Tuesday, January 19, 2016

The First Crossing

I was at a training tonight for a teaching thing I am going to be participating in.  At the training there was a video that was shown about some mountain climbers that were crossing a ravine via a rope.  They threw a grappling hook to the other side, made sure it was secure and then one climber scooted across.  Once he made it across he could secure the rope and then reinforce by taking more rope back across.  This process was followed a few more times until there was enough of a structure to attach wood planks making it much easier to cross the chasm.  The point of the video was that the first crossing was the hardest and each connection made, or each crossing completed made it easier and easier to do.  The point of this lesson and what I will be participating in is a program to help students realize that learning takes effort and when we first learn a concept, making the connection can be difficult.  The more we practice and work on that particular concept the easier it becomes until it is to a point where it is almost automatic.  This particular class is about math.  Struggling through this online course right now I can attest that the message is true.  I have experienced as recently as the last 2 and a half hours.  I had the thought in the training shared by President Heber J. Grant who may have been quoting Ralph Waldo Emerson who said "that which we persist in doing becomes easier for us to do - not that the nature of the thing has changed but that our power to do has increased".  I like the message.  I enjoyed the class.  It should be an interesting experience participating in this endeavor.  

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