Everyone Learns Differently, Right?
Many educators teach in environments where the premise is that all students of a certain age learn equally well. Hence, they can teach and evaluate such students “fairly” using the same standards. Such a presumption is wholly false. To wit, each person learns in a different manner at different speeds, mastering concepts at different ages. Hence, those students who are not as developmentally advanced as their peers are unjustly punished for their development stage.
Mike, a Middle School student at Friends School, struggled mightily in math and language arts. A very sweet kid who tried hard and was well liked, he was just, well, slow. I taught a class that Mike took entitled “Science Skills.” One day, in an exercise to emphasize the importance of careful observation, I took the fifteen students on a walk around the School property asking them to observe carefully what they were seeing. If they wished they could take notes. Most did. Mike didn’t.
Back in the classroom, I asked the class to write down the answers to the questions I would pose, questions such as: “How many trash cans were outside the art building?” “What was the color of the old pickup truck in the parking lot?” “Was there a chair under the water tower?” After twenty such questions, students exchanged papers and I read them the answers. Then I asked the following: “How many of you got at least ten correct?” Four persons raised their hands. “How many of you got fifteen correct?” One student (Mike) raised his hand. “Well Mike, how many did you get?” “Seventeen!”
We were all stunned. However, his “corrector” verified his answer. Students then inundated Mike with questions: “Did you take notes?” “No.” “Did you concentrate real hard?” “No.” “Did you practice this before class at some point?” “No.” In short, Mike just observed. In fact, Mike had a skill that no other student in the class had. And, it was a skill that he had almost never had the chance to employ in the classroom.
It is fair to say that Mike’s self image improved dramatically that day. In fact, Mike’s image improved dramatically throughout the School that day. Why? Because he had the opportunity to demonstrate a skill that is rarely if ever evaluated in schools. Why? Because teachers are not often aware of the wide variety of learning skills that each student has. Mike’s skill lay dormant in the classroom. It was a lesson for us all.
Don Wells served as Assistant Principal and Principal from 1969-1988. He is the parent and grandparent of graduates. Don is now retired and working to keep himself healthy, wealthy and wise. Well, not wealthy in fact. He’s doing some "pro bono" consulting, woodworking, reading, sailing, enjoying his kids and grandkids and is still luckily married to dear Darlene—now for 58 years!
