Swoosh. Swish.
Chatter. Crunch. Silence. Swoosh. Chatter. Crash.
The sound of me
learning to ski, just a few weeks ago at the end of the ski season at
Killington Vermont. Even though I grew up in the frozen north, I never learned
to downhill ski. My mother had me on ice skates almost as soon as I could walk,
and we had weeks of snowshoe and cross-country ski units in gym class. But the
downhill skiing never took.
I recall one
school trip as a young child to Ski Big Tupper. I don’t remember now what
prompted them to take us on a skiing field trip over an hour away, but I do
remember that I didn’t like it. Not one bit. I fell over, got cold and wet,
couldn’t get back up, and the other kids laughed at me. I tried something new,
probably under duress, failed immediately and vowed never to ski again.
Cut to winter
2019, and someone has convinced me that although I had a bad experience trying
to ski as a child, maybe I should try it again as an adult who is not under
duress to learn, and who at the very least could enjoy the benefits of apres
ski. It would also help to use better equipment (I don’t even think we had ski
poles or real ski boots in Tupper, let alone goggles) and take an actual
instruction class for adult novice skiers.
By the end of the
trip I was off the learner slope and happily skiing on actual trails, but I
failed a lot before I succeeded. People have different learning styles, and for
whatever reason I wasn’t quite getting what the instructor was saying. The
instructions made sense, but my feet just weren’t doing what they should and he
couldn’t explain it in a way that would correct me. My biggest obstacle was
being able to turn - kind of an important skill to master if you’re going to do
anything other than ski in a straight line. My friend finally hit on the mental
trick that worked for me: to learn how to turn I held my hands out in front of
me and actually moved my hands like I was steering a big wheel, and bingo
presto I was turning. My theory for why this method worked is because I’m good
at hand-eye coordinated tasks, but am hopeless at foot-eye activities such as
soccer and, apparently, learning to ski.
Learning brand
new things as an adult is difficult. Lifelong learning is important for brain
health and makes you a more scintillating conversationalist, but teaching
yourself to do something you’ve never tried before is scary. For one thing,
we’re afraid of failing. Ego and the desire to save face gets in our way, and
we can get discouraged when we don’t immediately succeed at a new endeavor.
We see this all
the time in the library. When I’m working on the Reference Desk, I help people
do all sorts of things on the computer, on their phones or tablets, and on
library technology such as the scanner or copier. Everyday, adults apologize to
me when they don’t do something perfectly the first time they try it. This
self-deprecation really isn’t necessary though, because every single person who
knows how to do something well started out not knowing how to do it. We all had
to turn on the computer for the first time, muddle our way through the first
screen of prompts on the fax machine, and figure out how to get back up again
after falling on a pair of skis. Whatever the skill, none of us do it right the
first time. The important thing is to take a breath, dust yourself off, and
try, try again.
I’m especially
proud of the students in our Learn to Knit and Learn to Crochet classes, which
we offer on alternating months in the fall, winter, and spring. We get a lot of
adults who have been curious about knitting or crocheting, but who have never
thought of themselves as crafty or worked with yarn before. We keep the classes
small and create a safe space where we all start with the basics, helping
students along on an individual level. These folks are literally training their
muscles to do something they’ve never done before, and learning a craft can be
frustrating at first - we know it’s frustrating, because we’ve been there. As
an instructor, it’s a fun challenge to try to figure out just the right way of
explaining the technique or helping the student visualize what they need to do
next, until suddenly the craft clicks for them.
We offer a number
of hands-on learning opportunities at the library, including Learn to Knit and
Learn to Crochet classes. We also have one-on-one technology appointments where
you can bring your device or use our laptop, and sit down with one of our
Technology Librarians to learn a new skill. Please contact the Reference Desk,
781-769-0200 x110, or visit our website,
norwoodlibrary.org, to join one of the “Learn to” classes or book a technology
appointment. If you’d like to experience the challenge and reward of teaching
someone a brand new set of skills and make a real impact on their life,
consider becoming an English as a second language (ESOL) tutor through our
Literacy program (781-769-4599).
However, I regret
to inform you that at this time the Morrill Memorial Library will not be adding
learn to ski classes to our roster of services.
