I know you love your newbies (I threw that at the end as a rally cry in defense of kids quizzing their Moms.) I apologize if my post sounded angry, cuz I’m not. I was just being brave and admitting my truth, that I didn’t get it.

You already do such a good job with being patient and careful in your explanations. My favorite is when you are in the midst of a demonstration and say, “Now what does that mean???” and then you walk through the entire sequence. And I love all your circles and arrows. And your patience and calm way of talking. Are you blushing yet?

Anyways, as I remind the engineers in my life….
Knowledge is wonderful, doing something with it is great, but being able to explain it takes talent.

Blessings!

Chill

Appreciate your comments!

Yes while I found this video very funny, it was REALLY humbling for me as a teacher to NOT take anything for granted, and do even MORE explaining that I do. (Maybe even have a section in the workshop called ‘Glossary for Newbies’)

I do love my newbies

OK I’ll admit it… I’m a MOM. Be easy on us. We were likely too busy raising you amazing kids while all this computer stuff was evolving.

The greater point — being considerate of your audience and happily explaining what you think is basic — is a skill worth practicing.

Here’s an example from my teaching years you can play with: Imagine how you’d describe ‘place value’ to a room of 5 year olds . . . how a 1 in the ‘tens place’ means more than a 1 in the ‘ones place’ and what’s that zero doing there.

Now for the fun of it, imagine a ‘man on the street’ is filming your explanation.

Yes, it’s very important for those of us who don’t know basic computer stuff, to have knowledgeable people be kind, patient and ready to explain EVERY thing. Break down EVERY thing to the smallest steps.

The computer boom happened while I was busy raising my kids. Now I’m very grateful for people like Christina, who help us Baby Boomers and respect the fact that we don’t know these things cuz we’ve been busy with other worthwhile accomplishments.

That’s also why the teacher in me loves the greater point here… to be considerate of your audience when explaining what you think is simple.

Try this: Imagine how you’d describe ‘place value’ to a room of 5 year olds… how a 1 in the ‘tens place’ means more than a 1 in the ‘ones place’ and what’s that zero doing there.

Now imagine a ‘man on the street’ is filming your explanation.

Love your newbies.

It’s important that we not make assumptions and do our best to educate our readers, listeners and viewers. That’s a much better choice than treating them like people who think the world is flat!