I teach in a regular school. Back in those years when I started my career as a teacher, I had a picture in my mind that all children in any regular schools will look alike. ‘Normal’. Whether there’s any slight difference, I could take it as ‘variation’.
Time proved me wrong. Around 22 students every year means 22 different personalities. 22 different cases. 22 different evidences. 22 different extraordinaries.
Back in those years, I used to force all students to follow my style in teaching them. No excuses, no differentiation included. All those who who made excuses and tried to be different will be categorized as defiant.
Again time proved me wrong. There were students who obviously different. They saw the world differently, they made meaning and understood things differently. They learnt in a different way, and got the result differently indeed.
Some of them had a problem in terms of behavior, some could not sit properly even for one or two minutes of explanation. Some would roll on the floor uncontrollably but it was surprising half of them listened every words of the instructions, while the others had a very shot attention span. Some of them, no matter how you explained in simple words, they just stared blankly, had their mouth gapping without any signal of understanding. Some of them are hated and left by their classmates because they had a very different understanding in how to get a long and socialize with friends.
Yes, again I say I teach in a regular school.
Wait a minute, but then some were good in questioning and reasoning facts, some were good in art and drawing while the others, until now I am desperately trying to assess in which field they are good at. Some were lucky, the parents brought them to the right person to find a better solution and strategy to be applied in learning, while some others are waiting for their turn.
Perhaps I and the family are struggling so hard to understand them, but the most struggling persons are they themselves who are trying so hard to understand the world. They are struggling so hard to be accepted, to be treated well and to be warmly welcomed which they are usually failing to get.
It’s not teachers and the family’s job to label them how different they are compared to the others. It’s our job to find the strategy how they can learn differently from others, yet we are the learning creature. No matter who we are, we are learning using our own way, yet it’s common or different to others.
This posting is made as a tribute to those who are struggling so hard in learning to understand others and to be understood by others. It’s just a matter of difference, not disorder.
