Wednesday, April 10, 2024

Wednesday, April 10, 2024

 

   I called first-grade BZ's mom this morning to say I didn't think she required more tutoring. I recommended we meet once for a half-hour session and the following week for fifteen minutes so she didn't feel abandoned because she did well. That would be a damaging association. First, her mom said okay. Then, I asked her if she agreed with me. She said she would prefer to stop cold turkey and continue if BZ asks about it.  

   I have fallen into a Steve Bartlett podcast sinkhole. From what I've heard, his is the most popular podcast on YouTube. He interviews people on human development and improvement. It does me good to hear about the struggles of all human beings to be better people. I don't know if it will help me improve or just be comforting to know I'm not alone. Either way, it isn't a total loss.

   Bartlett interviewed Steve Peters, a psychiatrist. Peters talks about improving our social/emotional life. He talks about the three parts of the brain from that perspective. I was interested in understanding it from a cognitive perspective. Many of my students are resistant to using their conscious minds to learn. They want it all to come easily without effort. I tell them I'm on their side; I share their goal. However, we need to use our conscious minds to train our unconscious minds. Once our unconscious minds have learned, there's no stopping us. Peters said the unconscious mind, which he called the computer,  is a huge storehouse of information, operating 20 times faster than the conscious mind, which he calls the human mind, and 4x faster than the emotional mind, which he calls the chimp mind.  

   Research shows that most of what we do every day is dictated by our unconscious minds. Those neurons in the back of our brain and those involved in firing muscles are in play before our conscious minds start to stir. The role of our conscious minds is to observe and judge the efficacy of the plan our unconscious minds have already put into action. Our conscious minds have the role of putting on the brakes. The conscious mind is occasionally involved in evaluating choices and making decisions long before an action is set into motion. This is a cognitive view of these three parts of our brain.

    I went to Ulu Wini again today. I go twice a week. As I approached the table where the students sat, Ipo asked who wanted to work with me. No one responded. Then, she told third-grade BR she was it. BR made a face. I imitated her face and told her to come. She smiled and came. We continued working on her automatic recall of words. She went through all the sight word lists I had on hand, words 1-200, whereas last time, she only took on the first 50 words. I need to print out lists through 400.

    I called on 3rd grade AR next. I noticed yesterday she didn't understand the concepts of before and after. I called in 3rd grade BER to help. I formed a line with the three of us. 

  Then, I went through who was before AR and who was after AR, etc. Then we turned around and did the same exercise.   I had AR list everything she did in the morning when getting ready for school. 

She listed eight activities listed. I then went through her. She brushed her teeth before washing her face and her face after brushing her teeth. Yesterday, I asked her the words before and after in her parent's language. She had no idea. Today, she identified those words. This is a significant step in language awareness. It might have been possible there were no words for before and after in her native language. If not, there would have been another to express the concepts, but not two words.   

    When I worked with Adolescent D today, he delivered an amazing surprise. He now thinks figuring out words is fun!!!! Halleluiah!!! If he keeps playing with it, the sky's the limit. He also follows my directions, looking for the familiar parts of the word. He identified the suffix -tion before the rest of the word. For those of you who think all words should be read from left to right as they are written, know the eye movements when we read constantly jerk back and forth. We collect the familiar parts and assemble the word on the fly. Even Orton Gillingham teaches that. Identify the suffixes and prefixes first. Suffixes come at the end of the word. Those of us who process lines of print in a single glance know the unconscious brain, the part that processes information 20x faster than the conscious mind, does the work. We don't know exactly what it does and does not do.

   No one else wanted to work with me after that. I was packing up when 3rd grade SE sat down with an eager look. I asked if he wanted to work with me. Yesterday, I worked with automatic processing. He only made it through the first 25 words but was amazed to discover that his mind gave him those words without struggling. He repeated that performance today. He was thrilled. So was I.