On Facebook the other day, I got a friend request from my freshman high school English teacher. But before I saw that, I got a private message from her. She said that whether or not I friended her, she wanted to reach out to me, asking if I remembered her. Then she proceeded to say some very complimentary things about me as her student. I was surprised to hear from her, and I did remember her all of these many decades later. Then we did a brief catch-up on what we had been doing for all of the years since then. I had a smile the rest of the day as I thought about her kind words.
A few days later, I was relating this story to Wally, and as he was trying to remember his teachers' names, he could tell me where all of their classrooms were. He remembered some teachers and some classmates, but he remembered almost all of the locations of his classes. And that was the first thing that came to his mind.
That surprised me because my first thoughts were about my classmates and my teachers (which, by the way, I can name almost all of my teachers for my 12 years of school before college). I could come up with some locations when I thought about it. Maybe part of these differences between us comes from the fact that he has good spatial skills and I do not. I'm not sure.
I found this school discussion very interesting. It was much like the time when I discovered that Wally didn't see many pictures as he read, but more imagined sounds. He was in high school when he told me this, and that he was very much an auditory learner. This floored me because it seemed impossible to me to read and not see pictures, because that's the way my brain works.
Both of these examples reminded me that you never really know what or how someone is thinking. There are some things we do or perceive that are so innate to us, we don't even think to consider that others could be perceiving things another way. And this is even before we factor in the nurture or experience part of the equation.
So when someone does something that doesn't make sense to me (and there's a lot of that), I try to imagine how they might be thinking differently than the way I do. And sometimes, I'm successful. Sometimes.
Until next time...
How lovely to hear from a former teacher who wanted to reconnect with you! I can remember most of my class teachers' names and I definitely remember where each class was located. Interesting observations about perceptions. :)
ReplyDeleteMy kids are very different from me, and they opened up a whole new way of looking at many things.
DeleteKids teach us a lot even when they are much like their parents.
I remember all my teachers, not in a good way. Lol. But I only had two teachers grades 1 to 8, two room school, husband and wife, husband certifiably insane.
ReplyDeleteWhen there are only two teachers, it's tough when one of them is bad---no other class to transfer to. You should write about it sometime.
DeleteI learned a lot about perceptions when TheHub and I were married. We see and perceive things about as differently as two people can. He is a "read the manual verbatim" type of learner where I am a visual learner. I have never understood how he can not just look at something and intuitively see how it works. He on the other hand has never understood how I can't figure percentages to the decimal point without a pen and paper. We all see things with different "eyes"
ReplyDeleteWhen Ward and I were first married, we worked a lot of jigsaw puzzles for entertainment. We didn't have money to go to the movies or other places. He worked them mostly by shape, and I worked mostly by color. Until we figured that out, we were resorting each others pieces which was frustrating for each of us.
DeleteI am a combo of the two of you. I do all edge pieces then sort and do it by color.
DeleteI think that's one part of working a puzzle that we can all agree on. After that, to each their own. :)
DeleteThat is crazy. You must have been very memorable for your teacher to remember you after teaching thousands of students. As for Wally, what a memory. I recall a couple of teachers, but have virtually no memories of Jr. High or High School let alone where his classes were located.
ReplyDeleteWard said he doesn't have a lot of school memories, either. Maybe it's a guy thing. :)
DeleteIt's good that you can remember your classmates and teachers but for me, I can't remember any of them. It might be I didn't have good experiences so I block those memories. But I can still remember the smell in the school cafeterias, a bleach smell that I seem unable to forget.
ReplyDeleteHave a lovely day.
I don't remember a bleach smell in the cafeteria, but I do remember the Pinesol smell in the hallway after someone threw up. Yuck.
DeleteYes, I understand what you're saying. I see plants and flowers when we go somewhere, Larry looks at everyone's houses, cars, etc. I remember names, he remembers faces. He likes to talk about what other people are doing, I tend to talk about ideas, concepts, plans. Very different! I too am an auditory learner, preferring to listen to radio rather than watch TV.
ReplyDeleteSo cool about your teacher! You must have been a memorable student!
When we're out, I tend to notice plants and my husband notices structures. As my mother used to say, "Differences make the world go round." :)
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