Part Six - Equations for the Joyous Mind
E is the first Factor of Note
“E” must be resolved before any other calculations can be resolved.
I was initially inspired by a case in which I could not help but believe all
modern theories and beliefs concerning the human brain, but more importantly,
the human mind, were essentially insufficient, or even simply wrong. Or, at the very least, very inadequate to
helping this particular person; who just happened to be my youngest daughter.
About 35 years ago my oldest son
began his academic career in Pre-School.
He was tested and we were told he was a “slow learner”. Our employment situation changed and we moved
to a different state. He was tested
there and we were told he was “gifted”.
Moved again and he suddenly became not so gifted.
Fed up, we put him in a private
school. It cost a lot and we lived very
tight for many years.
Today he is a Doctor with degrees
from Cornell, UNH and Yeshiva University Einstein Medical. We went through a similar scenario with our
oldest daughter and our next 3 sons. Our
oldest daughter is a successful architect and our second son also became a
medical Doctor.
When I became a High School teacher
I saw a distinct pattern emerging.
Students who have distinctive thinking
patterns can suffer as much in commonly applied American pedagogy, as
students with diagnosed “Learning Differences”. In fact, often they suffer more
because their problems are most often seen as personality disorders
by most teachers.
For most adults, anything
they don’t understand with young people is often attributed to a personality issue or, in an even worse
scenario, to a Learning Disability. In the latter case, this can have a very
deliterous effect on the child. Even
today there continues to be stigmas attatched to the label of Learning
Disability. When quite often what is creating a barrier to particular
child’s learning and retention in a given classroom situation is
actuallly a factor, or factors, that having nothing at all to do with that
child’s neurological make-up.
This
means the, sometimes, an evaluation of that child’s overall position
(for lack of a better terminalogy) in that particular classroom and
their relationship, as it exists or devleops, with that particular
teacher.
So,
when we attach a value system to formulae distiguishing as much of the real
factors existant within a given environment, it becomes possible to
determine what might be holding a particular student from achieving the best
results from their learning efforts.
Example:
Rather than using the numeral “0” for a given factor, which might seem
mathematically necessary, it is used more as a space is in computer code. Or, rather than zero it indicates “end-of-line”. Meaning, “end-of-command” – essentially it
means STOP. Further – nothing is happening (occuring)
– stall or neutral stasis.
When
a child enters a classroom immediately after an emotionally negative
experience, the Emotional Quotient, “E” is going to be noted,
within the calculation, as “0”. If E=1,
then the child is emotionally alert and receptive. If E=2, then the child is emotinally active. In relation to Emotions, “Omega
Learning” cannot be achieved with any factor other than a value of “1”, since
an “0” or “2” indicates the presence of some kind of barrier. In the instance of E values, there
needs to be a definite empathetic understanding of the age of the child
and their general individual station within a particular classroom
dynamic. It would seem there are almost
an infinite number of factors that can affect the E. Observable logic will place and ascribe a
value to most of these, as such then reducing all of them to either stasis
0), active/alert (1) or barred – the presence of a barrier – (2).
Child is upset (E0). Child is over-stimulated (E2). Child is sleepy (E0). Child is angry (E2). Now it becomes part of the evaluation to
determine if any of these values are consistant on a daily basis, or just of the moment. The argumentative scholar would come up with
a million variables – and yet, yes, I admit thare are a million variables. In
an attempt to address this, I will cite one unique personal experience as a
teacher:
Noah: One
of my students, let’s call him Noah – all emotional factors could be observed
to be (E1). Good student, neutral
family, social, etc. values; all (E1) consistantly. Except one very sigular element. Noah, as I noted during his first class, had
a highly sensitive hearing reaction to any sounds in the high sympathetic
auditory register. Or, “fingernails
on a blackboard” just drove him crazy.
Once again, obvious observation, told me, for Noah, this screeching type
of sound made him visibly upset – uncontrollably so.
Since the norm in current education is to use dry-erasable
markers on slick whiteboards, do not produce this type of auditory factor, I
was unaware the same effect applys to other written media. Occassionally old style ballpoint pens on
rough paper, pencils on certain surfaces and yes, rubbing on a balloon or other
kinds of synthetic materials.
Now if left unrecognized as upsetting to
him, Noah would instantly become agitated and his E quotient would take
a value of (E2). This reaction might seem peculiar to the average person, often it would go
unrecognized by a lot of his teachers. The rest of that class would become very
difficult for him. All that was required
was for me to say, “Whoops, sorry about that Noah.” when this happened and he almost as instantly forgot about it. Back to (E1) as instantly.
Argumentative scholar: A teacher can’t remember that for every
peculiarity for every student! I don’t
think this is any different than knowing any person on a regular basis, who has
a peanut allergy. Once determined, these
things just become part of all interactions with those persons. Making an issue of it will rescore
every interaction in a teaching/learning instance instantly to (E2) and the “Learning
Equation” is unresolvable to the “Omega State”.
I will provide the actual formula in the next chapter,
part or blog.
All material in this blog is from “Equations for the Joyous Mind” © 2016 by Dale Clarence Peterson
dalepeterson.us
Just published “Twelve Roses for Kathy – A journey on a motorcycle out of the darkness of bipolar disorder”
