Thoughts about how a newbie learns

It has been nearly two weeks that my students and I have been training the new employee. It has been a challenge for all of us.

I am still trying to figure out how this new employee learns. It's difficult to narrow down, but here are my notes:

• She is an extremely slow learner. She requires tons of repetition doing the same task before she begins to understand it.
• She is not good at recognizing patterns. If there is a clear example on the page, she does not know how to apply that example to solve her current problem.
• She does not read well. It doesn't matter whether she has a checklist or a procedure on how to do a task, she does not read details carefully. She also does not read e-mails well.
• Her comprehension is dismal. She constantly relies on my PowerPoint slides and treats them as the gospel. When she has a checklist to go through, she is still dependent on her slides and doesn't realize that the checklist takes precedence. When I quiz her on how to do something, she goes to her printed slide notes and doesn't get it. So, it's another explanation, but from a different angle. 
• She says thanks too often. Sure, we are all Canadian. However, saying thanks after every other sentence that we say does not register knowledge that we have passed on to her. It is also overkill.
• She is afraid to try anything on her own. When she had a question on how to edit a page the other day, I asked her to give it a try. She gave me a firm, "No!" Um, okay. Odd.

She does have a cartoon character voice. It's squeaky. One of my colleagues called it cute. I find it annoying the more she talks, which is pretty often.

My manager was impressed by how much information and research she did for her second interview. I didn't feel the same way. I realize now that it was all memorization. The comprehension is nonexistent. 

The red flag that I had during her second interview was that she admitted that she was a slow learner. I pointed that out to my boss. He said that the extra work that she does after hours will get her learning faster. I didn't think that it was the case then. I certainly don't see it now.

It is still frustrating dealing with someone who does not get what she is doing. I have even seen my students get frustrated.

Here's hoping that things get better, although things look bleak right now.

Reliving Nintendo handheld gaming systems and never wanting to grow up

When I was in grade 12, just before my December exams, I saved up enough money to buy my first handheld gaming system. I got a Game Boy.

The store that I purchased my monochrome Game Boy was Consumers Distributing. It was essentially a catalogue service. You'd mark the items that you wanted on a piece of paper, and you'd then hand it to staff who would go into the warehouse to find your item. This store has since disappeared, as has the original Game Boy.

Here is a page from a Consumers Distributing flyer that likely caught my eye back then:

Courtesy: Forum Vancouver

By the way, I also purchased the rechargeable AC adapter later months later.

Well over a decade later, I decided to get another Nintendo handheld gaming system. I went with the Game Boy Advance SP. I purchased mine in grey. The screen was colour! You could fold the system in half.

On the weekend, I went to Shoppers Drug Mart to get a few things. I was mainly there to buy a jar of peanut butter. The Nintendo 2DS was on sale for $100. I had $170 worth of points to spend at the store. I decided to ask whether there were any systems left. 

The nice man working there said that he'd check in the warehouse. It reminded me of being at Consumers Distributing as a teenager. He asked me what colours I would like. I said blue. Otherwise, any colour would do just fine.

Five minutes later, he came back with the sea green colour, which is also white. I was pleased. It looked nice. I was sold. There is nothing like a few gaming system.

I am like a little kid sometimes. I went to Best Buy to browse games afterwards. I found a used one that was half price. It was Tetris, which is reminiscent of the first game that came with my Game Boy. I bought it.

Naturally, after my purchase, I went back to my car, opened the Tetris box, took out the cartridge, opened my Nintendo 2DS box, powered the device on (it had a full charge!), placed the Tetris game into the slot, and played the game for an hour. Yes, I played a game in my car on a rainy afternoon.

Although many would say that I am mature for my age, it's nice to not act my age on the weekend. It's nice to relive how I felt about playing an arcade game. It's exciting. It's challenging. It sparks my sense of wonder and fun. It makes me happy.

It will be interesting to tell my guy about my purchase. We are similar when it comes to games. We like puzzle and word games more than anything, but we both love pac-man.

No wonder we get along well.