The 8 pieces of the learning puzzle
Millions of children struggle in school and will feel discouraged, frustrated, misunderstood and alone. Not because they can’t learn, but because the way they learn doesn’t align with the way they are taught.
Thousands of teachers struggle in school and will feel discouraged, frustrated, misunderstood and alone. Not because they can’t teach, but because they have not been able to target their teaching strategies to the various learning profiles of their students.
Too many schools are unequipped for the diversity in learning that unfolds in classrooms.
White paper 6 was composed to attempt to provide the necessary support for children with special needs and learning barriers.
What does it mean when we say “teaching needs to complement learning”? There needs to be a good match. “I wonder how he/she learns,” needs to be a question that we ask ourselves. We need to “reach” our children before we can “teach” them. We need to be aware of the skills that must be mastered that may influence student’s success and if the skills are not being learnt, we need to investigate why.
Mathematics is among the most cumulative of academic areas. The learner must constantly integrate new and more sophisticated skills and concepts.
Number concept develops when the young child can see 3 stones and is able to count 1, 2, 3. Or when shown the number 3, can put down 3 stones. If a child does not develop a concept of number or an understanding of number values and quantity, there’s a number blindness called dyscalculia.
Mastering the Challenges of Reading
Students’ reading abilities depend upon many different factors and influences. For some students, regrettably, reading can be frustrating and at times, seemingly futile.
These students struggle to learn the individual letter sounds, blends and sight words and so reading is slow, tedious and they can seldom understand what they are reading about. We say there is a word blindness called dyslexia.
School-age writers must transcribe their thoughts neatly while also using excellent language skills, rich idea development, and organize ideas and facts in a logical order.
Some students struggle to use their imagination to create stories from ideas.
There are often problems with spelling and learning the punctuation rules.
Developing Control Over Attention
Attention is a system of controls that can help students with such things as working consistently each day, focusing on the right details when reading, and thinking ahead about what to say.
Attention deficit disorder is a learning barrier where students struggle to focus, sustain attention and ignore irrelevant or unimportant information and therefore are very easily distracted. Work pace is slow and they seldom are able to complete tasks.
Motor activities such as drawing, running, or writing a story, are probably the most observable abilities that a student does everyday.
These students struggle to hold and manipulate a pencil and therefore writing is oftentimes untidy and slow. They might also struggle with tasks like cutting and pasting in worksheets.
Understanding, producing and communicating Ideas
Students need to understand ideas, issues, concepts, rules, processes, and skills. Throughout their school years, students must be able to communicate their knowledge and produce work that is reflective of what they are learning.
Being able to clearly articulate thoughts and ideas orally or in written form is important in order to be able to show what you know. Oftentimes the student understands and learns the work for an assessment but struggles to explain the work in the test and underperforms. They might also not be able to write enough to earn the correct mark allocation.
Getting Organized & Good Work Habits
During the early school years, students must begin to develop good work habits including preparing for schoolwork, organizing time and effort and developing effective study skills.
Forgetting books or stationery at home or at school, losing belongings, not being prepared, leaving assignments until the last minute or forgetting to do them altogether, not knowing how to use a diary or calendar, having a poor concept of time, etc.
While learning may represent a major challenge for kids, the social aspects of school can affect a student’s success in the classrooms, corridors, and playground.
Struggling with friendships, getting drawn in to drama, misreading social cues, being a bully or being bullied.
Next blog – what parents can do to help