Whether its because I'm dehydrated and not thinking straight or whether i've had a brain wave... I feel I need to share this...
Those of you who know me well, know how much I enjoy helping others so what i'm about to type will be taken in the correct context. Those of you who aren't as familiar with me, please don't be offended.
OOoohh I'm getting a bit D&M on myself LOL!
Ok, sitting here reading through my blog and the entries on other people's blogs I realise that I sometimes am at war with myself when it comes to helping others.
1) to understand the problem and find a solution I initially sit and go through options and possible solutions to the issue until I find something that works - this comes naturally to me (being a digital native - Prensky)
2) if i'm doing this to assist someone else, I try to undo anything I've done and explain what I'm doing and why so that they grasp the concept and steps behind why it wasn't working or couldn't do it in the first place
3) sometimes I wonder whether saying yes to assisting or stepping in with solutions for people is the right thing to do; I have only learned what I know by going through my own frustration, a little bit of growing up with ICT all my life and pure trial and error. If I decline to assist someone, am I teaching them more than what I could if I helped????
So sometimes I wonder whether I should "get back in my box" rather than jump in or be so willing to help but then again if i have the knowledge I'm more than willing to share what I know. This is the dilemma I come to...
COMMENTS WELCOMED! :) to help me at my cross roads ;)
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Cheers
Kat
Very thoughful!
ReplyDeleteI would say that you are right to help, but also right to step back. In both cases the person would be learning something, so it would come down to how you think they would best learn.
I generally learn better through 'doing'so maybe in some cases just give minimal guidance rather than full step-by-step instructions, if the person would learn more that way.
I guess if the situation is that they have been trying for hours (or days!) to get something to work and have had no luck then it would be ok to 'do it for them' and explain the process....
Just my thoughts :-)
Great post by the way!!
Kiri
xx
Kat, I really like this post and Kiri's comment. It is a balancing act that I find I'm always doing too. To help or not to help? I try to practise what I preach to the kids I work with - "Helping is not doing it for them. Helping is giving them hints and showing them things so that they can do it themselves." So for me that means sometimes you give a few little hints and sometimes you show someone step by step. (And when it's your peers, sometimes you just go ahead and do it for them before their head explodes!)
ReplyDeleteI often find that I need to remind kids to let go of the mouse when they are helping this makes a big difference to who is in control. Just today I worked with a class on making Vokis and embeding them into their studio. It was wonderful to see some of the kids who are not usually seen as the ones who 'get it' becoming the 'experts in the room' who were helping all the others. Amazing to me still.