Friday, February 28, 2025

 Friday, February 28, 2025 

   I woke up in surprisingly good emotional shape. I had thought of something bad but didn't go down that slippery slope. I didn't even need a distraction.  It just happened. It would be so nice if that were my new normal.  What made the difference? Facing my desire to 'destroy' my mother. By destroy, I mean force her to face the damage she did to me, and my sister.  Her argument, which she believed, was it was better for her to criticize and never praise.  She repeated the treatment she received from her father, which he received from his father. Her dad treated the dog the same way.  He was way short of being a dog whisperer.  When I described the way he trained his dog, someone told me that dogs like that wind up being extraordinary, one way or the other. Lort, my mom's 'brother,' was remarkable in a positive way. Maybe my mom thought that's what her treatment would do for her children. However, like my grandfather and his father before him, she had hidden motivation- as we all do.  It was a drive for absolute power and perhaps a justification for her vengeful treatment of anyone who contradicted her. Maybe I am becoming more like my mother. I want to 'force' someone to see things my way.  Hopefully, my desire to do it for love and healing will be less damaging. Also, I believe in the value of honest praise. I don't believe people are better off if they think nothing they are or do is worthwhile.

   It was a Hula Day. The class is led by two teachers, Sweety and Paulette. Sweety instructs the class, and Paulette models the dance so everyone can follow her. Paulette's husband, Bill, accompanies her to every session.  One day, he approached me and told me how much I was improving. He commented on my left arm's improved range of motion and stamina.

He was aware I had shattered my left shoulder and elbow and had reconstructive surgery on my elbow and a reverse shoulder replacement.

   During one class several months ago, Sweety, the instructor, singled me out for correction. I hadn't raised my left arm high enough.  It was supposed to be completely vertical instead of in the Hail Caesar or Heil Hitler salute.  Since she called me from a distance, I answered from a distance. "I shattered my left shoulder and have a reverse shoulder replacement. I will never be able to lift my left arm fully again."  Since then, Bill has been watching my progress.  It was very sweet of him to reach out to me.  It was also good to know I was getting better.  I could feel that my strength was improving. It took longer before the arm hurt too much to continue raising it.

   I spent the day researching the right and left halves of the brain. The more I read, the more I disagree with McGilchrist's thesis. His argument is absurd. I wouldn't object to it if it were just about how the brain works, but he's talking about power and dominance rather than function. His is a political statement. Welcome to the culture wars! 

   It's not only his thesis that's off. The basis for his thesis contradicts his arguments. It's wild. He's a neuroscientist, a left-brain profession if there ever was one, who is familiar with Western history from reading the books by dead white men and some live ones, possibly of a variety of colors, and based a theory of how the brain works from all this very abstract, left-brain knowledge.  He has constructed a left-brain thesis to denounce the left brain as a usurper of right-brain dominance.  His thesis is adolescent. It's a rebellion against his training. I'm sorry for him if he never truly transcended left-brain thinking. He never got the correct therapy to help him.

    He has ignored cognitive styles and the value of everything in his work. I prefer to see it all on a continuum. Some are more left brain; some are more right. Every modality has its value; every modality has its pitfalls. The one thing I did get from my conversation with Rob was that people can have a strong left brain in one context and a strong right brain in another and not have the two hemispheres in conversation with each other.  My mother must have been like that.  She could make contradictory statements within two sentences.  It was stunning.  She wasn't stupid. She was a very bright woman. But the two hemispheres weren't in communication with each other.  She didn't process the information from the right brain in her left brain or vice versa.

    Brilliance is any area of thinking where the left and the right are active and work together, not in competition. I read that years ago.  Trained musicians use both sides of their brain.

    The left may come to maturity after the right.  A young child may pick up an instrument and start playing with it.  If they're going to progress, the left brain has to come online. They may get formal training in their field, or they may develop it on their own. Innovators develop their left-brain skills on their own. It's a matter of degree, not either or. It's my theory that the wider the swing from left to right, the more brilliant that person will be in the area where they apply it.

   I had the Twins today at 1:30, even though they usually get out at 2:30 on Fridays. Their mom had picked them up early in anticipation of a planned camping trip for the weekend.

