In the two former blogs that were posted I talked about left and right brain hemispheres.
At the moment I have two pupils, both with the same names, one in high school and the other in junior school. Both come to me on the same day. Both sat down as if in unison the same week, looked at me with these sad eyes and said: “I have a question to ask!” Hearing the voice and seeing those eyes I understood instantly that I was in for one of ‘those’ famous questions.
This is the story of the high school student who had discovered during the teachers strike that he actually has his future planned out for him. He is a very successful graphic artist who could make money from his talent. An ability that he was born with and which he never learnt but was more than willing to study.
After the strike he had to go back to school and face up to failing at certain subject and everyone saying that he had no choice but to get assessed so that he could make everything much easier and doable for himself. His reaction was: so why do it at all and what on earth do I need all these subjects for anyway?”
I took a deep breath, made a quick prayer and knew that this was one of the most important sessions of the year and if we got it right it would be the beginning of a fascinating and successful journey.
I have two answers to your question, I replied. The first one is that you really don’t need all these subjects; you can survive perfectly well without most of them. With that there was a wonderful smile and sitting back on the chair relaxed and happy. But, …..I continued, the second is that we have 12 years of schooling to develop our brain and develop the parts that are weaker. The strong parts of the brain are the things that we usually choose to use in later life and then we let go of the things that we are not so good at. But those are the parts that need to be developed so that we have a whole stronger brain. Our school years are there to help us to do this. We need the homework to discover if we can do things on our own without the help of the teacher and we need the tests to test ourselves if we have improved and if not,where are we failing. Failing to gather the information, failing to remember the information, failing to understand the question or failing in writing a detailed answer. Tests and their grades are important for ourselves not as a comparison to others but to see what we are failing in. It is vitally important to read all the teachers comments and even go to him/her afterwards to find out what we did incorrectly. Y looked at me amazed, with understanding and excitement…if that is the case, he said, teachers don’t know what their task is at school!!! I buy your answer and the thought of ‘exploiting’ school for my own purposes amazes and excites me, was his comment.
As for logistics: we decided that we would start with history which was the subject of great failure. 40% in the last test which immediately sparked off a telephone call to parents and a request from the school to do an assessment and receive permission from the board of education for an ‘easier’ exam. Y refused to do this by saying ‘these teachers really don’t know what school is about!!’ he tried to explain to his class teacher that he doesn’t mind failing or getting a low mark because that just means that he has to work differently and find a method to improve his grades….if everything is made easier for him then he has no challenge and cannot improve! His teacher’s answer was: “I am trying to help so that you can pass matriculation.” Y then said ‘but that doesn’t give me instruments for dealing with my difficulties!’
The next step was to work out a ‘learning and remembering strategy.’ He has great difficulty sitting in class and following the sequence of the different events especially as it is not a direct linear sequence, there was an enormous whole picture of events that he wasn’t understanding and there was all the interference in the classroom which didn’t help the mind follow the story and their details. He tried to write during the lesson because that is what his friends do but with no success and no understanding. Because of his fantastic graphic abilities we decided that instead of words we would use mind maps but using mainly pictures. So we started working on different ways to summarize and understand the material until we arrived at something which was exciting for him. Y was so thrilled at the thought of using his drawing abilities for subject matter that he stood at the door and said “I can’t wait to go and buy that ‘no lines’ notebook and prepare myself for the test in three days time and he actually danced down the stairs in glee.
A week after the lesson he came back with 74% for his test. Yeh! Almost twice as much as the last one. What were the comments I asked. The teacher said that he had not explained the concepts – what was the word emancipation for instance. Do you know what should have been written? I asked. His answer was ‘YES, But it is clear that the teacher knows as well so why write it!: A classic answer.
I suggested that next time he writes he should imagine that he is giving the answer to a little funny guy from outer space who doesn’t know anything!
Big smile! So we now wait for the next test.
Y’s notebook is a work of art – no one can really understand it except for himself. He remembers the pictures he draws, he makes lines and arrows to how events are connected to other events – but mainly the minute that he draws his pictures he understands and remembers the material.
And thus Y has conquered his weak spots and made them into something exciting and special for himself.