One of the things I’ve always been intrigued by is the mind and thinking processes. I weirdly enjoy thinking about thinking. This past weekend I found my thoughts were especially turned toward the mind and thought.
My first thoughts emerged as I was reading “The Lost Symbol” by Dan Brown. I was very intrigued by the idea of Noetic Sciences- the science of the power of one’s thoughts to impact physical surroundings. I need to research the concept more thoroughly before I know what I think about it, but reading about it made me think about the mind and it’s potential strength.
I further thought about the mind as I was playing with some little kids. My dad has always claimed that he loves talking to little kids because he likes to mess with them. He likes to twist the things they say and ask them questions that could potentially confuse them. I always roll my eyes when he says such things, but this day I found myself doing the same thing. But, as I thought about why it was that I also take pleasure in messing with the minds of little kids, I realized it isn’t to mess with them, it is to challenge their minds. I like to encourage them to think and strengthen their mind.
Lately I’ve been writing a lot about the Orton Gillingham approach to teaching reading. The Orton Gillingham method focuses on using multisensory and interactive instruction when teaching students. The reason this approach is effective comes down to the fact that this type of instruction strengthens the mind.
By engaging students in learning through multiple senses they are able to make connections in their mind that they were not previously able to make. For students that do not naturally acquire reading skills, new and stronger brain connections help them overcome their difficulties.
The mind is amazing and powerful. If students do not have the ability to understand a concept, it is not because their mind is not powerful enough to understand, their mind simply needs to be strengthened. Multisensory and interactive reading instruction can help students strengthen their mind to improve reading.
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