Sunday, June 9, 2013

Opposition - Enhancing or Downgrading

Opposition – Enhancing or Downgrading


I came to the realization that opposition can be both positive and negative, enhancing and downgrading.

Negative (downgrading) Opposition is based on stopping, blocking, or, at least, impeding another or others.  Negative Opposition is always looking for what is wrong and emphasizing it, drawing everyone’s attention to it.

Positive (enhancing) Opposition looks for what was done right and praises it.  Then looks at what was not optimum and asks how it can be improved.  Positive Opposition is what coaxes and pushes others to do better than they thought they could, to reach beyond themselves.  It creates strong, collaborative, integrated teams.

Imaging the students and learning we could have, the accomplishments that would take place, if our teachers were able to practice Positive Opposition.

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Please tell me about a teacher, mentor or coach you had who practiced Positive Opposition.  They pushed you to be and accomplish more than you thought you could.
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I rescue failing students by remedying the Barriers to Learning



Sunday, June 2, 2013

Boredom - It's Not Your Child's Fault

Boredom – It’s Not Your Child’s Fault

I’m bored with school.
How many times have you heard that?!

According to studies on this subject of boredom – students’ boredom can be linked to Stress.
Here are a couple of quotes:
  1. “Boredom is one of the most consistent experiences of school and one that can be frustrating and disheartening for teachers.”
  2. My favorite, “By definition, to be in a state of boredom is to say the world sucks out there in some way.  But often that’s not the case; often it’s an interior problem, and students are looking in the wrong place to solve the problem.”

What’s wrong with those quotes?  You’ll notice that they are all centered on something being wrong with the student.  We most heartily disagree!!

I’m Virginia Koenig, co-author of How to Learn – How to Teach, Overcoming the Seven Barriers to Learning, and we think this is evidence that your child has been mishandled by their teacher.

One of the reasons your child can express boredom is because they are in the last and final stage of the Three Stages of Student Decline.

Parents – you need to be aware of the Stages so that you can recover your child before they decline too far and are beyond reach.

It’s all too common that a child’s want to learn and contribute is trampled on.  In their enthusiasm to share, they may speak out in class only to have their teacher tell them to be quiet.  The child is dominated, overwhelmed and made subservient to their environment.

The good news is this can be reversed.  To learn how to reverse the harm being done to your child go to howtolearneasily.com.


I rescue failing students by remedying the Barriers to Learning