Learning Center: What's it Like to be John?

Editor's Note: The Teaching and Learning Centers works with teachers, students and parents to support the academic endeavors of all students. Many people wonder what type of students are served and what types of services are offered. The following blog series represents an amalgamation of students served through the Teaching and Learning Center, the goal being to explain services through examples. Remember that these are fictional characters and do not represent any one individual. If you have any questions about the Teaching and Learning Center, please contact one of Darlington's learning specialists.  

John transferred to Darlington as a junior. As an excellent athlete, he is a great addition to his team. Up until now, he has been smart enough to get by academically because he had developed coping skills for getting through his previous high school. However, with the higher academic bar of junior year, John is barely passing after a month of classes. His Head of House and teachers alert the Teaching and Learning Center.

John’s parents agree to educational testing, which reveals that he has trouble with what is best described as “information retrieval and output,” as well as executive function. John can “input” and understand information into his brain all day, but his brain doesn’t naturally organize verbal information so it is hard for him to “find it” when it comes to answering questions. It is kind of like having a messy desk in your head because you don’t have files and shelves. You know you possess the information; you just need to find it. In addition to this, John is overwhelmed by the larger demands of balancing what we call “time and materials management” (executive function).  He has no idea how to plan his time, organize his stuff, and advocate for himself with adults. The good news is that John is a very good visual learner; if he can see it in his brain he can remember it that way. This is one of the reasons he is so good at sports.

The first task for John in the Learning Center is helping him plan his day and his week ahead; what is the most important thing for him to do at what time, and who to go to for help. We coach John as his schedule and workload demand it every day. Along with this, we set John up to manage all his notes, notebooks and electronic support. He picks this up quickly once he knows what all his “organizational systems and workplaces” should look like.

At the same time we help John to develop study skills to help him retrieve information better. Diagramming information really helps as a visual cue for John, as do some other note-taking and study strategies. His teachers know any lesson they can describe visually helps him to remember information. He is granted extra time on tests for his slow retrieval, and this helps his test scores. Finally, we teach John ways to cue himself for writing essays, along with the basics for how to write well. All this takes practice and time, but John has the attitude for success, and he improves quickly.

Stay tuned for Bob’s story next week!