Instrument Enrichment Program
It happened on a Thursday
evening, nearly ten years Ago. Varun’s remedial class had just got over. We
were working on page 3 of the instrument Comparisons. His mother requested to have
a word with me.
Varun was around
12 years at that time, studying in class VII in a main stream school. He had
been attending one to one remedial classes with me for nearly two years then.
We had addressed his issues of reading, spelling, math & comprehension and
the improvement was very gradual. His exam performances were inconsistent,
sometimes he could score up to 80% and sometimes he would score single digit
marks. Varun’s school refused to understand his issues of attention &
learning though both his parents were extremely cooperative and willing to do
anything within their means.
I gave Varun a
jigsaw puzzle to keep him busy and called his mother. After prolonged hesitation
& discomfort, varun’s mother finally came to the point. She expressed her
view that I should not be spending so much class time on teaching thinking skills,
but focus more on academic areas, especially since his marks were inconsistent.
The school was complaining a lot and threatening to detain him. I listened
patiently and tried to explain the philosophy behind the IE program. Teaching
thinking skills was an integral part of the remedial program and the results can
be perceived only after a long period of time. I tried to convince the parent
that we needed to bring about a qualitative change in the child and equip him
with adequate cognitive skills to make him an independent learner& a holistic
individual. (of course), out of great respect for me and the fact that varun
was attached to me, his mother reluctantly gave in. Varun & I worked on
several instruments of the IE program for almost two years along with study
skills and other academic areas. Out of three classes per week, one class was
allotted to IE program.
Today Varun is a
marketing professional in the financial services industry. He appeared a s a
private candidate in 10th & 12th and scored above
80%. He obtained an MBA from a reputed college and secured a job immediately.
He has very good communication skills, is very organized and mature for his
age. He is well aware of his strengths & weaknesses and never hesitates to
acknowledge his need to seek guidance / support. He is able to prioritize his
goals and has good decision making skills.
Varun never fails
to wish me on Teacher’s day. But my biggest reward came on the day his mother
called and thanked me for teaching him thinking skills. She saw great value in
the IE program as she witnessed so many youngsters (many of them Varun’s
friends) lost and confused & having several problems mainly because they
lacked clarity in thinking
.
Remedial
intervention is rather incomplete if thinking and reasoning skills are not included
in the program. The IE program teaches the child critical thinking skills
through paper pencil activities. The methodology is called ‘Mediated Learning
Experience’ or ‘bridging’ of specific thinking skills at three levels of input,
processing & output. Skills like planning, systematic thinking, problem definition,
hypothesizing, empathizing, information gathering, problem solving, comparing/categorizing
etc. are taught.
Dyslexics have
significant difficulties in information processing skills and restraining impulsivity.
So teaching them specific thinking skills and how & when to apply them
should be made an integral part of the remedial program.