that's me in the v-neck

A girl I've been working with at 826 CHI drew this picture of me today. Or, she said she was drawing me but then, disappointed with the results of her effort, said it wasn't pretty enough to be me.

It was a rough day. C and I had just talked about the fact that you can't find the difference between two heights by simple subtraction (1 foot equals 12 inches, not 10!) and that time can be similarly difficult (1 hour is 60 minutes, not 100!). I wanted to help her do something complete and well and understand it fully, but our time was an infinite regress. I kept discovering that she didn't know enough of the fundamentals for any of my fun shortcuts and games to work.

I always want kids to walk away from their sessions feeling like the subject is surmountable and fun. But what about when it really, really isn't? What if it's more like paddling the ocean alone in a bathtub? What if you're always slow, sinking, and disoriented? I'm so glad that C keeps coming to 826 so I can paddle a bit, too. Today we learned about feet and how to pronounce the word dingy. Who knows what we'll figure out next time.