Hello!
Richard Lavoie's video on the challenged to students with a learning disability was very well done, in my opinion. I almost wish I had a chance to be one of the teachers in that room, participating in his workshop. While I understand that there were challenges similar to those he put forward associated with a learning disability, his vivid and hands on examples really bring the frustation and alienation to life, which is a powerful tool for teachers to experience.
I quite enjoyed his reading excercise, In which the letters p d b and q were shuffled interchangably and the writing alternated from the top, mid, and bottom lines of a given area. It was a rather clever way to show that reading is not as easy for everyone as it is for "us", and I believe this is a powerful message to teachers that kids don't all experience learning in the same way.
Something else I found incredibly interesting was Richard's constanty badgering and negative feedback as the teachers and other participants were attempting to complete the difficult tasks. He would shout "Hurry up" or "Come on, it's easy. You can do better, lets go!" As they were attempting to read or sound things out, which created very obvious stress on the faces of those participating. Is this mockery and impatience happening in classrooms in the real world? Perhaps more subtlely, but yes! This is a major problem, as I don't see how we expect children with learning disabilities to ever believe in themselves if they recieve nothing but negativity and put downs.
The best part of this whole video? The guy is freakin hilarious. I mean, even for a teacher! He certainly makes use of his sense of humour to keep the audience watching and interested, which is great considering the quality of the message he is trying to get across.
Overall, I'm glad the video was shown as it was valuable to me, and I hope to see Lavoie's other work further along in my career!
Zach
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