Looking Ahead…
I just spent the past month teaching six students at the Corner during our first-ever Middle School Summer Enrichment program, and it was wonderful. The mornings were academic, focusing on reading and writing, followed by fun afternoon activities around Brooklyn and in the city—the perfect balance for summer.
What was interesting, however, was that my one-on-one tutoring clients from the regular school year became students in a more traditional classroom setting, and I was able to observe their habits as learners…So it suddenly became very clear why “enrichment” was a good idea for many of these individuals—not because they weren’t intelligent or capable or even interested…but because they sometimes weren’t entirely ENGAGED.
Everyone has a subject that really drives and delights them—for my dad, it was sports. He can recall the details and particulars from just about any St. Louis Cardinals game that was ever played on this planet. For my mom, her scene is Scrabble—she can often be heard remarking the words, “Oooh—that word has never been played on the board before!” because in this particular arena, she definitely has a photographic memory.
But ask my dad to explain a problem in algebra or require my mom to merge into major highway traffic, and both individuals suddenly fall flat. The results are often abysmal. Why? They just didn’t tune in to the nuances required to develop that specific skill— for lack of a better way to phrase it, they just “couldn’t be bothered” when they had the opportunity to clue into details for these particular lessons…
It’s okay that my dad hires an accountant and that my mom sticks to the side roads when running errands, but what if they had to ‘pass a class’ in these “subjects” now? Both of them would have to change their approach dramatically. And this is the heart of learning: change. The skills that come quickly for us are ones that are natural and easy—and because they are already fun, we get more engaged with doing them even better—again supporting the old adage that “success breeds success.” When we don’t enjoy an activity, on the other hand, we begin to avoid and ignore important signs and signals, and herein lies the true crux of my point….
Each of my kids this summer was intelligent and gifted—but every one of them reached a moment when they just “checked out” of the learning scene, for whatever reason. As a result, key concepts were missed, and a foundation for future learning was lost—that familiar awful spiral. We’re all human, but the key to preventing future road blocks this fall is creating a way to literally ‘rise above the mundane’ and find a way to Get ENGAGED in order to stay in the game of learning—somehow, some way…
Looking ahead at future classes and inevitable challenges as we approach a new school year, I encourage both parents and educators to “translate” skills that already flourish into areas of weakness. For example, if you have a kid that’s a good cook on your hands but struggling in math, learn how to “parallel” following the directions of a recipe with forming a theorem in geometry. If, on the other hand, you have a child who is “afraid of the ball” (as I was in gym) but a talented musician, link the skills in sports to an aspect of music—like “hitting a note” or “catching a tune,” so that the sense of already established success is readily available and accessible to transfer into a foundation of confidence for the more daunting activity.
When we can train the brain to feel ENGAGED, even on the smallest scale, kids often learn, despite their original apathy, and that’s when life can become suprisingly fun. On a positive note (and on behalf of my talented parents!) my mom now changes lanes successfully through the complicated byways of Pittsburgh in order to see her three grandchildren and coordinate transportation for their demanding after-school activites. And my dad—well, he found a way to earn a PhD from Princeton (despite an aversion to equations) in order to become a seminary president. Both of my parents navigated a way into what matters most to them, and your children can too. Even if “disinterest” can sometimes feel like a dancing gremlin who often wins, there is always a point of entry into the world of discovery. As E.M. Forster so aptly wrote, “Only connect…” and at the Clifton Corner, we’re looking forward to connecting with You this fall!