    I had Twin A first. I asked her about the planned trip. Was the whole family going? Yes. Did they have a tent big enough for all six people?  Mama K and their dad were sleeping in a tent. Their brother, sixth-grade K, was sleeping under the truck. Their older sister was sleeping in a tent with her girlfriend.  This camping trip was for that girlfriend's birthday.  I know they go camping several times a year. Mama K keeps those kids active. She does a great job.

   I did another exercise in comparison. I used a fourth-grade passage from IXL.  

    People all over the world love dumplings, or pockets of dough stuffed with a filling.  But different countries have their own way of making them. For example, pierogi are a type of dumpling that comes from Poland, while ravioli comes from Italy. Ravioli is often stuffed with cheese and herbs. Pierogi, on the other hand, are commonly stuffed with mashed potatoes.  They are also usually larger than most ravioli. No matter what the size or what's inside, dumplings of all sizes are delicious. 

Dumplings	Fillings	Country of Origin	Size	Taste
Ravioli	Cheese and Herbs	Italy	Smaller	Delicious
Pierogi	Mashed potatoes	Poland	Bigger	Delicious

 

The above is the passage and the chart. Twin A didn't do a perfect job without help, but so much better than she did last time.  She started by saying it was dumplings compared to pierogis and ravioli. Maybe she needs some classification work.  Everything has to be taught explicitly, but she can and does learn.   I had planned for the categories of filling, country of origin, size, and taste.  I didn't plan for the category of dumplings because they were both dumplings. The chart was blank when we started the work.  I had to guide her to go back to the text to find the information, and in some cases, I highlighted the text, but she got it so much better than she had on our first attempt.

    With Twin E, I worked on a third-grade passage. She is still behind her sister, who could be on a beginning fifth-grade level by the end of the year. It was a passage where she had to determine the main idea. In this case, I used the question set by the IXL program. She got it correctly with ease.  She had trouble reading the word gravity. She reversed the r and the a.  She read it a gar and then jar.  I had to lead her through the procedure. I asked her how many vowel letters were in the word. She correctly identified three. Therefore, how many syllables?  I still had to help her decode gra.  What sound does the a make? She said a short a, which is incorrect but may be good enough for her to infer the correct pronunciation.  She got the vi and the ty. She blended the three syllables using the short a.  She read on and inferred the correct pronunciation of gravity.  Students must be trained to use context to infer the correct pronunciation of a word. That's what the Whole Language Program was striving for. They're right, but it alone doesn't work.  "That and a token will get you in the subway." Successful readers must master decoding, memorizing word families (patterns), and inferring the meaning of words from context.

   I asked Twin E if she wanted to do another passage. She said no, so I let her go. It is vital to give students some control over their circumstances.

  I called my friend Jean, and we did a water meditation. We talk daily and comfort each other. What a gift!

   I had fifth-grade GV at 2:30. We could have worked on his story about how he got his dog, but instead, I showed him how to use Grammarly to correct his work. Grammarly is a brilliant idea. I've learned from the program. It's a great, nonjudgmental way for anyone to learn. I can only hope it won't get him in trouble at school. They're more concerned about having an accurate sample of the student's work than having them learn. I understand.

   The IXL program I opened came up first. The story was finished except for the editing, so we were in no hurry. Letting something sit for a while is a good idea anyway.

    I started with a selection at the fourth-grade level, which GV easily understood. I then immediately switched to fifth-grade material, which required identifying the theme. 

   His reading fluency was excellent, except for reading the names accurately; Lina and Danielle. He substituted a D  and an L name. That works.  I did that for years. I decode everything now. I learned to do that because of the method of teaching decoding that I use. I practice the procedure along with my students. I take pleasure in figuring out each word now.

   In the story, Danielle has taken up knitting. She was terrible at it but had no compunction foisting her creations on friends and family. She offered to knit a sweater for Lina, her best friend Gulp! What was our hero to do? GV missed that Danielle was about to offer to knit something for Lina.  He thought she was offering Lina an opportunity to knit something herself. Oh, dear. As I suspected from his comprehension scores, he had difficulty following the language. We'll fix that.  It shouldn't take long.