Thursday, December 11, 2014

Automated behaviors of coping limiting creative and critical thinking skill development.

One of my first teaching experiences was working in a third grade classroom. In this class there was a child who would come up to me often with a smile and some kind words. This girl was not a very good student, which I surmised simply by watching and listening to the children in the class. Within this, I had enough experience teaching children to play the violin, where I built a foundation of awareness in the child and could see the markers of awareness simply in the way they played, that my awareness of movement and focus in a child was already in development. And, this to the point where I watched the very state of being of the person- so to speak. In performance, attitude/manner can become transparent, because it is a distraction from focus ability.

So, I asked the teacher in the class about this girl to cross reference my assessment. I said that the child was very sweet and kind. The teacher then said to me that the children who become sweetness have found a way to get attention to compensate for a lack in other areas. I remember thinking in response to this “ of course.”

Let's look at the dimensions of form here, as building a character of a child is forming a structural base that can face and create a productive life, so that that person, as that child becomes their full potential, which is becoming an adult that has little fear of being responsible, and even enjoys being responsible, because in all common sense this is actualized living.

This is also to not criticize being kind as interacting with people needs kindness, which is a social skill. Kindness is a very useful and necessary social skill. Kindness is a state of being where one is calm and listens and notices that which is good and pleasant. Kindness is giving and , as well, receiving acknowledgement of, and enjoyment of, the beauty of existence. A very important skill. And, overall, it is an act of being present and noticing the world around us in which we actually live.

It is when kindness is used as a coping mechanism and becomes a habituated behavior as a survival mechanism/distraction/occupation, as a reaction that is resistance to other as valuable ways of focus, that kindness becomes a hindrance. When such a behavior is allowed, over time, it will take a greater effort to counter it, thus prevention is the best cure. And, to note, that children are so flexible, that they are capable of realizing such crutches and missteps. Thus with patience, they can change. And, here, I must say, that this is the responsibility of the parents, because a public school by design, does not have the space and time to give one on one self correction for every child. Teachers are aware of these things in moments, but with 20 or so children, and lessons to teach, they simply cannot correct such behaviors. And since the children spend more time outside of school, consistent redirection in a careful and patient and clear manner is what is needed. Even if a teacher had a moment with one child to redirect such within the school time for that one class/space-of time, it is not enough. This is common sense.

If a child has built some resistance to taking in the words to enable the child to answer the questions and process the information in constructive ways, and participate within what is being focused upon, then the focus of the child would not only be on walking up to strangers on a consistent basis and being acts of kind words only. By this I mean, already at such a young age developing only a personification of kindness. Yes, a child should develop kindness, as well as many other qualities. Kindness as a coping mechanism, is not real kindness, because it is kindness being used in protection and self defense, in avoidance of facing things one has allowed to appear to be unmanageable. And, this process is one that ultimately ends up limiting the child, and/or slowing the child down from becoming their full potential. Coping mechanisms become habituated and then automated, needing a greater effort to correct. Such a state is the presence of the state of being as idea, and not a state of presence in awareness, a real space and time focus into a self directive capacity. As the child matures and uses this personification, mis-haps occur that then take time to correct. The child loses learning time, that will eventually have to be corrected. By the time they are in their twenties and must have a job, there is little space and time to correct this, and thus most of the time is spent trying to catch up, and as we can see, life is moving on and the real potential of the child is is not equal to actualized living. To have a child sort all this out in their twenties is taking development time away from that being, that child. If one would not want this for themselves, why would we accept this for another? And are we as a collective of individuals responsible for this? And, again, to note, a teacher cannot do this alone, a teacher is there to help, but they are not the one who spends the most time with the child. It is the parent who is responsible for this careful development. One need only look practically at space and time and the design of the system to realize this.

Just as in teaching music, where the child must learn the notes and the physical measure of what it means to play a clear note, so must children have the tools as the words to construct meaning, clear meaning, meaning that is a functional meaning because it gives the child the ability to respond, to answer to the information presented and the focus to cross reference practical reality.. Information is presented as words. Pictures can have immeasurable meaning, influenced by experience, which is exposure to culture, race, religion, economic capacity, family dynamics. So, pictures give general meaning, and can, because of background experience ( or noise) lead to a bevy of perspective and trigger emotional reactions that can be of benefit, but also can lead to friction and conflict, because it is a distraction from a clear focus on detail in practical terms. And, we do not process answers with pictures, for the same reasons, as we use words, to show detail, as words are the means humans use to give detail and give directional focus in practical measure, which is how we move from one step to the next to complete processes of development. Words are also a way to order action, something a picture cannot always do, as a picture is a two dimensional image that is stagnant.

If a child develops an automated personification of kindness, this is what becomes integrated within the child, a construct that is extremely limited. It is like building an entity projection that fits within very limited scenarios, and as such, can only cope within a very narrow focus. It becomes like trying to fit a square into a round hole. Though a “ good”, kindness becomes a limitation. One way to realize how this works, is to see if there are reactions to what I am saying, because this then means that conceptually, flexibility is lacking, deconstruction and reconstruction is difficult, which means a personification has become concrete built of a singular abstract idea learned, which is a separation from being practical and normal and flexible in the present moment, respecting actualized living. So, the question here, is what would focus the self here, as the real measure of living? It is really very simple. Words. This is why all research makes it very clear, that we are the words we know. Words are the measure as the tools of focus on the practical.

This is what Techno Tutor is about. It is the tool to build a sound character in a busy world inundated with ambiguous images touting values that give no real focus in practical reality. Techno Tutor is the way and the means to build a solid foundation as the words to enable a child, a human being, to conceptually focus here. As this, that kindness of the child will be more than just a personification, it will be sound, which is directive, self responsible, and self honest. All of this in ways that do no harm, because the ability to focus here, and see, for instance, that a seed can become a tree, of which words are the perfect placement holders in the long term memory of for information processing, is how a child actualizes structural development that enables that potential of that child to respond.

It is said that playing a musical instrument builds incredible conceptual ability. It is also known that playing a musical instrument lights up all of the brain when the brain is hooked up to a MRI while a person performs. Techno Tutor does the same, through focusing a child on many levels. One must ask themselves, “ Do you have the time to make sure that every word a child has is clear, and that the vocabulary is stable, solid and fully developed?”
It is said that practice develops neuro pathways in children as they develop. Let us build the character of our children to be sound so that they are self directive and self responsible, which means having critical thinking skills, and by extension creative thinking skills, which means stable and solid neuro pathways have been built that allow the full potential of that child to express itself. Abracadabra, we are the words we know.

How playing a musical instrument benefits your brain.



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