So often, many people think that education is synonymous with learning. But it is not. Education is all about systematic instruction, while learning has to do with acquired knowledge…whether from experience, personal study, or teaching.
Quite often in my inquiry into learning and the many paths it takes, I come across someone who trumped the system and excelled to tell about it. Jonathan Mooney is one such young man.
Did you know that we function better if our right ear plays the leading role in our listening?
“Why is that?” you may ask. It is because the language center is on the left side of our brains. That is where language is processed. Since each side of the brain controls the opposite side of the body, we want meaningful sound to go through the right ear so it can proceed directly to the left side of the brain.
It’s almost time for one of my therapy groups. As they walk into the room, I greet them and tell them we’ll be playing a calling game. There’s a play phone on the table, in front of each seat. The students sit at the kidney-shaped table, and I pretend to call from my phone. They all reach for their phones, lift them to an ear and answer. With one exception, they put the phone to their left ear.
Now I am no scientist, but recent research shows that there is more of a link than previously thought between listening difficulties and learning disabilities and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
The article below from Rafaele Joudry offers a solution to the dilemma.
On January 12, 2010, the island of Haiti was struck by a catastrophic earthquake. Unprecedented. Devastating. Life shattering.
Once the shock began to wear off, offers of help started pouring in from all around the world.
Popular music producer, Kirk Franklin, assembled a number of other award-winning gospel artists to join together in singing a song called “Are You Listening?”
Each verse begins by saying, “I can’t imagine how you felt as…” then goes on to mention some horrible circumstance that may have occurred during the tragedy.
Have you ever deeply pondered the mystery of learning to read? We take some shapes that we are told are called letters, bunch them together and call them words. Then we string different words together and call them a thought – a sentence.
It’s amazing how the human brain takes in information from varying sources (input), processes it then tells us what to do with it (output).
Many times, we take for granted the things that are easy for us to accomplish. Reading is no exception to that rule.
What would you do if you suddenly lost the ability to decipher what’s written on a paper or in a book? Click on this link and listen to or read about a kindergarten teacher’s experience with exactly that challenge: http://ow.ly/t1279
I like her indomitable spirit and how she developed a system of reading through writing.
If you move around in a school community, sooner or later, you’ll hear it. Learning disability. So, what is that? Look at this simple video for a brief and simple explanation.
It is extremely important to know your child’s preferred way of taking in information. That’s what will empower you to help him learn better and faster. As you study your son or daughter, lead them to discover the way they learn best.
If they are weak in one area, look for their area of strength and highlight it.
I’m on a campaign to help every child under my sphere of influence find out how he learns best, and teach them at least one way to make their weak area strong.
I’m enlisting mothers to join me. (Dads who feel left out are welcome too)
By now, you’ve probably noticed I have a fascination…passion…possibly, an obsession with listening and sound. So let’s talk some more about it. Perhaps it has the greatest effect on learning than any other variable, and my goal is to enhance learning in all the students I encounter – directly or indirectly.
Did you know that noise was the number one quality-of-life complaint in New York City in 2013? It is the 2nd biggest type of pollution, after air pollution.
Many years ago, when I worked in New York City, I was often overwhelmed by the incessant noise and rushing. It seemed like the movement of the people on the streets mirrored the noise of the blaring sirens, pounding jackhammers, screeching taxi brakes, passionate vendors, and…
It seems like everywhere you turn today, sounds abound…LOUD sounds. Cars zoom down the road, blasting music through the windows. Sometimes the music is so loud, you can hear it even through closed windows.
During the summer, as you walk down many pavements, music boxes are set up and street performers show off their moves, hoping that some generous onlooker will be moved to put some money in their collection box.
Even churches are not immune to this epidemic. On a few occasions, as I approached a church, not being able to hear the words of the songs being sung, if I didn’t see the tell-tail “churchy” building structure, I would not have been able to tell if it were a dance hall or secular club of some sort.
As I go on my daily journeys, many times I tell young people, “I can hear your music through your headphones. Do you know you are damaging your hearing?” Most times the response is something like, “Oh no! I can hear everything.”
I’ve also seen students studying with loud background music. Upon cautioning them about the volume, they always say, “I can study and concentrate in any kind of music. It doesn’t affect me.”
Contrary to what so many of our youth and some older folk believe today, sounds around us affect us every day, even though we are not aware of it. I’ve learned in my studies and research that noise levels affect accuracy. In fact, the sound scientist and consultant, Julian Treasure, stated that introverts find it very difficult to relate when in a noisy environment while doing group work.
How many students in classrooms all around the country would you say are introverts? Hmmm, I think this requires some thought, don’t you?
One afternoon some months ago, Jay’s teacher came to me exasperated. “I can’t believe this boy got to the 5th grade, and he’s still a non-reader!”
He was such a sweet boy, but turned into this surly beast once classes began. Obstinate. Hostile. Uncooperative.
Perhaps he felt like Tom in the video below.
I knew Jay. In fact, he had been placed on my caseload for speech-language therapy, a year earlier.
The question in my previous post generated quite a few responses…here on this blog, as well as, on my Facebook page.
Everyone got the sequence in the correct order. Hearing precedes listening. Technically speaking, hearing is the first part of listening. Some folks confessed their “sin” of deliberately not listening, while others reflected on their poor listening habits and endeavored to do better. Actually, very few of us are “good” listeners. But does that make it less important? Absolutely not!
“Listen, Can you hear it?” There’s that familiar sound, next door. The teenager is fighting with her mom, again. “I heard what you said the first time, Julie. The answer is still, ‘NO!'”
Julie retorts, “You NEVER listen to me!”
