by Sarah Major M.Ed.
Sarah, … I am SO looking forward to getting started with my brilliant son using this approach [Right-Brained Math]. I should have known he was a Visual-Spatial learner when, at 6 years old, he said to me: "Mom, in my head, I have a letters attic and a numbers basement, and behind the stairs, where you go up, that's where my words are." I will never forget those words. Poor kid is dyslexic, struggles with math, and has an expressive language delay. Like many children like him though, he is so very bright. He sees the big picture when even adults around him can't. Thank you again for your work. It is so important and much needed!
The ways in which we describe our children
I had just spoken with this mom and then received her note in my email. I was captivated by this child and the vivid images he saw in his head. As I re-read her note, what jumped out at me were the descriptions of her son. “Brilliant, bright, sees the big picture – dyslexic, struggles with math, expressive language delay.”
These descriptions hit me hard. Three of them were from the heart of the parent who knows her child for who he is. The other three stem from the school environment and deal with his so-called weaknesses.
Adults are identifies by their strengths while children are labeled by their weaknesses
When adults relate to each other, almost always conversations are all about strengths. We identify adults by their gifts, talents and achievements. We understand that everyone excels at something. Adults tend to specialize in their work according to what they are good at and this becomes their identity.
What goes on in school
Our factory-era schools and accompanying teaching materials, (now even more ineffective under the grip of Common Core) are antiquated and narrow in terms of how they present new material to our children. Traditional teaching approaches haven’t kept pace with what we now know about how children learn.
The way we teach young children works for about 15% of children
To enormously simplify, todays teaching materials are designed to work fine for about 15% of our children, and when they take college entrance exams, those exams follow suit. Those exams are also designed to select those same 15% of children.
Curricula has become the yardstick against which we rank a child’s ability to learn
Unfortunately, the remaining 85% of children don’t do as well with traditional materials. And for those children, school ranges from tedious to nearly impossible. Not only do they spend day after day working too hard, but they find themselves unable to feel good about their achievement.
Why we should not identify children by their weaknesses:
1. What the mind believes the person will become. If we draw attention to a child’s weaknesses, so called, those weaknesses will be magnified.
2. To focus on weakness is disabling. The child’s personal energy and motivation will dissipate as she is labeled according to what she can’t do.
3. If we don’t help children find their strengths, they might take a lifetime to find them. They might spend years doing things that are not fulfilling to them, changing jobs, feeling inadequate, and just not reaching their true potential.
Why we should identify children by their strengths:
1. Our goal is that our children learn successfully, so it makes sense to uncover learning strengths and then maximize those. When the lesson approach matches the child’s natural learning strength, learning will happen effortlessly.
2. If we our children’s strengths, we can share that valuable information with them and help them understand themselves better.
3. When children understand their strengths, they will be far more prepared to choose wisely as they grow up.
4. When children have the freedom to work from their strengths, their self-confidence soars and fuels them to attempt difficult challenges. Belief in oneself fuels great achievements.
5. When a child feels confident in his/her competence, they will likely have the ability to work on things they are not as good at and improve in those areas.
But back to the little boy we were introduced to at the beginning of this article. The brilliant, bright, global thinker boy – he is a visual-spatial learner. And truth be told, visual-spatial children don’t do well with symbols, little pieces of problems, steps to solving problems such as sounding out words (“dyslexia” – or working with the letters that make up words) or learning how to solve math problems in steps (“struggles with math”). What they ARE good at is seeing the whole picture, intuiting how to solve problems, learning whole words, and they are picture thinkers. The more vivid the picture, the more difficult they will find it to put what they are seeing – that glorious picture in all its details – into a sequence of words that they can share with someone else. (“Expressive language”).
If you take that same child, identify his visual-spatial strengths and then tailor his lessons to his bright mind, he will succeed. Teach him whole words. Teach him that he can see the math problem in his head, draw it, or intuit the solution and solve it the way he finds it easiest. He needs to learn math in a hands-on manner, and needs to use visuals to learn math. He needs to be praised for the images he can see and then be given the tools to translate those images into words. This might mean using visual organizers on which he records the details that describe his picture. With this structure, he can then learn to turn those notes into a sequence of words. Over time, this process will become less daunting.
Let’s learn to celebrate our children’s strengths all the time! It is good for them in so many ways!
Sarah Major, CEO of Child1st Publications, grew up on the mission field with her four siblings, all of whom her mother homeschooled. As an adult, Sarah has homeschooled a small group of children in collaboration with their parents, and has taught from preschool age to adult. Sarah has been the Title 1 director and program developer for grades K-7, an ESOL teacher, and a classroom teacher. As an undergraduate student, Sarah attended Wheaton College in Wheaton, Ill. and then received her M.Ed. from Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, MI. In 2006 Sarah resigned from fulltime teaching in order to devote more time to Child1st, publisher of the best-selling SnapWords™ stylized sight word cards. In her spare time Sarah enjoys gardening, cooking, pottery, quilting, and spending time with her family.
