Our seven-year has been doing homework almost daily for the last seven months. And for seven months, I have been asking her to sit still for a few minutes at a time. She somehow manages to get her homework done, but she is constantly moving. Finally, last week, after hearing me ask her to "sit still" for the third time in three minutes, she got up and declared "j'ai une idée." She placed her homework on the floor, and started doing a series of exercises, including jogging, push ups, and a few yoga moves. She completed her homework in record time and declared "parfait, maintenant je suis en forme"...
Each child definitely has their own best ways of learning. Some students I work with do well sitting on a stability ball, while others are totally distracted and focus on bouncing. Some need absolute focus on one thing. One of my students will ask me to mentally solve a variety of math questions, or answer guessing games he poses, while maintaining focus on other activities. (At times he will use a calculator to confirm my answers,)
ReplyDeleteThis is a grade 2 student who has been identified as being on the autism spectrum. Flexibility is essential for optimal learning!