Teh Dyslexic Storyteller's Blog

The body and the mind are attached.

2008-07-01T16:19:00.004-04:00

Returning to my main topic of dyslexia let’s focus on one of the seven ideas I wish Americas would adopt in working with there dyslexic children.

I don’t really understand why the human race seems so attached to the idea that the brain is not attached to any fixed place and time. I think it may be our fear of mortality - that by recognizing that we are in fact in body with a digestive track that we are in fact mortal. Maybe it is our desire to think that as a race we are different then the animals that coexist on this planet. If a monkey ate what I considered a healthy diet as a child –donuts and Pepsi – the monkey would get very sick. Perhaps we are also searching for the magic elixir of life that will fix all problems, when in fact we just need to eat more greens and fruit – well all to more greens like say – 70% of our diet. Dyslexia is in the brain you can;t cure it - but you can improve the over all functioning of the brain.

If you are serious about supporting your child’s ability to think in a line then you need to look a their diet.

1) Remove all cane sugar and white flour from their diet. Sugar and white flour are two of the greatest evils that have every been created by mankind. I would love to tell you all about how I avoid them, but the truth is very different sugar is in everything and white flour is devilishly useful. Be strong when it comes to your children and your self. Change takes years of work so start today.

Sugar and white flour have been processed so that they are missing key micro nutrients that your child probably desperately needs. In addition the body strips it’s self of other vitamins to digest and process the sugar and white flour. Add to this that soil in many places is short on zinc, copper and magnesium and you get flour and sugar hat is short on digestible zinc, copper and magnesium. So you get people who are short on zinc, copper and magnesium.

This seems so obvious to me as to be ludicrous to even mention – but most people today don’t even take zinc supplements let alone test there body for heavy metal poisoning - Lead Mercury or the Tri Benzine's.

2) Replace these things with whole unprocessed foods in a balance format. What your child eats is what they become. Green and Fruit should be 70% of the diet. Even cooked greens are not good enough. It may seem impossible to get a child to eat fresh greens – however the secret seems to be Goddess Dressing available nation wide in most super markets. Any salad covered in goddess dressing is readily consumed by my youngest daughter for the last eight years. Yes you can still give your child omega 3 suplements - but really with out the basic building blocks what is the point of aiming high?

3) Have your child rotate foods so that the body has time to recover from allergic reactions to food.. (Food rotation is easier the at first it appears – rice on Monday couscous on Tuesday, Whole four bread on Wednesday and Thursday is Corn Bread with no wheat flour….) Most healthy children only need to rotate processed foods and not vegetables or fruits.

Considering that back ten thousand years ago our ancestors lived off a wide variety of foods. They almost never lived only on one substance – as for example wheat. Many children are allergic to wheat, sugar milk or even – food coloring. Just to get started. Try this blog post on Food rotation

4) If you are serious about supporting the stress levels the normal dyslexic child encounters in a school environment consider adding to their life a super food or green food supplement. I consume Super food a product by Dr. Shultz – a herbalist in California.
https://www.herbdoc.com/store/Scripts/prodList.asp?idCategory=12&h=1
This is in unpaid endorsement – so if the good Dr would care to send me a few bottles I would be thrilled – ahh no? O'well I endorse anyway.

5) Last note – here are a few other things that have heard work well with dyslexic or ADD children.. a colon cleanse, regular visits to a chiropractor, Chinese herbalist and an acupuncturist.

I am interested in any positive experiences you have as a reader - leave me a comment and tell me what you think of my little tirade about the body and dyslexia…

Why storytelling?

2008-06-25T15:34:00.002-04:00

Recently Katharine Hansen, PhD asked me two questions about storytelling for here to include on her blog. Never being one to write much – I thought I would use the answers on my blog….

1. What inspired you to "cross over" and explore the applied side of storytelling, e.g., your interview with Denning?

All oral storytelling is by definition applied… stories and storytelling with out context and culture to hang it on - is television. Television can’t be confused with the oral tradition. Storytelling requires at least two participants a listener and a speaker to have a face to face interaction. In a storytelling the listener is participating in the co-creation of the story by the active use of their imagination and their response - physically, mentally and spiritually to the story.

Oral storytelling is the nuts and bolts of the sales process. Media and sales people who ignore this skill set do so at their own peril. Whether for world peace or pure entertainment, we are going to need to make the case that storytelling is useful in all forms of human relationship. To make that case we most demonstrate empirically that storytelling is entertaining, useful and applicable to the real world.

In the modern media culture many artists consider themselves storytellers – they are making an error in describing themselves in this way. Storytelling is the application of the story to the open canvas of the human mind while changing the colors to better suit the particular conditions and needs of that day.

Oral storytelling in it’s highest from is a breath from the divine and a service to all of creation. Any art form that leaves no room for the imagination in the minds of the audience is not storytelling – but something far more insidious. We leave an oral storytelling event with the feeling that the world is bigger then we can dare to imagine.

To listen to the Steven Denning interview…
http://www.storytellingwithchildren.com/2008/01/12/steve-denning-the-knowledge-based-organization/

2. You blog about your struggle with dyslexia. Briefly, how has this struggle affected your development as a storyteller?

I have a mind that does not work. Poor me – I’m over it – I have learned – no I was forced to compensate by the very nature of the structure of my mind. I could not read, I could not write – all I had as a child was the words in my mouth and the space between my ears. But in the end I don’t believe that dyslexic people are better speakers then non-dyslexic people – Dyslexic people are forced to learn to great lessons early in life that are a great advantage as we grow older.

1) You can’t do it all. You’re going to need help.
2) Your mind is a great device for creativity – not a good place to store things.

