Waht If You Catn Reda?
Last week, I saw this story from Colorado Public Radio and thought it was worth sharing with others. It opens with this:
"Ecno ynam sraey oga a relddif emac ot eht egalliv. Eh doots ni eht egalliv erauqs litnu eht elpoep emac ot netsil dna ot ecnad. A ylloj rehctu decnad htiw eht diamklim.
That was the sentence in front of me and I didn’t know what it said."
The author of the story, Jenny Brundin, describes her experiences alongside Denver area teachers in a workshop that was designed to simulate learning difficulties. One of the most powerful observations she shares is the sense of frustration and hopelessness that many of the adult participants experienced during this simulation. Even veteran teachers within this group described feeling discouraged and experiencing self-doubt. It was interesting to see that some of the adults in this simulation also engaged in behaviors such as "shutting down, avoidance [and] being angry" as a result of their simulated learning challenges. The participants were able to recognize in themselves many of these same behaviors that they see from their struggling students, which increased their awareness of the need for compassion and understanding.
As a new school year begins, I appreciated this reminder of the importance of empathy and compassion for our students who struggle with learning. If you'd like to read additional observations from the author and other workshop participants, you can see the original article here:
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