Joe

Once upon a time there was this student who was very intelligent but was ignored. Joe had a learning disability and “would need to do physical things in order to learn” (LK, 5/16/09). He could “process information in a Body-Kinesthetic manner” (DH, 5/17/09). Joe’s history teacher Mr. Smith knew his student (Joe) was a good athlete but he also thought Joe lacked the desire to succeed in high school. He was wrong! Joe needed a teacher who would teach to his spatial-visual learning style and understand his learning disability. Instead Mr. Smith was a lecturer and did nothing for poor Joe.

This bothered Joe and he would tell his parents that “a teacher must be able to teach to all types of intelligences” (BE, 5/20/09). Joe decided to look up information about teaching and the learning environment. He found out there was nothing wrong with himself and that Mr. Smith was at fault! Joe realized “teachers should definitely know NCLB and IDEA because they are government regulated, even if they do not necessarily agree with the concepts behind the regulations” (TS, 5/19/09). Joe also found it “upsetting that New York has no justification or rationalization of how their standards meet the national ones” (LK, 5/12/09).

Joe would eventually pass his 9th grade history class with a d. He would the following year have a different history teacher that was the total opposite of Mr. Smith. Mrs. Clark made sure her teaching style corresponded to all types of intelligences and she was always available for extra help. This is the way all teachers should teach. The problem is that Joe will never forget Mr. Smith. Unfortunately, millions of other students in our country have gone through the same terrible experience.