A Note From A Teacher

As a kindergarten teacher I’ve seen my fair share of injuries from scrapes to bruises to vomit and even broken bones. I’ve seen the kiddos tears of pain and then seen those tears escalate as the the fear of bandaids, shots, and ‘the nurse’s office’ become a reality. I’ve also seen my fair share of lessons that are not engaging and bored students. And this is why the idea of Tiny Docs is appealing to me.

Much of the fear and angst I see in my students about going to the nurses office or the dentist or the doctor stems from the fact that the medical world is a world that speaks in adult terms, meaning the kids do not have accurate knowledge of what is going to happen to them. The fear of the unknown is big. I’ve seen inattentive students and much of that stems from lessons that do not engage the student. And this is where the idea of Tiny Docs comes into play. It creates a solution to both the fear and the inattention. My students seem to have an innate sense of how technology works and it instantly engages their attention. Often times this technology is just fun and games. Tiny Docs, though, provides a format with the engagement factor of technology but provides factual information. It combines learning and fun, and what more could a teacher ask for? Technology is the language kids speak today and I am excited to see the medical world explained in a kid friendly format in a context that kids know, understand, and get excited about. I showed my students the Tiny Docs’ characters sketches, and after first commenting on the color of Dr. Patches hair, every child’s next immediate response was, “When can we watch the show?”