Hello Ardith,   
      
   On Tue 2011-Sep-06 23:12, Ardith Hinton (1:153/716) wrote to Richard Webb:   
      
   AH>           Uh-huh.  Folks in Canada as well as the US also have the   
   AH> Vietnam war vets to thank for a bit of consciousness-raising about   
   AH> wheelchair access.  :-)    
      
   YEp, and it gets better.  I still think any architect   
   designing such spaces should spend some time actually living in one though.   
      
      
   AH>  As a former teacher & as a parent, I expect to work on a   
   AH>  collegial basis with professionals.  AFAIC the real gems   
   AH>  actually appreciate that.  :-))   
      
   YEp, same with my profession.  The "talent" that gets it   
   understands that we're partners in presenting them to the   
   audience.  Funny thing, but they're usually the same as   
   those who build careers that last more than a year or two.   
      
   RW>  THose who really have a grasp of what's going on wish for   
   RW>  that sort of relationship with all the parents of their   
   RW>  students    
      
      
   AH>           Those who really have a grasp of what's going on know how   
   AH> much there is still to be learned, when any one answer may raise ten   
   AH> more questions.  :-)    
      
   That's always the way, answers beget more questions, at   
   least if you're truly thinking.   
      
      
      
   RW>  YEp, and it's difficult if at the learning stage you   
   RW>  use recorded books and readers to learn much about   
   RW>  your written language.   
      
      
   AH>           I imagine it would be!  Even now, I read to our young   
   AH> adult daughter on occasion.  It helps that (unlike the majority of   
   AH> other students I've known) she'll ask about words she doesn't   
   AH> understand.  If she doesn't ask directly, I can tell by her raised   
   AH> eyebrows or by a slight shift in her body position that she's   
   AH> puzzled about something.  I know she's paying attention because she   
   AH> will correct me if I've misread a word or she'll insist I look it up   
   AH> if she doesn't approve of my explanation.  For a teacher, it can't   
   AH> get much better than this. For a student, it's important to get   
   AH> feedback from the opposite direction too. Who else would notice &   
   AH> chuckle openly in delight, after all these years, when their kid   
   AH> uses a new word??  AFAIC a recording is no serious competition.  ;-)   
      
   EVery teacher I've ever interacted with who really gets it   
   lives for those moments.   
      
      
   RW>  tHe theory ended up further handicapping a generation   
   RW>  of blind youth, and that slide down the slippery slope   
   RW>  continues to this day.   
      
      
   AH>           I'm seeing much the same phenomenon WRT English grammar.    
   AH> During the 1960's some influential linguists felt dictionaries   
   AH> should be descriptive, not prescriptive... and sought to improve on   
   AH> ye olde parts of speech etc.  The net result seems to be that very   
   AH> few people can write a coherent sentence nowadays unless they are in   
   AH> the "fifty-five plus" age category or learning English as a second   
   AH> language.  Parents thanked me for teaching traditional grammar   
   AH> during a time when other folks supported the idea that whatever the   
   AH> majority of kids in grade eight said was okay.  Although hindsight   
   AH> may be 20/20, there is no going back because the younger generation   
   AH> of teachers never learned this stuff.  :-(    
      
   It was deemed unimportant.  YEs, I'm sloppy in echomail or   
   newsgroup posting, but if it's for business, or for long   
   term public consumption I make an effort.   
      
      
   RW>  WE reject what we don't understand, or try to ignore it   
   RW>  altogether.  THey started me in that "Sightsaver" thing   
   RW>  when I first started school, but my mother wasn't going   
   RW>  to have any of that nonsense.   
      
      
   AH>           And since her brother was blind, she knew whereof she   
   AH> spoke....  :-)    
      
   Eh?  Missed that one somewhere.   
      
      
   RW>  SUch things have caused me over the years to develop a   
   RW>  bit of schepticism toward any professional that comes to   
   RW>  me with an attitude of "trust me, I know what's best for   
   RW>  you" and won't discuss his/her intended course of action   
   RW>  in much more detail than that.   
      
      
   AH>           Their preferred learning style is different from yours &   
   AH> mine.  They like to be told what to do, where you & I thrive on   
   AH> analyzing individual needs and doing whatever is necessary to   
   AH> maximize somebody's potential.  Whether the individual in question   
   AH> is a performer who wants you to make them sound good or a kid who   
   AH> can't relate to standard teaching methods we're in our element.  :-)   
      
      
   Has to be that way.  ONe size doesn't fit all.  What may   
   work for you might not work for me.  You have to admit it's   
   a little harder to do though.  IF you do it by rote, like   
   you were taught, so you teach others it's easy, just follow   
   the formula.  But, otoh if you want to try to reach the   
   student, or accomodate the performer in a different way   
   you've got to be thinking, you've got to fold in past   
   experiences and take your cues from what worked well in   
   similar situations, or ask a colleague who might know.   
   There are two problems with that, first, you have to do a   
   bit of cogitating, and then  you have to admit you   
   don't know everything to a colleague.  That's the tough one   
   right there.   
      
      
   Regards,   
              Richard   
   ---   
    * Origin:  (1:116/901)