Smart, but Feeling Dumb
You can use the same curriculum, but just by changing the teaching method,
you can make a huge difference in the life of a student.
“My child hates school. He doesn’t
feel as smart as his siblings and
friends. What can I do to help him
feel smarter?”
There are many bright, hardwork- ing kids who have to work too hard to learn. They dislike school because they don’t feel very successful. These kids have not learned to use
both sides of their brain for memorizing
and understanding material. We, as teachers, can change a frustrating, unhappy year
to a successful one by making them feel as
smart as they really are. How do we do this?
By teaching them to use both sides of their
brain for more effortless learning, using alternative teaching strategies.
Plan A and Plan B Teaching
Methods
Plan A is the method that schools and
curricula typically use to teach. It em-
phasizes more left-brain learning and
auditory learning strategies, such as:
memorizing math facts with black and
white flash cards, spelling by writing
words repeatedly or memorizing the
phonics rules, making outlines for pre-
writing, and using workbooks to teach
and reinforce lessons. All of these more
left-brain methods do not work well for
these students.
To help these struggling learners become more successful, instead of using
Plan A teaching methods, we need to
look into using more Plan B teaching
methods. This will require a “paradigm
shift” on the part of the instructors.
Plan B is a method of teaching that involves teaching practices that ultimately
train the student to use both sides of
his brain. How does this work? It’s easy.
It involves teaching the student visual
memory strategies while teaching the
lesson. Visual memory strategies make
learning so much easier, and take much
less of the student’s learning “battery”
because they employ right-brain teaching strategies. One such strategy is “
imbedding” the data on a picture which
places information in the brain in a
unit. Using this technique for memorization along with other visual memory
hooks such as color, humor, emotion
and picture, more information will be
retained. Plan B involves putting aside
the workbooks as teaching and reinforcing tools, and doing the work of learning together on a white board as much
as possible. Peter Russell, author of The
Brain Book, says, “Visual Memory is far
superior to auditory memory. It is essentially perfect.”
Use the “Smart Part” of their
Brain
Teach these subjects differently:
Spelling
For spelling, consider putting aside the
spelling exercises for now, and show the
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Specialist!
Dianne Craft