Throwing Velcro Balls on a Stucco Wall

Have you ever tried throwing a Velcro ball onto one of those sticky walls? Most of the time it sticks. Every once in a while you throw it too hard or not hard enough and it falls off, but most of the time if stays on the wall. That is how school usually is for me. Whatever the class is, the information is thrown at my head at varying speeds and it usually sticks. This semester I’m taking a Medieval Literature course with a wonderful professor. She’s energetic, she knows more about the Middle Ages than a mere mortal should, and she’s a lovely person. Right now we’re reading The Showings of Julian of Norwich, and the balls are no longer sticking.

I’m having a difficult time digesting and relating to some of the readings from class, and I realized that this is because I have such a small knowledge base from which to draw. Sitting in class feels like I’m in the six foot end of the swimming pool trying to catch frisbees. I’m so glad I took this class. I was lucky/unlucky enough to coast my way through most of high school, and this class is giving me a glimpse into what some of my students will go through daily in my classroom. I can have “link to prior knowledge” pounded into my head several times a week, but it never made more sense than trying to catch those frisbees in College Hall today.