From: valerie boes
Submit: Post Field Note
VisitDate: 10/17/96
Date: 18 Oct 1996
Time: 14:45:59
Remote Name: mingong-mac-05.ucsc.edu
Alax-6,
I ended up playing with Alex for the most part of the day. He wanted a c.d.rom so bad but there weren't any available. i asked him if he would like to play a board game and he said yes. when we sat down to play it he took out the different pieces and put the thing you drop all the disks in together. this showed me he had played connect four before. Alex was a bit on the hyper side. at first when we were playing the game i was playing regular so i could find out how much he knew-if he knew how to block, does he know how to look diagnoly, etc..He pretty much played to see how fast he could get his disks in the holder. So then i started to win. i would ask him why i won and if he couldnt figure it out i would point at where the disks were in a row.(i did a lot of diagnol since he wasnt very good at seeing it) that strategy sort of worked but not really. so i started to let him win. he would win and not even know it so i would just sit there till he noticed. When he noticed he would get very cocky. it was nice. i love it when kids get conpetitive. i really think it makes them stronger. and because he started getting cocky i would win once in a while so i could be happy and he could see the rewards of accomplishing something. Anyways we got board with connect four and started to play dominoes. by this time alex was bouncing off the walls. at one point he started hitting me. not mean hitting, just hitting to get more of my attension. I was pretty tired and told him to knock it off.
I have found that when you are winning at a game it is easier to understand. other wise you get confused and discouraged. this is one of the reason that i started to let alex win. he seemed to take the cue. By the end of the class when i was really tired, i noticed myself becoming a little more snappier than i would have been had i been rested. Im refering to how i told alex to knock it off. On the one hand i sort of felt bad, but on the other hand i don't think it's o.k. for him to think he can just hit me and punch me and jump on me. I think i was speaking like a friend when i told him to knock it off. i don't think i was using my power of age over him, i was just irritated as anyone would have been. Anyways he stoped and we play a few more games and he left.
I noticed this episode with alex because even when i went home i was thinking about it. i don't know what is right or wrong at b.u. I guess this is a lot how parents feel when raising children?????