You know what I find fascinating? Children, boys in particular, who have the ability to listen incredibly well even when their body looks like it is not. I wish they were created with little bulbs on their ears/brains to help us know when they are actually registering information.
You know what I else I find amazing (and a little frustrating)? Many teachers don't recognize the pearl they have in this ability. There are times when I wonder if we have gone back in time to the days of 'finishing school' where we insist that kids maintain 'appropriate' (what is that anyways?) postures. I have actually watched a young boy sit and hold on to his chair tightly with his hands and STARE intently at his legs because he was trying SOOOO hard to maintain the desired posture. I tried to engage with him mentally to see if he was attending to the teacher and he was totally lost (a few moments earlier I had asked him a question, while he was sprawled all over the floor and he was TOTALLY on the mark...because he is one of the ones with that amazing super power!)
Consider this; the Minister of Education here in Alberta is trying to implement some changes in the area of student needs:
I personally wish that we could just start with just a 'small shift' by considering our ability to tolerate and respect the needs like this boy has. Is it hurting the other students or the teacher(and I am not just referring to wounding their traditional ego)? May we respect the other students and ask them if it is impeding their learning to let their classmate have a little 'wiggle' room? You may be surprised at their tolerant nature, they certainly didn't learn that from us now, did they?
1 comments:
I'm with you on that it would be nice if a little light would go on when someone has heard and registered what's been said, even though their body seems to me to say something else!
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