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| Date: From: Subject: | 12/11/2008 11:42:28 AM Home School Legal Defense Association HSLDA's Homeschooling Your Struggling Learner Newsletter |
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---------------------------------------------------------------- HSLDA's Homeschooling Your Struggling Learner Newsletter December 2008: Right Brain Teaching Strategies ---------------------------------------------------------------------- by Dianne Craft, MA, CNHP In the animal kingdom, 50 percent of the animals are "right paw dominant" and 50% are "left paw dominant." In the human kingdom, only about 10-13% of us are "left paw dominant." (Stanley Coren, "The Left-Hander Syndrome") However, close to half of us tend to be more left brain dominant in our learning preference and half of us tend to be more right brain dominant. (Shaun Kerry, M.D. neurologist, and D.F. Beson, "The Dual Brain") It seems that we have a tendency to marry people who are dominant in the opposite brain hemisphere, if you haven't noticed. Apparently that is part of God's sense of humor. It often happens that if your first-born is a left brain learner, your second born tends to be more of a right brain learner, in my experience. Let's look at a model of the brain with its specialization of hemispheres: -------------------- LEFT BRAIN (Plan A) auditory details black & white data only repetition sequential -------------------- RIGHT BRAIN (Plan B) visual whole picture colors story, pictures emotions randomness As we can see, the left and right hemispheres learn in different ways. We all use both hemispheres when we learn, but when under stress, we tend to rely on our dominant hemisphere for learning. PLAN A Most curriculum is designed to teach in a more left brain manner. Workbooks, worksheets, rote memorization (math facts), timed tests, lectures, memorizing facts for a test, learning vocabulary by looking up the meanings of words in a dictionary and writing it out are all left brain activities. Many children thrive on this type of teaching method. If you have a child who is learning well using these strategies, then you would not change anything. However, when a child is not "getting" the material (math facts, phonics rules, sight word memorization etc.), often we continue to use Plan A to teach them, but we now do it SLOWER and LOUDER and with many more repetitions. This can bring frustration and tears to both the mother and child. The parent can't understand why the child isn't learning the material, and the child does not feel very smart. Let's look at Plan B for teaching this struggling learner. PLAN B If a child is struggling with learning or memorizing information in this left brain manner, right brain teaching strategies may help him overcome this struggle. Does that mean that being right brain dominant is a weakness? Not at all! As you know, Einstein was a flaming right brainer. ("Teaching the Two-Sided Mind," Linda Williams). If you have a child at home who is "balking" at doing the schoolwork that fits the description above, you may be working with a more right brain dominant child. If you have a child who dislikes school, or has to work too hard to memorize material, you have probably noticed that teaching the lesson more slowly, and repeating it isn't working very well. For this child to succeed you need a "Plan B". This doesn't require an entire change in curriculum but rather a change in your teaching strategies. It isn't as hard as it sounds. In fact, it's easy, fun, and inexpensive. "PLAN B" SPELLING STRATEGY For example, let's look at teaching spelling words. We all want our children to be good spellers and are very frustrated when our methods aren't working. The most common complaint I receive is that the child learns the words for the test, but continues to misspell them in other writing tasks. How do we typically teach spelling? We have the child write the word multiple times, or use workbooks that have the child practice the words in several ways. However, if the child's "writing gate" is blocked (see September's Struggling Learner Newsletter at http://www.hslda.org/elert/archive/2008/09/20080911161248.asp), then the child cannot successfully transfer the spelling into his long-term memory using the writing method. Many spelling programs utilize phonics rules to teach a child to spell successfully. For the struggling learner, however, often there are too many rules to memorize, so they just become spelling "guessers". So what is the solution? Do you just hope that spell check will help them get through life? That is not your only option. You can help your child store spelling words in his long-term memory by using right brain teaching strategies. Your child's photographic memory can be trained very simply, and you can use spelling words to help train this in your child. We know that pictures are powerful learning tools, but did not know how to apply them to the storage of spelling words. THE EYES HAVE IT Let's look at how resourceful spellers appear to store their words. Have you ever seen a picture in the newspaper of a spelling bee winner? If you have, you may have seen the student with his eyes in an upward position. In other words, it seems like he is looking at the ceiling for the word he is spelling. We know that the physiological movement of the eyes upward helps to stimulate the right brain, which causes our right brain (the hemisphere that houses our photographic memory) to become more responsive. When the student is looking up, he is "seeing" the word in his head. Because he is seeing the printed word, he can spell it backwards as easily as forwards. You can train your child at home to use this very efficient strategy. Not only will it be painless, but you will find the right brain is responsible for visual memory and long-term memory, so your child will remember how to spell his words long past the week of the spelling test. When we put color, humor, stories and emotion to data, the right brain stores it easily, in its long-term memory. It's like we put "Velcro" on the data! TRAINING YOUR CHILD'S PHOTOGRAPHIC MEMORY This efficient right brain spelling strategy is simple to use at home. 1. Give your child a pre-test from a short list of words from the "most commonly used words" list, or any spelling program you are using. 2. Identify the words that were spelled incorrectly, and take the letters that were wrong, or left out, and color them, make them into caricatures--anything to make them appear "weird". (An example: If your child spelled "Saturday as Saterday" put the Sat-r-day in black marker on a card, since he knew those letters. Put the "u" in blue, with wavy lines in it to represent water, and a stick figure diving into the water. You can add a story, like, "They all Sat around on Saturday and one of them got bored, so the brothers decided to go swimming.) 3. Hold the card straight up in front of your child so his eyes are looking up. Have him glance at it, then bring it down while his eyes remain looking up, where the card had been. Flash this card in the air, five or six times, until your child can "see" it in the air, and easily spell it forwards and backwards. If your child can't easily "see" it in the air, show it more times, or put more "Velcro" on it by putting in more color, or a more detailed picture. 4. Review the cards each day of the week for a few minutes. 5. Your child's "photographic memory" will become stronger and stronger as you use this method. Remember that your child's visual memory can be his greatest strength. As you help him develop that, using spelling words, math facts, or anything, you will see learning and memorizing become much easier. The success a child feels when he can "see it" is priceless. Visit www.hslda.org/strugglinglearner for more ideas about how to make your teaching day easier. HSLDA members may contact a special needs coordinators at specialneeds@hslda.org, and ask to be emailed a "Daily Lesson Plan for the Struggling Writer and Speller" for more details on this method of learning. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -> How long are you in for? Some families are facing what seems like a lifelong commitment to homeschooling, with children at both ends of the spectrum -- some graduating and some just reaching school age. If you're going to be "in" for a while, consider a lifetime membership with HSLDA. It's a good deal for families with more than 10 years of homeschooling ahead. 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