A lot about life in, and informed by living in, Kansas.
Monday, February 22, 2010
As for me and my house, we prefer words.
Maggie struggles with math. I don't know if it's her, or us, or school, or numbers, or circumstance...or all of the above. But, true to her heritage, she communicates, she reads, words come naturally and she understands their uses and spelling and usefulness without trying. On my side of the equation, we have the gift of gab. On Megan's side of the equation, deliberation and empathy.
I know I've bitched ad nauseum about how Maggie's weakness ruins school for her, and that hasn't changed, but I'm going to focus on the positive.
To talk, to really talk, is a heartwarming experience. Her life and energy are a jumpstart after the drains of a day full of thinking, thinking, thinking. To talk to her is to live.
I hated math's guts in school. In the 2nd grade I faked sick just so I wouldn't have to finish a math worksheet in class that I felt was too hard. I took a semester of Calculus in high school in order to qualify for the regents scholarship, got a C+, dropped it the following semester for an art class and went to college out of state so it didn't matter anyway. :)
I hated math too and it's the only class I ever failed. I comforted myself by saying that creative people are bad at math, so no worries (except that bothersome F on my transcript). In becoming a teacher, I learned about the educational philosophy/theory that we're all different and have different learning styles (duh, right?). I'm a visual learner. If only I had been taught math in a way that made sense to my visual brain, I would have done well. I try to teach art in ways that make sense, not only to visual learners, but also logical/mathmatical learners, and kinetic learners, etc.
I hated math's guts in school. In the 2nd grade I faked sick just so I wouldn't have to finish a math worksheet in class that I felt was too hard. I took a semester of Calculus in high school in order to qualify for the regents scholarship, got a C+, dropped it the following semester for an art class and went to college out of state so it didn't matter anyway. :)
ReplyDeleteI hated math too and it's the only class I ever failed. I comforted myself by saying that creative people are bad at math, so no worries (except that bothersome F on my transcript). In becoming a teacher, I learned about the educational philosophy/theory that we're all different and have different learning styles (duh, right?). I'm a visual learner. If only I had been taught math in a way that made sense to my visual brain, I would have done well. I try to teach art in ways that make sense, not only to visual learners, but also logical/mathmatical learners, and kinetic learners, etc.
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