Learning and Teachers

I think that the newer teachers are awarenow, but when I was growing up I was stuck into resource (for kids who were slow) When I got into highschool I was able to finagle myself into honors classes and I aced them and was on the deans list as well as involved in various plays all at the same time. I was so frustrated as a child and it was havoc on my self esteem. I think is is important to teach your children to be aware of what works and what doesn't then they can identify their needs and communicate them better to you. It gives them some of the power to affect change in their own lives. I would be interested in learning some different methods of teaching if you had any insight...

W OW good for you, getting into honors classes and acing them after having some difficulty as a child ... way to go! I'll be posting some info on teaching different learning styles ... so be on the look out and thanks for your post! Nancy

Some are...some aren't. We have found that sometimes we have to educate the educators! Last year our son (ADHD, pervasive developmental delay disorder), had a wonderful teacher who had an excellent understanding of learning styles and teaching approaches. She's been teaching for more than 20 years and we had a great year sharing ideas about how to teach my loveable and challenging son. This year he has a teacher straight from college on her first teaching job. She's clueless (we had to explain what ADHD was, and especially how the medicine worked), and not interested in anything we have to tell her. She's also having a completely miserable year, and I have serious doubts that she'll chose to continue teaching. I think true teachers are always trying to learn how to be the best teacher to each individual child and therefore they are interested in how each child learns. Unfortunately, there are some teachers who aren't interested in children as individuals with different learning styles - they just want to walk into the classroom with their lesson plan and it's up to the kids to learn. Guess which one I like? ;)

Hi, It's so true that students and children are individuals who need individual attention and to be seen for who they are with their personalities and ways of learning. And I agree that teachers who are always learning themselves are who we hope are teaching our children. Perhaps colleges are not preparing new teachers to respond to childrens' individual needs and it takes time for new teachers to learn their craft. It's great that you are so aware of what is going on at school for your son (lovable and challenging)... that's important for the teachers as well as your child because teachers can learn from parents what is important to them and it lets your son know that he and learning are important. Thanks for your post, Nancy