A phrase that I often heard and used while teaching Kindergarten was ‘age appropriate.’ You knew right away when something was NOT age appropriate in a room full of twenty-plus five and six year olds. For instance, the well-intended volunteer who proceeds to tell a story to the wiggly rug-rats that is way over their little heads, which then leads to chaos ensuing when the bored kiddos simultaneously decide they are done listening. Recipe for disaster.
I feel like I’ve been on both sides as an adult, witnessing the disaster in my classroom, as well as being the student in someone else’s classroom. Have you ever been stuck listening to a speaker or teacher who is just plain b-o-r-i-n-g? Everyone has had the situation where you are thinking, ‘these are minutes I am never getting back.’
Jason has been doing speaking in one form or another for the past five years. Being on the road together is super inspiring and it is neat seeing him able to connect effectively with so many different types of groups. Jason loves speaking to adults. He also has a real gift for connecting to intergenerational audiences. This is truly his area of expertise. One of the programs he offers is for ages 5-105…and it truly is. He has this amazing ability to connect with groups, offering them inspiration, humor, cartooning, encouragement and wisdom. Lately he’s been doing a whole lot of whole community catechesis programs for Catholic churches. The concept is gathering together households of faith for intergenerational assemblies. Spiritual education should not end in high school. We should be lifelong learners. I certainly couldn’t get away with not continuing my education as a teacher and expect to renew my teaching license every five years.
Being used to teaching in classrooms with students that are the same ages, Jason has taught me that groups of people of all ages have a lot to learn from each other. He just has a way of being ‘age appropriate’ with every age at the same time. And his message is universal.
Every person has a wealth of lessons to share with others…whether you are my 92 year-old Grandpa, aka Boompa, or my spunky nieces and nephews who have only lived a small fraction of Boompa’s life. I have learned so much from all of them about the importance of seeing life through the eyes of a child. [tags]whole community catechesis, age appropriate, intergenerational[/tags]