d. m. arney, m.a.

Once I figure something out, I make sure it sticks. There are certain visualization techniques for learning that I worked through many, many incarnations before finally hitting the right way to introduce and use it. But, just because it works well most of the time doesn’t mean it works well all of the time. Had to overrule myself twice this week because of it. I use a grids technique to teach multiplication but I don’t let the students actually draw them out, until now. One of my students just couldn’t use the colors, so I needed him to actually see them. Still seeing if this improves it or not. Another student needs to study college level material, which doesn’t lend itself amazingly well to my anchoring system used for simpler material. While trying to stretch it, I violated my rule of no words in visualizations. Funny thing, I use words myself all the time. But when I first teach students, having the words keeps them in an auditory loop and negates visualizing. Lesson: Trust your students.