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Who’s Listening To The Children?

On January 12, 2010, the island of Haiti was struck by a catastrophic earthquake. Unprecedented. Devastating. Life shattering. 

Once the shock began to wear off, offers of help started pouring in from all around the world.

Popular music producer, Kirk Franklin, assembled a number of other award-winning gospel artists to join together in singing a song called “Are You Listening?”

Each verse begins by saying, “I can’t imagine how you felt as…” then goes on to mention some horrible circumstance that may have occurred during the tragedy.

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The Mystery of Un-Learning

iStock photo

iStock photo

Have you ever deeply pondered the mystery of learning to read? We take some shapes that we are told are called letters, bunch them together and call them words. Then we string different words together and call them a thought – a sentence.

It’s amazing how the human brain takes in information from varying sources (input), processes it then tells us what to do with it (output).

Many times, we take for granted the things that are easy for us to accomplish. Reading is no exception to that rule.

What would you do if you suddenly lost the ability to decipher what’s written on a paper or in a book? Click on this link and listen to or read about a kindergarten teacher’s experience with exactly that challenge:  http://ow.ly/t1279

I like her indomitable spirit and how she developed a system of reading through writing.

What experience in your son’s or daughter’s like caused you to come up with a creative solution?

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Learning Like An Elephant

In Thailand, observant natives noted how elephants liked to scratch the ground with sticks. Someone came up with the brilliant and creative idea to exchange the stick for a paint brush and the ground with a canvas. Take a look at the result:

Over varying amounts of time, one trainer painstaking teaches an elephant to replicate a painting. Do you remember the simile about memory you learned in elementary school? Someone may be referred to as having a memory like an…elephant. That’s right! Just as elephants can be trained to remember the moves for circus acts, they can be taught to remember the strokes for picture compositions.

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Does Your Child Have A Learning Disability?

If you move around in a school community, sooner or later, you’ll hear it. Learning disability. So, what is that? Look at this simple video for a brief  and simple explanation.

It is extremely important to know your child’s preferred way of taking in information. That’s what will empower you to help him learn better and faster. As you study your son or daughter, lead them to discover the way they learn best.

If they are weak in one area, look for their area of strength and highlight it.

I’m on a campaign to help every child under my sphere of influence find out how he learns best, and teach them at least one way to make their weak area strong.

I’m enlisting mothers to join me. (Dads who feel left out are welcome too)

Here’s my question: Who’s willing?

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How Much Learning Can Take Place In All This Noise?

By now, you’ve probably noticed I have a fascination…passion…possibly, an obsession with listening and sound. So let’s talk some more about it. Perhaps it has the greatest effect on learning than any other variable, and my goal is to enhance learning in all the students I encounter – directly or indirectly.

Did you know that noise was the number one quality-of-life complaint in New York City in 2013? It is the 2nd biggest type of pollution, after air pollution.

Many years ago, when I worked in New York City, I was often overwhelmed by the incessant noise and rushing. It seemed like the movement of the people on the streets mirrored the noise of the blaring sirens, pounding jackhammers, screeching taxi brakes, passionate vendors, and…

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Sounds Sounds Everywhere…Do They Affect Your Child’s Learning?

It seems like everywhere you turn today, sounds abound…LOUD sounds. Cars zoom down the road, blasting music through the windows. Sometimes the music is so loud, you can hear it even through closed windows.

During the summer, as you walk down many pavements, music boxes are set up and street performers show off their moves, hoping that some generous onlooker will be moved to put some money in their collection box.

Even churches are not immune to this epidemic. On a few occasions, as I approached a church, not being able to hear the words of the songs being sung, if I didn’t see the tell-tail “churchy” building structure, I would not have been able to tell if it were a dance hall or secular club of some sort.

As I go on my daily journeys, many times I tell young people, “I can hear your music through your headphones. Do you know you are damaging your hearing?” Most times the response is something like, “Oh no! I can hear everything.”

