The Soul’s Intention to Learn

FAMILY of YOUNG SOULS, the joy of teaching

Teacher’s Privilege

The Soul’s Intention to Learn

by Dr. Pam Blosser

Hezekiah is an active four year old who likes to learn because he causes his learning. When he wants to learn something, he will do it over and over, and he will ask to do it over and over until he learns it. One evening we were looking at a calendar in his room. We came across a picture of sea turtles under the sea. At the bottom of the picture was a skeleton of a sea turtle. The caption described a cavern under the ocean where sea turtles venture. Sometimes they are not able to get back out of the cavern so they are trapped inside the cave and die.

Hezekiah was very interested in this picture and what it described. I told him the story over and over again and he kept asking questions about it. “How come the sea turtle gets trapped? What happens when he gets trapped?” He asked to go downstairs and do a play about the turtles. He got flashlights and went into a room downstairs. We turned out the light and pretended to be sea turtles trying to find our way back out of the cave, shining our flashlights to search for the entrance.

He then asked me what happened to the turtle and how the skeleton got there. I told him that the turtle dissolved and the skeleton was all that was left. He remembered an experiment that we had done with baking soda and vinegar, where the baking soda dissolved in the vinegar releasing bubbles of carbon dioxide. He wanted to go do that experiment. We went into the kitchen, got out vinegar and baking soda and proceeded to combine the two chemicals. He used the word “dissolve” several times while we were pouring soda into the vinegar.

One thing I have learned from Hezekiah is that he causes his learning; he wants to do something over and over again, either using the same medium or a variety of media. Waiting until the situation calls you to respond is a slow way to learn.

I used to be intimidated with making pie crusts and I would avoid making pies at all costs. One day Dr. Dan, one of my teachers, showed me how to make a pie crust. When he rolled out the pie dough, preparing it to go into the pie pan, some of the dough began to break. This was the point, when I had made pies by myself, that I had started to panic. I continued to watch him. He calmly unrolled the pie dough into the plate and then took some other dough to patch the breaks. When I saw what he had done my anxiety began to melt.

After that I made lots of pies so I could become confident with making piecrust. I made cream pies and fruit pies. I made round pies and square pies. I was causing my learning. I taught others how to make pies. I taught my niece when I was visiting my sister at Christmas. I taught some of the students here at our college. I taught a teacher at one of the teacher’s meetings I attended. I taught them what I had learned: that making pies is easy and fun and it’s all in the way you hold your mouth when you’re rolling out the pie crust.

You must smile.

A teacher, writer, and SOM President, Dr. Pam Blosser also serves as director of Camp Niangua.


 

©2002 School of Metaphysics

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