I haven’t seen the movie yet – as I don’t think I want to have anything interfere with my impression of Temple Grandin.

I saw Temple speak years ago….  before she became a star…..  and what sticks in my mind the most was her discussion of how she thinks….  in pictures….  hence her book “thinking in pictures”

She refers to her thought process as going back in her mind, retrieving a video tape from her mind’s library and then playing the proper video to think….  This hit me like a 2×4 across the head…. 

I am mostly an auditory thinker….. so I guess it didn’t dawn on me that this could be so impactful on educating,  Now, when I teach my son, I always have visuals.  Of course, he was most successful with video, but after years of strictly video, we have been able to branch out into many other inputs including auditory.  But the learning is always faster with visual inputs ….. 

What we need to realize is that not all people think alike – and we need to find each child’s talent and teach to that talent…..  and in my son’s case, visual is the way to go…

If you have a chance and you think you may know someone who requires visual teaching, watch this clip and read her book.   It really is very moving.

http://www.ted.com/talks/temple_grandin_the_world_needs_all_kinds_of_minds.html

The Finished Project

Sorry to be repetitive – but I think society needs a 2×4 to get this….   not you….  but the higher ups…..  you know .. the ones who make the decisions on how to educate our children ….

The teachers get it … the parents get it… and certainly the children get it!

Here is an example…. 

My son built this airplane today – his first lego project since about 14 months of age (hes 11 now)

And this is how he did it…..

VISUAL instructions

I could have explained to him how to build this lego plane – until  I was blue in the face….. and the plane would never have been finished….

But Lego gets it – so they include visual instructions – to complete a task!  

Imagine what would happen if we did this in school ….

So – once again, I am promoting visual instructions – in many formats – pictures, video (my favorite), signs, etc….

The science says it works, the children say it works, even the toy companies utilize it!    So, exactly when do you think we will start using it in our schools?  I guess I just need to work much faster….