Child1st Publications, LLC
www.child1st.com
800-881-0912
PO Box 150226
Sarah, … I am SO looking forward to getting started with my brilliant son using this approach [Right-Brained Math]. I should have known he was a Visual-Spatial learner when, at 6 years old, he said to me: "Mom, in my head, I have a letters attic and a numbers basement, and behind the stairs, where you go up, that's where my words are." I will never forget those words. Poor kid is dyslexic, struggles with math, and has an expressive language delay. Like many children like him though, he is so very bright. He sees the big picture when even adults around him can't. Thank you again for your work. It is so important and much needed!
The ways in which we describe our children
I had just spoken with this mom and then received her note in my email. I was captivated by this child and the vivid images he saw in his head. As I re-read her note, what jumped out at me were the descriptions of her son. “Brilliant, bright, sees the big picture – dyslexic, struggles with math, expressive language delay.”
These descriptions hit me hard. Three of them were from the heart of the parent who knows her child for who he is. The other three stem from the school environment and deal with his so-called weaknesses.
Adults are identifies by their strengths while children are labeled by their weaknesses
When adults relate to each other, almost always conversations are all about strengths. We identify adults by their gifts, talents and achievements. We understand that everyone excels at something. Adults tend to specialize in their work according to what they are good at and this becomes their identity.
What goes on in school
Our factory-era schools and accompanying teaching materials, (now even more ineffective under the grip of Common Core) are antiquated and narrow in terms of how they present new material to our children. Traditional teaching approaches haven’t kept pace with what we now know about how children learn.
The way we teach young children works for about 15% of children
To enormously simplify, todays teaching materials are designed to work fine for about 15% of our children, and when they take college entrance exams, those exams follow suit. Those exams are also designed to select those same 15% of children.
Curricula has become the yardstick against which we rank a child’s ability to learn
Unfortunately, the remaining 85% of children don’t do as well with traditional materials. And for those children, school ranges from tedious to nearly impossible. Not only do they spend day after day working too hard, but they find themselves unable to feel good about their achievement.
Why we should not identify children by their weaknesses:
1. What the mind believes the person will become. If we draw attention to a child’s weaknesses, so called, those weaknesses will be magnified.
2. To focus on weakness is disabling. The child’s personal energy and motivation will dissipate as she is labeled according to what she can’t do.
3. If we don’t help children find their strengths, they might take a lifetime to find them. They might spend years doing things that are not fulfilling to them, changing jobs, feeling inadequate, and just not reaching their true potential.
Why we should identify children by their strengths:
1. Our goal is that our children learn successfully, so it makes sense to uncover learning strengths and then maximize those. When the lesson approach matches the child’s natural learning strength, learning will happen effortlessly.
2. If we our children’s strengths, we can share that valuable information with them and help them understand themselves better.
3. When children understand their strengths, they will be far more prepared to choose wisely as they grow up.
4. When children have the freedom to work from their strengths, their self-confidence soars and fuels them to attempt difficult challenges. Belief in oneself fuels great achievements.
5. When a child feels confident in his/her competence, they will likely have the ability to work on things they are not as good at and improve in those areas.
But back to the little boy we were introduced to at the beginning of this article. The brilliant, bright, global thinker boy – he is a visual-spatial learner. And truth be told, visual-spatial children don’t do well with symbols, little pieces of problems, steps to solving problems such as sounding out words (“dyslexia” – or working with the letters that make up words) or learning how to solve math problems in steps (“struggles with math”). What they ARE good at is seeing the whole picture, intuiting how to solve problems, learning whole words, and they are picture thinkers. The more vivid the picture, the more difficult they will find it to put what they are seeing – that glorious picture in all its details – into a sequence of words that they can share with someone else. (“Expressive language”).
If you take that same child, identify his visual-spatial strengths and then tailor his lessons to his bright mind, he will succeed. Teach him whole words. Teach him that he can see the math problem in his head, draw it, or intuit the solution and solve it the way he finds it easiest. He needs to learn math in a hands-on manner, and needs to use visuals to learn math. He needs to be praised for the images he can see and then be given the tools to translate those images into words. This might mean using visual organizers on which he records the details that describe his picture. With this structure, he can then learn to turn those notes into a sequence of words. Over time, this process will become less daunting.
Let’s learn to celebrate our children’s strengths all the time! It is good for them in so many ways!
Sarah Major, CEO of Child1st Publications, grew up on the mission field with her four siblings, all of whom her mother homeschooled. As an adult, Sarah has homeschooled a small group of children in collaboration with their parents, and has taught from preschool age to adult. Sarah has been the Title 1 director and program developer for grades K-7, an ESOL teacher, and a classroom teacher. As an undergraduate student, Sarah attended Wheaton College in Wheaton, Ill. and then received her M.Ed. from Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, MI. In 2006 Sarah resigned from fulltime teaching in order to devote more time to Child1st, publisher of the best-selling SnapWords™ stylized sight word cards. In her spare time Sarah enjoys gardening, cooking, pottery, quilting, and spending time with her family.
Child1st Publications, LLC
www.child1st.com
800-881-0912
PO Box 150226
