We all operate at different speeds. I learned this lesson in college when I found myself fidgeting and struggling to stay awake during the classes I had with one specific professor.
As a matter of fact, throughout most of my elementary and high school experiences I had the same issue. I was always the one the teachers singled out and reprimanded for drawing pictures or squirming around too much and talking instead of listening to the lessons. I’m sure they thought I was a bit “thick”! Nope, it was because I was BORED.
I was too young to understand why, or even recognize that something was different at the time. I accepted that I was a poor student.
While in college, I met a young professor who was high energy. She bounced off the walls and I locked on to her every move.
One day while sitting with a group of fellow students, I mentioned how much I liked this professor and the whole table looked at me like I was nuts! They could not keep up with her and were frustrated.
When I mentioned the other professor that put me to sleep, the table all responded the opposite way. They loved this guy!
I asked myself, “What is different from my experience to theirs?”
The answer I came up with, changed my whole perspective on learning, not just for me but for possibly the world.
My conclusion was, that I’m also high energy, so I was a good match for a professor with the same energy as myself.
The slow drone talker could not keep my attention, but the other students must have been calibrated at a lower energy level than me for them to lock onto his lectures.
This revelation started me thinking about Attention Deficit Disorder. Today, I would have been put on meds, but I truly believe the answer is in matching students to teachers with the same energy levels, not doping our kids.
Being a high energy student should not be a bad thing and something to “fix”. The reason we fidget is because we get it the first time and become bored when the class does not move fast enough for us.
Just like there are special needs children and potentially lower energy learners, we need to consider that there are some high energy learners out there too, and doping them on drugs will squash their creative side or potentially destroy a student who could be of genius level just because they don’t seem to fit in with the others.
None of us are exactly the same,…. so why should we expect all children to fit into a curriculum designed for the median?
