Beyond FAT City - Part II

The following are a few more things that I found particularly interesting:

• Lavoie shared a story about him in his early teaching career with a student who had trouble with writing.  This student was given an assignment, and he was to write about his dog.  This young man stayed in to do his homework while his friends played basketball.  He was wonderfully proud of his work.  Lavoie marked the work and handed it back to him.  The boy hadn't done well.  He started to cry, and Lavoie tried to console him by saying, "I know how you feel."  The boys response was "the devil you do!"  Those who have done well in school and enjoyed it have no idea what a child with a learning disability goes through.  I feel like I can be especially sympathetic towards people who are struggling.  I could see myself saying this to a student someday, and I'm glad that I know how they might respond.  After thinking about it more, I realized that I really don't know anything about struggling in school.  I have very few memories of being confused during lessons.  I was always able to receive assistance and sort it out.  Praise the Lord, for my academic abilities.  
• The next point resonated with me.  I had never heard it before, and I'm positive that I'll never forget it.  Lavoie said that if you wouldn't do it to an adult, don't do it to a kid.  I couldn't agree with this more.  I remember in grade 6, there was a young fellow named Shawn.  We were asked to colour a title page, or something, for our science class.   Shawn didn't complete his homework, and he was to write a letter to the teacher explaining why.  Shawn wrote on his paper, "I forgot my colours".  This foolish teacher, who I didn't like a bit, laughed and then read his letter to the class.  What a humiliating class for Shawn.  What he needed was help, not to be ridiculed.  That teacher, hopefully, wouldn't treat an adult in such a way, and she certainly shouldn't have treated a child that way.  I hope to have grace when kids arrive late or don't complete an assignment.  I hope to establish mutual respect in my classroom, and treating my students with respect is the way to begin.
• If they're looking for attention, give it to them!  On observation, there was a young lady who was desperate for the attention and assistance of the student teacher.  She would ask for help continually, even though she knew what to do.  I noticed that teachers became frustrated with her for this.  I took to observing her more closely, and I noticed that she never brought a lunch to school.  Thankfully, this school had a hot lunch program in effect, so she had a lunch every day.  I couldn't help but think about her parents, and how busy they seemed to be.  If they didn't have time to make their daughter a lunch, did they have time to help her with her homework or ask her about her day?  I certainly hope that I'm wrong in my speculation.  I think she just wanted attention, and I look forward to giving her some.  
• Kids would rather seem bad than dumb.  If a student doesn't understand a topic, they may act out to save face.  Kids don't like to be embarrassed, so if they're put on the spot, they may do silly things to protect their image.  When I was young, I remember feeling this way.  I never acted out in class, but I remember being afraid of people thinking I was dumb.  If I had a question about a topic that everyone else seemed to understand well, I wouldn't ask any questions.  If there was a math function that I had forgotten about, I wouldn't ask the teacher for assistance.  I remember once in grade two (or something), I sat at my desk and cried because I couldn't remember how to divide.  I didn't want to ask the teacher for help, but she noticed I was crying and came to my aid. 
• Lavoie explained the difference between remedial and compensatory education:
• Remedial:  the focus is to bring the student back up to the appropriate level. 
• Compensatory:  when the curriculum and materials are brought down to the level of the student.  While this can help a student succeed for a while, they won't be succeeding when they are released from school and find that they can't read.  There must be a balance between remedial and compensatory education.  They work wonderfully well together.
• Revisualization was something that I'd never heard of before.  Often children who are poor spellers have problems with revisualization.  These kids may also have a hard time cleaning their room.  They are unable to remember and visualize what their room looked like when it was clean, so they don't know what to do.  The incredible analogy that Lavoie used was of a puzzle.  He said that if he gave a 500 piece puzzle to a few adults and asked them to complete it, that they could do it.  Then he said that if he increased the size of the puzzle, to 5000 pieces, and then removed the box, it would be impossible for the same adults to complete.  If there is no image of a finished product, then you can't demand they get it.  Sometimes they are genuinely unable.  
• "Give kids roots and wings".  Lavoie was saying that as parents, you need to give a child somewhere to send their roots down.  They need to feel loved, nurtured and safe there.  They need to be able to learn from their mistakes and grow.  He explained that they also need to be able to function on their own.  One day when they grow up, you, as a parent, would like to see them succeed.  If all you've done is set up boundaries for them and monitored them, they won't be ready for the world.  In my EDPS 310 class, I was reading about chronic misbehaviors in the classroom.  The text explained that the main goal of the teacher is to enable the students to control their own behavior.  If you don't teach them that, then you're setting them up to fail in the real world.