I can’t be the only person who has conversations (or let’s be honest, arguments-that-I-win) with imaginary people while taking a shower, right?
For this morning’s installment, I was a high school teacher again - talking to parents at Back-to-School night (an event that was universally dreaded by all us teachers in the math department - introverts and extroverts alike. (Though, I think we fit the stereotypical mold of being introverts.) All we had was 10 minutes with each of our classes' parents to share what we do. But honestly, when you teach math most parents know what you do, and they just want to corner you into talking about their student. So imagine a bunch of introverts doing their level best to fill 10 minutes of time with meaningful information to avoid one-on-one talk with a bunch of strangers, and you’ll understand why we were always stressed out about this event.)
In any case, my talk went something like this:
“Hi, good evening everybody. Thanks for coming out tonight. It’s been great meeting your students and I think we’ve gotten off to a good start. I’ve even heard from a couple students that they feel like they are "getting" math for the first time ever! Which is all very good and if it’s because of me then *patting myself on the back* Go Me!
[we all chuckle here, because honestly, that's kinda ridiculous]
"But really, I don’t put much stock in these kind of comments anymore, for two reasons: First, I’ve noticed that many of these same students are floundering at the end of the year, and I’m still doing what I’m doing. Which could mean that I’m being ineffective, but I really think that something else is going on. Which brings me to my second point: neuroplasticity.
"See, at the beginning of the year, we’re mostly reviewing math from the previous year. The kids who already understood this material see this time for what it is: review. But the kids who struggled with these concepts before are now finally “getting it”. They may understand that we’re doing review but back when these concepts were first introduced they were like square pegs trying to fit in all the circular holes in their brains. And if you ever believed that your kid’s brain was full of holes, you will see that this makes sense.
[insert parental chuckling here]
"But here is where the theory of neuroplasticity comes in. Neuroplasticity says that our brains *actually*, physically change in response to new stimuli. There is research that shows that the brain physically rearranges itself in order to learn how to read.** At first, these square concepts hit the round holes in the brain. But over time, the brain reshapes itself into square holes! For some kids, it can happen right away. But for other kids, it can take weeks or months (like a summer holiday, anyone?). But the point is, the brain CAN change! And it DOES. It just takes some time.
"What I really find fascinating about this though, is that when we hand a kid a “square” concept - like a new math algorithm, or whatnot - a neurotypical kid can look at that, discover that it’s “square” and then reshape their brain into square holes. We hand them squares and they say, “Ooops. I need square holes to fit this in.” So what then happens with a kid who is neuro-atypical? Do we hand them squares and they think they’re getting carrots? Or do we hand them square pegs and that is what they receive but it’s all kinda overshadowed by the fact that the square is covered in purple and screaming like a banshee?
[and here I start to sing]
"It was a one-eyed, one-horned screaming purple algorithm…
"I mean, that would be a lot to process!”
And (blessedly) that’s as far as I got before my two-year-old came knocking on the door, looking for “Mommy!!” *sigh* Shower time over. But just as well, I was running out of material. And, as we all know, you don’t want dead time when you’re talking to parents on Back-to-School night.
**I learned this from the book “Proust and the Squid” by Maryanne Wolf
“Hi, good evening everybody. Thanks for coming out tonight. It’s been great meeting your students and I think we’ve gotten off to a good start. I’ve even heard from a couple students that they feel like they are "getting" math for the first time ever! Which is all very good and if it’s because of me then *patting myself on the back* Go Me!
[we all chuckle here, because honestly, that's kinda ridiculous]
"But really, I don’t put much stock in these kind of comments anymore, for two reasons: First, I’ve noticed that many of these same students are floundering at the end of the year, and I’m still doing what I’m doing. Which could mean that I’m being ineffective, but I really think that something else is going on. Which brings me to my second point: neuroplasticity.
"See, at the beginning of the year, we’re mostly reviewing math from the previous year. The kids who already understood this material see this time for what it is: review. But the kids who struggled with these concepts before are now finally “getting it”. They may understand that we’re doing review but back when these concepts were first introduced they were like square pegs trying to fit in all the circular holes in their brains. And if you ever believed that your kid’s brain was full of holes, you will see that this makes sense.
[insert parental chuckling here]
"But here is where the theory of neuroplasticity comes in. Neuroplasticity says that our brains *actually*, physically change in response to new stimuli. There is research that shows that the brain physically rearranges itself in order to learn how to read.** At first, these square concepts hit the round holes in the brain. But over time, the brain reshapes itself into square holes! For some kids, it can happen right away. But for other kids, it can take weeks or months (like a summer holiday, anyone?). But the point is, the brain CAN change! And it DOES. It just takes some time.
"What I really find fascinating about this though, is that when we hand a kid a “square” concept - like a new math algorithm, or whatnot - a neurotypical kid can look at that, discover that it’s “square” and then reshape their brain into square holes. We hand them squares and they say, “Ooops. I need square holes to fit this in.” So what then happens with a kid who is neuro-atypical? Do we hand them squares and they think they’re getting carrots? Or do we hand them square pegs and that is what they receive but it’s all kinda overshadowed by the fact that the square is covered in purple and screaming like a banshee?
[and here I start to sing]
"It was a one-eyed, one-horned screaming purple algorithm…
"I mean, that would be a lot to process!”
And (blessedly) that’s as far as I got before my two-year-old came knocking on the door, looking for “Mommy!!” *sigh* Shower time over. But just as well, I was running out of material. And, as we all know, you don’t want dead time when you’re talking to parents on Back-to-School night.
**I learned this from the book “Proust and the Squid” by Maryanne Wolf
