2024-05-01

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

If you’re reading this, you probably know that we tend to start left foot forward for most things. Telling left from right is tough for some people, particularly children, so I try not to use them too much when I teach. Instead, I tend to give instructions in terms of “front” and “back”, but we still have to start somewhere and that takes us full circle needing to be able to tell left from right. Since we’re barefoot, I’ve occasionally taken a marker and written a big letter “L” on the top of a student’s left foot when they really need a bit of extra help … which brings me to today’s story.

A couple of months ago, one of my directionally challenged students was having some trouble, so I grabbed a pen and wrote the big, capital letter “L” on the top of his foot, oriented so that it was right side up if he just looked down at it. But no … instead he turned his foot 90° to the right, turned his head 90° to the left and asked, “What does ‘7’ mean?” 🤦 I laughed for a solid minute.

Then, last night, I had another one. This student had started since the last incident, so he wasn’t familiar with that story. He, too, was having trouble telling left from right, so I wrote a big, capital letter “L” on his foot and asked, “You know what that’s for, right?” He answered, “Loser?” 🤦🤦 I looked over at the “#7” kid and we both burst out laughing.