You have finished the investigation. You have your templates. It has incorporated age appropriate standards. And it has even included hands-on games to illustrate each concept in a practical way.
So why doesn’t little Rita seem to understand?
Well, to be honest: little Rita is not “standard”. Neither did Carter, Ashley or Josh.
Because each young child has their own incredibly unique personalities, deviations, skill levels, and learning abilities, your lesson plan could fail if you don’t take these vital learning dynamics into account. You are teaching with the correct syllabus, but it is based on averages and common denominators in the child population. And Rita is not a common denominator. It could be strong in one area and weak in the next. She may be enthralled for an hour when you read a story to her, but can’t seem to listen carefully for more than 3 minutes when you pull out the abacus.
It will take longer than usual to adapt your academic curriculum to all of Rita’s various concerns and idiosyncrasies, but it is all worth it in the end! You know she is captivated by puppies and she begs to go see them every time she stops by the pet store. She takes off her shoes and socks so quickly and so often that you’ve started calling her your “barefoot princess.” He has seen “Spy Kids” 20 times, talks through his secret agent’s Mickey Mouse watch, and runs around the house with his sunglasses and a flashlight.
You have also noticed that she has a fairly short attention span and seems to glaze over when she begins to count and discuss numbers. And you’ve seen her spell out easy words like “big” and “bat” with her letter blocks, all the while singing the alphabet song.
All of this is very vital information that you need to keep in mind as you educate her. You already have the data to test some unconventional instruction:
• Count your little bare toes on one foot and then the other. Then ask him to do the same. Then count all of his toes and ask him to do the same.
• Give him paper and colored pencils and ask him to draw a puppy with eight spots.
• Put on your sunglasses and a hat, call him a secret agent hat and, in a secret agent-style whisper, ask him to look for objects around the house that start with the letter “A”.
Well done! Now she has made studying so much easier for Rita because she made it exciting, for HER.
But to really nail it, take one more step: Get started! Start proactively WATCHING, LISTENING, and EVALUATING whenever you can. This will allow you to establish other unique qualities such as your level of sensitivity, strengths and weaknesses, along with your social and cognitive levels.
Do you remember how tears came to your eyes when you answered “five” to problem 2 2? What does that indicate about your personality and sensitivity? It is not uncommon for a child’s gift of learning to die down for at least a few minutes after what he may believe to be a painful failure. So maybe, just maybe, our reaction and interaction technique is what stops the child! Instead of saying the answer is four, not five, how about you just ask her to draw it on a piece of paper so she can find out for herself that she fell short? Now EVERYONE can have an A-ha moment and learn and retain that math lesson at the same time.
Be sure to observe and evaluate all of your child’s behaviors and be honest with what is in front of you. One of the main mistakes we make as parents and teachers is generalizing a child’s abilities based on some incidents. “Rita is great spelling”, “Rita is shy” or “Rita does not like math” are harmful statements not only because Rita can hear you say them, but worse, YOU can start to believe them!
No young man deserves to start hearing self-fulfilling prophecies this early in life.
The main idea is to use your continuous observation skills to show you how to convey concepts while keeping your child intrigued and challenged.
Your child is a learning sponge, absorbing data every minute of every day. He is also a vibrant human being whose skill levels, interests, and character change all the time. So keep listening and watching for clues on how to adjust your lesson plans to meet your changing needs.
And always keep in mind: Just because you hated adding doesn’t mean you won’t LOVE subtraction!