The Golden Hat

I recently picked up the book The Golden Hat  by Kate Winslet. Recently inspired by an Icelandic documentary titled A Mother's Courage, Kate Winslet had an epiphany while brushing her teeth at bedtime. She thought to herself- what if we created a foundation that could collect many for the good of children and adults with nonverbal autism. The idea for the donation would be a book, filled with the written email relationship that developed between Kate and the mother of Keli, a nonverbal autistic boy. Another component to the book includes multiple celebrities who took a self portrait with the "golden hat". The Golden Hat was born in one of Keli's poems that he wrote. This hat had the capacity to allow autistic children the ability to communicate what they are thinking to the world. And so, many artist photographed themselves with the hat, and gave a quote that defined what they would share to the world and their loved ones about themselves if they only had a few words. I was inspired by this book, and in fact, read it in one sitting. This is a good book to read on a rainy day. To realize and appreciate the little things in life, and the value they have in our everday living. Also to reinstill the fact that people are given dealt unlucky hands. We must be more accepting of people's inescapable differences.

Education: Book vs. Physical

Education and knowledge are multidimensional concepts. In addition, every person learns and retains the knowledge they study in different ways using unique techniques. For that reason, there is no way of choosing the "best" way to learn. In many lessons, there always seems to be a need for balance.

What I have learned in attempting to get through nursing school is that the knowledge I have retained and use in my practice is 90% what I have gained from hands on experience in clinical. One of the things I have retained from textbooks, however, is that knowledge theorists believe there to be many different kinds of knowledge. There is logical, semantic, systemic, empirical, rational, to name a few. There are also different learners. I have come to find that the significance in learning about knowledge itself, is to find out what kind of knowledge I have retained, what strategies are best for me to retain that information and the  relevance it has in my overall intelligence.

From my experience, I have found that I am good at many things. Good at many things, but not great at any particular thing. I like to believe I am good at physical goal acheivement, interacting with others, learning new information, being creative and curious, and experimenting. I think practically. I am impulsive. I am intelligent in topics of my own interest. I like math. I enjoy learning from other people and their experiences.

I need more time, though, to process. Process all the information that is given to me. If there is a time limit, forget it. Reasoning is also not my strong point. Nor is critical thinking. Anyone who knows me is aware that I am incapable of making a decision most of the time.

I have come to find that I am more equipped in learning kinesthetically and enjoy learning about concepts that have physical meaning to me. That link up with an experience I am familiar with, or seen in the past, and am then able to expand on. I am also interested in learning through conversation, application, and peoples expression and emotion of a certain topic. While I can read it in a book, to experience a person in that situation is the type of knowledge that I am able to truly understand.