“That’s me” the student said as she looked at this image, “how did they know?”

 

For one student, this particular image seemed like the perfect metaphor for how she feels when she sits in class—lost in a fog, far, far away. She hadn’t previously found words to speak, or even think about how she felt when she tried to learn, she told me. She did know that she felt stupid, alone, the only one struggling to listen and remember; and she was certain her teacher would think she was crazy as well as stupid if she explained how she really felt when she sat in class.

This student was prompted to speak about her experience when I showed her a series of photos from learningandviolence.net explaining they were images to show how spacing out, or dissociating, might feel. This exercise led many students to talk about their challenges to learn. The very idea that we had included the photo in the collection led this student to dare to speak, and to believe she was not alone. We hadn’t known how she felt when we chose this photo, so she concluded that there must be others who felt like her, so maybe she wasn’t crazy after all!

What are you curious about as you support learning?

What do you do to help students you work with to be curious about what is going on for them as they try to learn?

How do you show them that you do not judge? How do you help them not to judge?

 

Photo credit: Debbie Lifshen