The Big Fresh November 17, 2012 Purse Pass

                                                                  Craig Bruce

“Why do you only have one dollar in your purse?” Ahna looked alarmed as she straightened my wallet.

I pointed to my bank cards and she continued to stare at me, confused.

“You know that my bank card is connected to our bank account, right? That they run the card to subtract the right amount from my money?”

“Oh, I kinda thought you gave them your card and it was permission for them to get into your purse and take out your dollars. Like if someone said, ‘Hey what are you doing with that purse?’ they’d show the card with your name on it.”

How many times a day has Ahna watched me take that bankcard out of my wallet to pay for gas, groceries, and gifts? And each time she thought it was some sort of special “get into my purse free” pass? Oh how I love children! In the absence of an explanation — they will always make up something. We adults do the same thing.

Not long ago, I was modeling a lesson for a teacher and had the students turn and talk about the learning objective I had posted. While they chatted, I found a better pen with which to chart their responses. I called them back together and the lesson continued. During our debrief with the teacher I took a moment to say explicitly, “After I posted and talked about the objective, I had the students turn and talk so they could put what they learned into their own words. This is something I do with most lessons. It helps the children understand and make connections.” The teacher chuckled and said, “I’m glad you said something — I thought you were just killing time so you could find a better pen.”

What are you doing and why? What do you assume other people know that they may not? How can you talk about your instructional beliefs and behaviors in ways that invite others in?