Learning

I spent the weekend at a continuing ed course. (and I tried to make the font bigger, but blogspot rebelled today). Gruelling schedule, left at 5:00am to head for the east coast, made it to the 8:00am course in the freezing little board room on nothing but coffee and a donut (not my usual fare); ate chips, cookies, chocolate kisses, cokes and coffee all day while trying to stay awake. Spent a truly fun and relaxing evening with an old school friend and his lovely family. Back to learning on Sunday. Long drive home.

The first 8 hours was anatomy and physiology of a system I am largely unfamiliar with (vestibular - you know the little loopy things in the inner ear that make the world spin after you get off the roller coaster). A tiny little bit of test and treat at the end of the first day. Sunday morning full of review of stuff I didn't get in the first place, followed by test and treatment of some of the most common vestibular disorders - which for the record, are not the most common causes of dizziness. I was lucky enough to be the guinea pig for the instructor the last half of Sunday. Honestly, I do not know how others stayed awake. I am a kinesthetic learner - I have everything from Sunday afternoon SOLID. Saturday might as well have not happened, except for the sleep deprivation and upset stomach.

I have not been to a continuing ed course in a long time. Over the past 7 years I have mostly done CE's in my areas of expertise, and often I know as much as the instructor, except for a few new, key points, or if it is mostly new, I have a very solid base in the anatomy of whatever we are discussing. This was way different for me. I won't use much of it, I did not get enough "hands-on" to feel confident with my skills.

The things I learned most had nothing to do with the course. I have gotten less sociable, and less pushy. I rarely speak in class, and only ask questions as points of clarification. In college, and for many years I was "that guy," questioning instructors, wanting deeper, fuller knowledge on every subject, bringing in my life experiences to "enrich" the class. Saturday I ate lunch alone. I have probably never done that. I ended up making some good connections, exchanging email addresses with a couple of students, but usually at courses, I am little miss social - I want to get to know everyone, make contacts, etc. Maybe because I no longer own my own business, I am not driven to make connections? Maybe because I was exhausted and didn't really want to be there?

I also see instructors as being significantly more human that I remember them being. I don't expect them to know everything, just respect that they know more than I do. If I am tired of sitting there, they HAVE to be tired of getting yawned at. So I have lightened up. Less drama. kind of nice

And hey - if your marbles are loose - I can fix that now.