Perhaps I am too old fashioned - or too new fashioned? I cannot imagine why sometimes I have to hear my own voice saying, "No way! Your teacher is giving you a lesson on that and didn't give you an opportunity to use real life examples to demonstrate how to learn the concept! Shucks!"
I love what I do - teaching students how to learn the information that has been given to them by a classroom teacher. Sometimes when they give me the document I notice the look of perplexity and desperation on their face that says, "Help, you are my only hope!" No matter what the task, I always feel that after that session is over, there is a sense of accomplishment not only on their part, but on mine as well.
Yes, I do have a bag of tricks and some magic that I pull from up my sleeve to have children learn. But the one thing that I do to try to help my students is the art of finding relevant information in their own life to help them understand that "bigger picture". I am happy to say that I did this today in a subject that I received accolades for.....many years ago.
A long time ago in a galaxy called "High School", there was a young girl whose name is called "Little Miss Estudious". "Estudiious" had many friends that were "estudious" as well. So much so that they built a network together where they would gather in libraries and in lunchrooms talking about homework and who "blew up the bell curve". Sad to say, "Little Miss Estudious" was also part of the Curve-Breaker Group, another infamous group that wandered the halls of high school.
When it was time for the "Estudious" team to be recognized for their achievements - it was only obvious that she would win the award in math... right? WRONG! "The Department Award for Biology goes to.........."Estudious" were the very words that uttered from my high school teachers mouth on that dreadful day - a day that marked my love for math that was later on traded in for a science award. The infamous day in history that I call "D" day ("D" standing for "Duh" - really, you think that I am "Science" material?". I don't know what my science teacher saw in me. Later on she confessed that she believed in her heart that I would go on to study medicine or biology. I tried to secretly hold that laugh inside because I thought that someone who would think that I was a scientist really did not...know me at all.
Back to February 2011, one of my students shared with me some information that he needs to learn for his quiz in Physical Science. Mind you - I taught earth and life science but something about Physical Science really gives me the chills (perhaps it is because it is the type of science that neurologically inept individuals seem to like the most. i.e. Ted Kaczinsky ring a bell?) He proceeded to tell me that his science teacher hands out these nicely copied workbook pages from the book and adds information on the last sheet that they do not "fill out". The topic was amazing and I asked the student if his teacher lectured about the importance of this topic. I mean learning about work" and "machines" - you would think that any boy would love this because that is what LEGOS are made of?
WRONG AGAIN! This teacher (who I would like to call "teachless") seems to just teach for the paycheck. I saw the blank stare on my students face and said, "Okay, now think about it. If you had to walk all around this room, you could find all sorts of machines. For example, look at this gel pen...name the machines in here. What about a pair of scissors...what two machines are in here?"
I don't know why bad teaching happens to good students. I just tried to show him how you can "relate" all of that information to what you see in real life. Look at it this way, learning happens for just a few days or weeks, it is application that lasts - a lifetime!
If you are in the Atlanta/Marietta/Kennesaw/Dunwoody/Vinings/Sandy Springs/Buckhead area (Cobb County, Fulton County, Dekalb County, Cherokee County, Gwinnett) and have any questions about the JATP, CRCT, SSAT, SAT, GED, Summer Tutoring, Orton-Gillingham, Singapore Math, Handwriting Without Tears, Writing Strategies, Brain Gym or any methodologies or instructional methods that may help your child succeed, please contact me at christine@learningridge.com or visit my website at http://www.learningridge.com//. If you need immediate assistance, you can call me at 404-964-8533.
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