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William Sgrillo's picture

Thanks Mr. Broudt

W. Keith Sgrillo I was reminded of my experiences as a student as we were discussing how we approach students with different ways of learning and understanding (or different brain/action potential patterns). When I was a junior in high school, trigonomatry was a subject that i needed for college acceptance. After I was about 4-5 weeks into the course, I had an average of 0%. I had not passed a test or quiz. So after exhibiting behaviors of frustration (sleeping in class, being argumentative, throwing my TI-82), my teacher Mr. Broudt came to me with a suggestion. He suggested I take an alternative course, carpentry, to get the needed credits because all of carpentry requires trig. I was always a visual-spacial learner and this suited me just fine. He gave me a withdraw-pass which would give me the necessary credit (providing I pass) for college acceptance. I took his suggestion and went from a "F" student to and award winning "A" student in that subject. My only regret was that I did not notice this innovative teacers ability to connect with and understand one student's abilities while I was in high school. However, I am extremely greatful that I had developed an understanding for what he had done for me well before I became a teacher myself. His ability is a trait that separates a good teacher from a great one. As I was listening to Paul at the beginning of class, I heard him use that 5 letter word...."truth." I also thought about some of our colleagues concerns about how we present the term "truth" to our students. Maybe we need to start with redefining the word truth. It should not be an issue of "TRUTH VS. LIE." Maybe an alternative is to teach it as "TRUTH= a better story or less wrong." This concept allows us to change and adapt the definition as we find better stories. This may make it easier to present to our children. I think that the phrase "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" should really be said "Truth/reality is in the brain of the beholder." I think this definition of truth encourages thoughtfulness and diversity as apposed to creating confusion and fear.

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