I wonder how many times we are told a child doesn’t get what they are doing in class. A reasonable statement. But I wonder how many times it’s because the teacher isn’t making themselves clear.
It makes sense to me so it should make sense to you…
I remember as a child sitting in a GCSE maths class and the teacher was explaining something to us. I had no idea what she was talking about and, unfortunately, she chose me to answer her question.
I sat and looked at her blankly before giving her an answer with only the slightest glimmer of hope that it might be right.
No chance. She explained it again using the exact same words. She asked me again for the answer, but I was none the wiser. She might as well have been talking in a foreign language. I had no clue.
With a roll of her eyes, she explained it for the third time in the exact the same way. I still had no idea what she was on about. But, now with a bright red face and a fear that the tears I could feel welling up inside would escape down my cheeks, she gave up. I felt like a complete fool in front of the whole class.
That night I sat with my dad who used completely different wording and I got it. It was simple. He wasn’t a teacher; he just had the patience to explain it to me in a way that I understood. That has stayed with me for a long, long time.
With life experience, a background in early years and then an interest in different learning styles we are all individuals, and we all learn differently. My brother and I are both different in how we learn, my 3 kids are all completely different in how they learn, so a teacher is having to work with 30+ children all of whom are completely unique in their understanding.
Something I learned several years ago was that if the child is engaged and enjoying what they are doing they are more likely to relax. If they are relaxed, they are more likely to learn as they are less likely to concentrating on the fear of what is to come. If they learn they will become more confident and with confidence comes a willingness to have a go.
What’s more, if we give a child something to do; for example, a worksheet, we help them to create a memory. If we give them a second worksheet you make that memory stronger. The third worksheet you make that memory stronger still. And so on…
However, if we use multiple different resources, we will help them to create multiple places in their brain where they will store the information making it easier to recall when it’s needed.
This statement is often followed by: “yes, but…” and I agree that we have to work with the needs of the individual. But for many, many students this logic works, and they can enjoy what they are doing in the process.
I can chatter about this all day but will try and stop myself. If you want to learn more send me a message and we can have a chat, or we have the ‘Clara James Approach’ a membership group for the parents of primary aged children where you can access resources, and more are added each month. You can ask questions on the monthly QA and join the Facebook Group.
As a founding member it would be less than £4/month. You can find the link here:The The Clara James Approach
We have also started creating a range of books which I am really proud of, the first one: Getting to grips with Angles can be found on Amazon. The book is laid out with a lot of white space, illustrations, and colour to make it easy to read. There are explanations and then the following few pages are games that you can use to enhance your understanding. The answers are at the back, as often if you don’t get something by looking at the answer and working backwards it all starts to make sense.
We’ve got more coming: times tables and algebra are the ones I’m working on at the moment.
We also have a weekly email where we send out ideas to support your child at home with their maths and English.
I’m talking too much again, but if this is of interest to you, let me know and I look forward to speaking soon.
#learning #education #studyskills #homeeducation #creativelearning
