Ok… I have some thoughts on being a nerdy girl. Almost every time I’m meeting a new student, at some point in our first few sessions I tell them I’m nerdy, dorky, and geeky. They’re going to figure it out pretty quickly anyway, I’m not good at hiding it. And I wouldn’t want to hide it anyway. Like I tell my students, “nerdy” is just a word bullies use to make you feel bad about being smart. In reality, being told that you’re smart and enjoy intellectual things is a compliment.
Look at me, I love math, prefer printed books over Kindles, use paper-and-pencil planners instead of using my phone, wear onesies pretty much every minute that I’m home, and own 9 fountain pens. I have a pretty serious obsession with Microsoft Excel (a spreadsheet processor) and love Star Trek and Pixar movies. Not only am I sort of a nerd, but I even surround myself with dorky people, my best friend is a chemist!
I’m a big believer that my students should get to see the real me. I’m silly and playful and sometimes dorky. They should get to see that being nerdy, dorky, or a little weird is ok.
So what if they enjoy reading my Word of the Day Pinterest board? Or, like WP, have me as their math tutor because they want to learn even more math? There are amazing benefits to being a nerd and liking intellectual things!
The Up Side to Being a Nerdy Girl… or Boy
School-age kids can be mean. I know, I get it. I was there (more on that in another post). But I think it’s important for my students to know that even though being dorky might stink at this age, in college and beyond nobody cares. Sometimes it can even be useful! As one of my students said, “Hey if I have to have a tutor… having one that thinks math is cool is probably the best way to go.”
And sometimes it’s not only useful, but it can even be cool to be smart. In college, I was in a sorority! Imagine that! Granted, I was in the sorority with the highest GPA and involvement with extracurricular activities, so maybe I just ended up surrounding myself with other academically-driven women… Looking back on it, that’s most definitely the case, not that I was actually cool. But hey, now I have created a job and life for myself that lets me:
- work from home in my PJs,
- have enough discretionary time to enjoy my hobbies,
- and have a fulfilling life.
So maybe being a nerdy girl or guy isn’t such a bad thing, right?
With all my support,
Stephanie
