Inservice

On Wednesday we had faculty meetings all day long. I know you're jealous. ;)

I was asked to talk about 3 things:

1. Defects and Brilliance - Do They Coexist? 
2. Is Labeling Dangerous? 
3. A course change in one of my classes. 

I don't mean to put myself up on a pedestal, but I feel like I did a better job talking about the first 2 things more so than the others. My PowerPoints were better designed. I felt like I got my points across well.

I have a learning disability. I wasn't labeled as having one until I was in college. 

Before that I was just a slow learner. It didn't stop me. I got A's in school because I tried hard. I tested horribly, and they often wanted to put me in slow classes. I proved that I was well beyond slow classes, they'd bump me up, and I still would get an A out of it.

I spelled things a bit off. I'm much better, but still at times spell things odd. Sorry fellow bloggers!

I was slow at reading and comprehension. Once I started reading chapter books in 5th grade (yep you read that right), I was reading novels by the end of the school year.

No one at work knew I struggled with such things. I hide it. I don't like to be viewed as stupid. Who does?

The biggest thing that effects me now is with proportion. My depth perception is horrible. I have trouble knowing how big to make something in relation to something else.

I still spell things off at times, but am much better than I used to be.

I think the trouble is, is that we have a text book way of teaching people. Not everyone learns the same way. I'm not saying that teachers should have changed the way they taught me. I just think it's hard to mass teach, and expect all the kids to get it.

I found this site, and loved it! It talked about a fictional character that loved rocket books, Minecraft and Legos. He checked out books, but his parents thought he was just looking at the pictures. He tested horribly on reading comprehension, he couldn't understand math, and worked poorly in groups. His teachers talked about holding him back. But...his interest was there with all the subjects. He could tell you in depth everything about the books he got into. Did they think to teach him math with Legos? Sometimes if you can tap into those interests then you can reach a student.

Do you know who else struggled in school?

• Albert  Einstein was a slow-learner. He hated to memorize things. He left school at age 15. 
• Thomas Edison was a daydreamer. His teachers labeled him as a slow learner. His mother decided to homeschool him.
• Walt Disney was dyslexic. He dropped out at the age of 16 and became an artist. 
• John Lennon was a poor speller, and had serious problems in school.

Source

Is labeling dangerous? 

What do you think? That can go towards smart kids, and kids that struggle.

I was labeled as a slow kid when I was younger. With labeling you can get a kid the help that they need. They know something is wrong with them anyhow. There's a world out there with tips and ways to cope with becoming better.

Without labels there's no expectations. If a kid is called stupid they'll do one of 2 things: 1. Live up to that. They won't try because they believe they are stupid. 2. They'll try harder to prove everyone wrong. That's more what I did.

With smart kids, like my own kids: Mica doesn't try to do extra things because he wants other kids to have the chance to excel. He's afraid of asking questions because he knows others need more help than he does. Isaak's more the kid that knows his brother is smarter than he is, so he's a little more even with his thinking. How did I get smarty pants kids anyhow? It's a good thing because I'm here to tell them that the ones that struggle just sometimes need that one moment where it clicks. Everyone has a different story.

There's pros and cons with everything.

Did you struggle in school?