Lesson learned from Squeakfest '09 Part 2 - "Kids Workshop"

Truth be told, I have an ego the size of Manhattan. Children have a way of giving you a reality check and make you realize that you don’t know jack. I found this out when I had my girls. They don’t even have to do anything but be themselves and ask the questions an adult would be afraid to voice out.

When Tim stressed on the first day that an adult partners with a child in order to learn the program, I scoffed inside and said: “SURELY that doesn’t apply to me”. I was an electrical engineer in my previous life and have learned more than a few programming languages to boot. It shouldn’t be THAT hard…right? Wrong!

The object of the three-day workshop was simple enough: learn the basics of Squeak/Etoys and have children (and adults) build a maze out of these simple rules. Well I knew I was in trouble when my little “star” wouldn’t go around the little obstacle course I made. Abigail (better known as TurkeyJay) sensed my frustration and looked over at my computer and declared “you should try a different turn value”. Adding insult to injury, she said “you can always ask me if you need help”. By the way, she’s only 9 years old.

One saving grace for my bruised ego was the instructor’s (Tim) ability to commit mistakes of his own. He stressed early on that “Mistakes are allowed and are essential to learn the program”. True enough, mistakes are necessary in order for a child to learn. I saw TurkeyJay struggle through a difficult task and saw her triumphant smile when she finally got things to work. From then on, I put my ego in check and left it at the door. I was yelling “Yoshiki help!” not long after that.

As I looked around the room, I saw how different this class was from what I grew up with back in the Philippines. I was reminded of a teacher who told us to sit with our backs straight and hands folded on our tables for a full hour while she talked about the history of The Bataan Death March. In hindsight I think she wants us to experience the agony of the march as well. Looking around Tim’s class I saw a group of fully engaged children. The room was noisy and filled with kids’ chatter.
I’m sure my old history teacher would be rolling around in her grave (God Bless her soul) at the thought of teaching such a noisy class.

Personally, there’s no place I would rather be than a classroom full of eager and excited learners.

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Pertinent Websites and links:
www.squeakland.org
www.etoysillinois.org
www.useitproject.org
www.youtube.com/wtstelzer

Special thanks to: Kim, Tim, Rita, Bill, Ted, Milan, Yoshiki, Kathleen, George, Takashi, Duncan, Sridhar, Chris, Annette Clarke and Family, Madhur, Donna, the rest of VPI team.