I recently spoke with a friend who teaches fourth grade-aged
children. When asked about his experiences this school year, he mentioned an
otherwise “nice” girl who apparently has a fair amount of trouble paying
attention in class.
He’s clearly still trying to “figure her out,” so I said,
“Do you think it’s something other than ADHD or a learning disability? Maybe
she’s very picture-smart, so she’s ‘daydreaming’ when she should be focusing.”
His eyes widened. Though the man knows multiple intelligence
theory, it was as if he’d never entertained this possibility. But after a
second, he said, “Well, she still needs to pay attention. She’s missing a lot.”
And that’s true; for her own sake in a classroom setting,
she must find ways to focus. But it’s interesting that a conscientious,
experienced teacher had presumed the existence of learning problems or
attention deficit disorder before even thinking of multiple intelligence
issues. Sadly, he first inclined toward labeling possible weaknesses rather
than considering intelligence strengths.
But what if the
student’s picture-smart strength really is causing her classroom behavioral
struggle? Then she doesn’t need Ritalin or special ed. testing; she simply
needs strategies and methods to harness her innate wiring.
My friend said he’d put a special sticker on the corner of
the girl’s desk, in hopes that seeing it will remind her to focus. For a
picture-smart child, that’s a good start, but he can do more. For example, when
he’s in “lecture-mode,” he can display relevant photos for this girl and other
picture-smart kids, who will thus be much more apt to focus on the topic at
hand. And he can allow and encourage picture-smart kids to doodle or even color
while listening. That’s counterintuitive to some of us, but it honestly does
help; I’ve seen it in my own kids. He can also regularly incorporate tasks that
allow kids to demonstrate understanding through diagrams and illustrations. For
example, my high school biology teacher awarded equal credit for well-written
reports and well-done scientific drawings because he knew that both
demonstrated actual student learning equally well.
Of course, classroom teachers may – with their own "comfort" in mind – insist that
every child do the same tasks in the same way. However, those who desire to
help young people maximize their
potential realize it’s healthier to consider how kids are actually wired. As an
added bonus, such practices also ameliorate many behavior issues, making
everyone’s classroom experience that much more positive.
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