Giving a child a copy of notes for each class does NOT remove accountability from the student nor does it give the student permission to tune out. What it DOES do is prevent a child’s brain from becoming worn out as a result of having to rapidly and repeatedly transition between whiteboard and notebook, often while applying extra concentration to write legibly with clumsy fingers all while being reminded by his teacher to “pay attention,” while also being expected to remember a series of three instructions long enough to execute them.
Where is it written that the key to successful learning is manually writing notes into a notebook the moment a statement is uttered by an instructor? Hint, it isn’t written anywhere. If a student has difficulty multitasking and processing at the speed a teacher teaches, why not allow the student to audio record the lesson and listen to it later at her own pace? Allowing her to pause whenever she needs to in order to type the notes into her computer.
“Because that’s what she’ll be expected to do in college!” What college are you referring to? The one you attended that likely had a student services department you never accessed or even knew existed because you didn’t need it.
It is common to encounter parents and educators alike who have decided that their path through life is the norm and the standard by which success is measured. They then go about encouraging or discouraging student efforts based upon their experience of the “real world.”
Let me share this with you. In my “real world” I read with my ears using text to speech technology because my dyslexia makes reading with my eyes a slow, exhausting experience. In my “real world” I write either with a keyboard or with my voice using Dragon Dictate because writing with a pen or pencil causes my hand to cramp and tire quickly resulting in illegible scribbles on paper.
The world has an ever increasing population of students that for whatever reason access the world in a way that “old school” teaching cannot hope to instruct with its compliance based, one size fits all instruction method – a method that seeks to manufacture carbon copies to send into a world seeking originals.
Classrooms must become a laboratory of curiosity, collaboration and innovation if they are to reach and prepare the modern day learners that enter them. These same learners live in a world of Dictation Software, eBooks that read themselves, apps and other tools for organizing and navigating life that “old school” teaching insists is not part of the “real world.”
The world our children must learn to succeed in is the one they’re growing up in, not the one you grew up in.
Thanks for being you.
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Brian R. King, LCSW (ADHD & ASD Life Coach) is a #1 Best Selling Author, 25-year cancer survivor, adult with Dyslexia, ADHD, and Asperger’s. He’s also the father of three sons on the autism spectrum. He is known worldwide for his books and highly engaging presentations that teach the power of connection and collaboration. His strategies empower others to overcome their differences so they can build powerful and lasting partnerships. His motto is: We’re all in this together.