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 High School Days

High school was just the opposite of grade school. No more rote lessons. We were introduced to critical thinking. We could think through problems which brought so many new learning opportunities. My favorite class was Algebra. The teacher was a mathematical wiz. She loved math and it showed in her excitement. I particularly remember how she always gave a brief explanation of what she would cover during the day’s lesson and then break it down into small individual pieces that were easy to comprehend and implement for the next step. To this day I love Algebra.

 

Career Path

Once I began my training in my chosen profession of Audiology, I loved clinical days. We were performing hearing testing and providing aural rehabilitation. I learned as much when I failed in a testing situation since my professor, who ended up as a mentor, would walk me through the additional possibilities and probable outcomes. I did not know at the time, but she created decision trees for me to work through. I learned more from those coaching sessions as I did in the classroom.