I’ve also seen students studying with loud background music. Upon cautioning them about the volume, they always say, “I can study and concentrate in any kind of music. It doesn’t affect me.”

Contrary to what so many of our youth and some older folk believe today, sounds around us affect us every day, even though we are not aware of it. I’ve learned in my studies and research that noise levels affect accuracy. In fact, the sound scientist and consultant, Julian Treasure, stated that introverts find it very difficult to relate when in a noisy environment while doing group work.

How many students in classrooms all around the country would you say are introverts? Hmmm, I think this requires some thought, don’t you?

Your Turn: Have you ever been in a situation where it seemed that the loud sounds around had a negative effect on your thinking and/or performance?
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The Case for Learning Through Handwriting

Child at school

Over the past 20+ years of providing speech-language therapy to students, I have noticed that the vast majority have very poor handwriting. Most of the children whom I service also have reading problems. Could there be a connection?

In a study carried out at Indiana University, the data showed that the process of writing letters activates portions of the brain in children, that are critical to reading.

Here is one father’s creative way of teaching his 2-year old daughter how to write the alphabet.

In spite of the research findings, schools seem to be moving away from teaching traditional handwriting to using technology. Forty-three states have now adopted curriculum guidelines that teach students how to type. Knowledge is now dispensed through textbooks accessed via iPads and other electronic tablets.

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He’s Learning…He’s Learning Not

One afternoon some months ago, Jay’s teacher came to me exasperated. “I can’t believe this boy got to the 5th grade, and he’s still a non-reader!”

He was such a sweet boy, but turned into this surly beast once classes began. Obstinate. Hostile. Uncooperative.

Perhaps he felt like Tom in the video below.

I knew Jay. In fact, he had been placed on my caseload for speech-language therapy, a year earlier.

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Connection to Learning – Vision

When I was 8 years old, my teacher called my parents in for a conference. At that time, I was an eclectic mixture of reserved bookworm and mischievous tomboy. So my very active brain went into overdrive trying to figure out the reason for the summons. Was I in trouble? What had I done now?

The day arrived and we all sat around the teacher’s desk. “Mr. Callender, recently, Florence has been talking more often than usual,” Ms. Z. began. Then she turned to me and asked, “Why is that?”

Mumbling, I replied, “Weeellll, I was not really talking. I was just asking Mary what was written on the board, since I couldn’t see it clearly.”

“Hmmm, I see.”

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Real Learning – Living inside the Box with Outside the Box Thinking

One of my college professors used to always say, “Learning brings about a change in behavior.” Although I never had the guts to say it out loud, I often thought, “What nonsense! I learn things so I know more.”

My favorite aunt often said, “Youth is wasted on the young,” and I thought, “What kind of backward thinking is that!”

One of my friend’s frequent comment on life’s is, “Hind sight is 20-20 vision.” From where I think and perceive today, I absolutely get them…my professor, my aunt and my friend.

A couple of years ago, I walked into a pre-kindergarten class. The adorable little students were blithely drawing their understanding of and response to the story they just heard. The blue cows grazed on red grass; burgundy fish swam in yellow seas; square boats and circular houses dotted the landscape; and on and on and on.

Last month, I asked a fifth grader to draw his response to a story, and his immediate reaction was, “Oh no! I can’t draw.” Meanwhile, during the story, he was doodling and sketching all over some paper lying on the desk in front of him. Somewhere between kindergarten and fifth grade, this boy’s confidence in his creativity had been killed.

Fortunately for our society, not everyone has succumbed to the ridicule and reprimands of vision-less teachers who told and continue to tell little Johnny, “Leaves are green, not purple.” Meet the couple who insisted on thinking outside the box while preparing to live inside the “box.” Share your thoughts in the comments section, below.

Share one way or one time you have lived outside the box.

How are you teaching your children to be original thinkers and live outside the box?