Multi modal learning

An email from a participant in a recent Art of Hosting-type workshop where I brought my juggling balls and taught juggling.  One of the participants, a teacher,  picked up the skill and left with my three balls in hand to  evangelize  play!

This may end up sounding like the silliest email ever but thanks for showing me how to juggle.   I am really enjoying it.   I have never found something that I  am not hard on myself to perfect until now.   I go outside, or inside and practice for a few minutes and if the balls drop, I just pick them up.   Very cool.   And I love feeling that I am improving.   Yesterday I was showing my boss what I learned and I almost had to stop juggling because it was the longest I had gone.   Then the balls fell and solved that problem!   But one of the students as he got off the bus yesterday asked me what I learned at school and I told him I’d show him.   I have never seen this child so enthusiastic about anything and when I was finally able to show the class, they all applauded!   That was cool.   But it was fun to be able to show the class something they could understand.   Except there was another child who after my juggling display says, “what else did you learn”.   So I go on to tell the class we learned a lot of what we are learning in preschool such as how to calm your body down.   Then the same boy, “then what did you learn”, so I continue by saying I could host a world cafe.   And again, “what did you learn”.   I think this child has a future being a lawyer!

Far from the silliest email I have ever received.  This is what makes teaching worth it, and why play matters so much.