Great minds think alike

I was tickled to read this in Liz Davis's 10 Tips for Teaching Technology to Teachers:

10. Don't touch the mouse: Tie your arm behind your back if you have to, but try not to take over mousing for your teachers. This is one of the hardest things for me to do, but also one of the most important. When people mouse they learn to do things themselves, when I do it for them they learn to watch me do it.

This comes from my post "Seven Habits of Highly Effective Technology Trainers" from June 2008 and originally published in book form in 1998!):

2. No mouse touching.
Good trainers are patient. One sure sign of this saintly virtue in teachers is that they never touch a student's mouse or keyboard. No matter how exasperating it becomes to watch that ill-coordinated teacher find and click on the correct button, good instructors' hands stay well behind their backs, no matter how white knuckled they become.

I am no way suggesting Liz stole the idea. In fact her list is better than mine (except my illustration is superior). I do think it is fascinating when two people come up with the same idea. Bound to happen that given similar experiences, independent thinkers come up with similar conclusions and recommendations.

I feel .... validated!

Comments

[Liz Davis]

I also feel validated. Thanks for reading my post. I think this tip is the one that has resonated with most people. I still find it very hard to stay away from the mouse, I have to restrain myself at times.

I love your post (I don't think I had read it before). You have a great way of putting things. "The problem is on the desk, not in the chair." is so true. I'm not sure what I think about your illustration....
-Liz

[teacherninja]

It is hard, but I kept this advice in mind early in the year when the tech folks were introducing us to One Note. The woman beside me--an early-intervention reading teacher--was having trouble keeping up so I helped talk her through it. She kept trying to hand me her laptop an just wanted me to do it for her, but I refused, saying, "You're acting just like one of your own students!"

[Doug Johnson]

Hi Liz,

The picture? Well, more and more of us are visual learners ;-)

Thanks for the comment,

Doug

Hi Ninja,

I'll give you points for accuracy if not for tact!

Funny.

Doug