Recently at church, my pastor talked about how the words of
the bible are like putting food in a colander. According to the Merriam Webster dictionary,
a colander is a perforated utensil for washing or draining food. Your pour the
food in the colander and the liquid drains out but the food stays in. The
important words (Jesus’s words) stay in the colander and the words we don’t
need to save drain out.
This had me thinking about the information that we learn in school.
Hopefully our brains work like the colander and the important things stay in
while the unnecessary stuff flows out. This keeps our brains from getting
filled with too much information that we don’t need which give us room that need
for the important stuff.
But what about students with disabilities. Maybe their “colander”
has holes that are too big. Maybe too much information flows away and is unable
to hold the important things in. That might be why they have trouble
remembering things or sorting through what is important or what is not. If this
was a colander in my kitchen, I might put another colander with smaller holes
on top of it to help. These students need to learn coping skills that help them
figure out how to hold on to the important things. I might need to help them
find the other tool that will work for them. Maybe eventually, they won’t need
the extra tools or maybe the coping skills become so natural that they don’t
notice any problem anymore.
Then, there is the student where the holes are too small and
too much information stays in their brain. This could be so overwhelming and
hard to distinguish between what is important and what is not. I will need to
help the students learn skills that will sort through this information and help
them learn to cope with this problem. Maybe students will learn this skill and
it will become intuitive.
I think the hardest thing for me is to learn which students
have which type of “colander.” I need to pay closer attention to how they are
learning information. Rather than just focusing on giving the information, I
need to know if my students are having any processing problems.
Do you look at your students’ processing problems? How do
you do this? Please share.
I think the hardest thing for me is to
learn which students have which type of “colander.” I need to pay closer
attention to how they are learning information. Rather than just focusing on
giving the information, I need to know if my students are having any processing
problems.
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Do you look at your students’
processing problems? How do you do this? Please share.
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