Don’t Believe Everything You Hear

I was recently sitting in a seminar listening to an expert share their thoughts about some recent research on children’s handwriting. The research apparently showed that if a student has not learnt to write neatly by Grade 3, then they will never write neatly. There were a variety of statistics to back up this research, but the longer the expert spoke, the more frustrated I became.

You see, my own experience as a student DISPROVES he was saying. I did not learn to write neatly until I was in Year 6 because I had an incredible teacher, Mr Wheaton.

As I looked around the room, I saw many teachers nodding and several made comments agreeing with the expert. I understand that he had statistics to prove his theory, BUT YOU CAN’T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU HEAR. I am an example of someone who DID learn to write neatly, and it wasn’t when I was in Year 3!

This week’s assignment:

As the saying goes, “take everything with a grain of salt.” As a teacher, always be open minded and ready for one of your students to go ‘against’ what the experts say. I am not saying to become negative and cynical, but what I am saying is to be open minded and willing to ‘think outside the square’. Research is helpful but it is not always 100% correct.

You can’t believe everything you hear.

Enjoy the journey,

And more importantly,

Enjoy the moments.

🙂

Megan