Wednesday, November 15, 2023

 Wednesday, November 15, 2023

 On my morning walk today, I spotted two baby goats, one pig, three chickens, and a cat. Pigs are nocturnal. It was a surprise to see one so late in the morning, close to seven a.m. The goats were orphaned but old enough to survive on their own. Dean told me he saw the mom dead in a nearby driveway the other day. Chickens and cats are always on the loose.

   One of my Ulu Wini students improved so much after my first and only session with her I’m inclined to believe her problems with automatic recall of words were a result of nervousness- the equivalent of the white coat syndrome; some kids freeze up when they first work with a new teacher. They don’t know if we can be trusted.  

  In that vein, Ninth grade L said she was doing well except for being nervous when reading aloud in class. Two girls, Micronesians but not Marshallese, laughed at her. She thought they were good students making fun of her inadequacies. She doubted I could help her. I told her to give it a chance. 

She agreed. I did EFT with her. This is the setup I used, “Even though they laugh at me, I deeply love and care for myself,” and “Even though they laugh at me, I know I will be all right.” As she envisioned a scene where she read aloud and they laughed, she felt calmer. EFT is a ridiculous system of tapping on specific spots on the face and the body while saying words, as above. It looks so silly, but it works. Good for L for having enough faith in me to try what I had to offer.

   She is the only adolescent to work with me now. I told her my dilemma. She nodded when I told her the other teenagers were afraid to work with a teacher who also worked with the first and second graders. I understood their dilemma. They have to protect their adolescent egos. Unfortunately, some probably don’t read much better than the younger kids.

    From what L said, I inferred she was in an ESL class. Getting out of those classes is almost impossible except by fiat once you’ve been placed. All children who have one parent who speaks another language from birth qualify. The exit test is at a very high level. At least half the American-born children with parents who were also American-born couldn’t pass it. I’m sure there are cases when it is to the child’s advantage to be in such a class. Sometimes that is not true. I worked with a girl who spoke fluent English and was in a class learning the color names. I made her mother take her out.

  I had one student I had seen only once but hadn’t seen since. She had problems with automatic recall. I tried the new study procedure with her: I teach the kids to see the letters in their minds. Then I have them alternate between visualizing the letters and naming them, “What are the letters?” and hearing the word associated with those letters in their heads, “What is the word?” I have them repeat the answers as I cue them: “Letters” while pointing to their foreheads and “Word” while pointing to their left temple until it starts to sound automatic.  

    The student reversed the ir in first. I asked her if the letters had moved on the paper or in her head. For the first time in a while, I had a chance to do the spin release with a student. She identified the pattern of her spin. It spiraled from the outer edge to the center and slowed down. I told her to watch it until the inner spin stopped. She did and reported the letters were more stable. We’ll see.

  After talking to my friend Jean about my update entry from the other day on Darby’s comment, “If you ask someone to change, you ask them to lie.” I said I expected to be changed through my contact with others. I look forward to it. Yesterday, I said some expected changes that are out of my range. Rather than live with the resentment, I prefer separation. Separation is a sad alternative when differences cannot be reconciled. It’s choosing between two types of sadness.