Teachers Have Learning Disabilities--Not Students!
Success Friend

    Our children in America are being cheated in many ways. I
    want you to first remember who is teaching our children---
    children who have increased in age and who probably
    received the same public education growing up. These
    former public education students are now given the
    label "teacher," because of a 4-year degree and a state
    teaching licensure. No matter how "educated" a teacher
    appears to be, it does not guarantee that he or she is an
    effective teacher. An effective teacher is able to teach
    well because he or she is constantly learning right along
    with the students. Teachers have seemed to lose their
    ability to learn. Why do I say this? Well, because
    students are rapidly changing, so should our methodology
    for teaching students must change as well. The students
    you have this year are very different from the students
    you taught 5 years ago. The truth is that EVERY student is
    very different from the next. Therefore, an individualized
    instructional plan is neccessary to help students learn.

    I believe that we are too quick to label our
    students "special education" because of low performance on
    standardized tests. I know for a fact that EVERY child,
    regardless of his or her perceived disability is
    BRILLIANT! Until we collectively as a community start to
    believe in the brilliance of our children, then they will
    continue to perform at a low capacity. We are too busy
    looking for our children's disabilities rather than their
    abilities. With that said, teachers should especially
    believe in the brilliance of their students and treat them
    as such. Just because little Johnny doesn't analyze
    mathematical equations with the same accuracy as Jackie
    doesn't mean that Jackie is more intelligent than Johnny.
    It only means that Johnny has some other talent--like the
    drawings he makes in his notebook that his teacher
    repeatedly asks him to "put away." When you ask kids to
    surpress their God-given talents and focus on some other
    skill they have no enjoyment or interest in, then you are
    creating an unhappy and unproductive child.

    Only until we start to learn how to adapt state standards
    to a child's given talent, we will continue to subject our
    children to hell in the classroom. It must feel like hell
    to sit in a school for 6 hours a day and learn absolutely
    nothing! The left-brain focused curricula of most public
    schools neglects the right -brain potential of every
    student. Every student can learn how to think. They first
    have to believe in their brilliance, then learn to use
    their talents to increase their knowledge and potential
    for success.