This blog post is written by dyslexic person about his experience being dyslexic and has been intentionally left uncorrected except for a Microsoft word spell check.

Creative commons 3.0 non-derivative license please include the following links.
http://www.storytellingwitchildren.com
http://www.ericwolf.org
http://dyslexicstoryteller.blogspot.com/

Seven Principles every Parent should know about dyslexia.

2008-06-11T13:17:00.002-04:00

Just got off the phone with another caring parent whose son has been diagnosed with dyslexia.

1) The body and the mind are attached.

If you are serious about supporting your child’s ability to think in a line then you need to look a their diet. First remove all cane sugar and white flour from their diet. Second replace these things with whole unprocessed foods in a balance format. Third have your child rotate foods so that the body has time to recover from allergic reactions to food.. (Food rotation is easier the at first it appears – rice on Monday couscous on Tuesday, Whole four bread on Wednesday and Thursday is Corn Bread with no wheat flour….)

If you are serious about supporting the stress levels the normal dyslexic child encounters in a school environment consider adding to their life a super food or green food supplement, colon cleanse, regular visits to a chiropractor, Chinese herbalist and an acupuncturist.

2) The mind is not a dumping ground.

If your child is exposed to pornography or other forms of digital violence the mind of your child will reflect that digital violence with physical and emotional chaos. Remove access to violent video games, television programs or DVD’s. Place internet accessible computers in common space for easy adult supervision. Give yourself permission to not talk about adult emotional subjects with your child. Say I love you to your teenager even if they look horrified.

If your child is especially stressed out by there take them to your local city park and throw a ball, Frisbee or whatever other excuse you can come up with for them to be out side away from literate world. Three weeks backpacking for teenagers is a great prescription for self confidence. A weekend in the country with no TV, radio, video games or internet is a great way for the whole family to be de stress.

3) Human populations exist on an upside down U curve.

In all animal and human populations individuals are not uniform. They react individually to environmental stress and individuals grow at different rates due to genetic and environmental factors. IF your child is one of the 10% of humans who learn to read at the age of ten when all of their peers learn a the age of 8 they may feel some pressure to confirm to what is considered “normal”.

By allowing for your child’s individual response to pressure you are giving them permission to learn at there own pace. To state the obvious who cares if they can’t read yet – if they want to learn to read they will to the best of their ability. When you look at the next principal you will see why this is not as dangerous or risky as it appears to many educational experts and parents.

4) Humans are capable of learning on a J curve.

The spark of desire is one gift a good teacher can give a student. Everything else is just a matter of access and time. Once exposed to the desire to learn something in the modern age where the internet has made any information that you may need immediately accessible. The only thing missing is your desire to know.

When your child feels competent and emotionally safe they will learn when they are ready. In human development there are windows of opportunity that open up as the child develops – now is a good time for stories, now is a good time for character development. Each of these windows

5) Institutions serve their own agendas.

All human institutions: government, corporations and schools serve their own selfish self interest. They may have wonderful ulterior motives, but when individuals with in these institutions threaten the legitimate ideology and psychological stability of the institution - there is a predictable response that the individual most conform to fit the situation. Dyslexic students are by definition unable to conform to fit the model that every other student in the school is able to fit. Thus a dyslexic student feels an incredible amount of stress to conform to the standards of normalcy by learning to read.

If the student is unable to conform they will be viewed by the teachers, staff and other students as a burden. This is not to say there are not exceptions to this rule, but as a parent it is very important that you understand this basic ground rule. You must learn everything you can about how your school works and what options are available, who are the best teachers, who has the best reputation as special ed support person and what legal rights you have.

6) Emotional Learning is more important then intellectual learning.

In the modern creative economy the strongest most hirable asset is creativity and emotional objectivity. Students who are scared from a lifetime of fighting their way through a hierarchy of learning goals are no longer nimble and quick. In modern schools creativity is sacrificed on the alter of accountability, student management and scheduled educational goals.

In the modern economy intellectual ability has become cheap and plentiful. The emotion ability to take decisions and stick by them, the moral certitude and mature surety of grown adult has become rare.

7) Our weakness becomes our strongest asset.

Because of my dyslexia I have a very effective storyteller. Because of my dyslexia I am an expert at information management, learning to learn and productivity strategies. I may not use them all that time – but I can teach you how to use them effectively. Dyslexia will force your child to grow in other areas to compensate for their inability to compete effectively in the realm of literacy. Best of all, your child will learn one of the most important strategies to over all life success; how to ask for help.

Your child will learn to ask for help when they can’t effectively complete a task by themselves.. This is the number one reason that one half of all successful entrepreneur are certified dyslexic. They learned young that if you can’t do it your self get some one else to do it for you.

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I have only touched the surface of what is possible with each of these principals. Please let me know if you wish me to focus on any particular area or principal.

Living with myself

2008-05-24T00:17:00.002-04:00

Today was one of those days when just getting one or two things was a great and amazing day. Sometimes I feel like I am swimming up stream – just pushing against the current. Days like this used to be the norm not the exception as they are now. I think it’s just a matter of staying organized so that I can see the diffirance in my work from my effort.

Really though it is a matter of prospective - I did all mater of great things – including – completely rebooting my word press blog – a scary and difficult procedure that I completed entirely by myself thank-you. I wrote stuff – talked to people – but in the end I did not work off a list – witch as I have written before is a big mistake.

The simple reality is that my emotional lens for looking at how I work is distorted by years of behaviour medifcation teacing. If the behavior is not by choice, but due to physical ability – what do you think the impact of deniing recess to eight year old boy who is behined in his school work would be?

It’s time to have somebody come in again and organize my office. I just try to remember what David Allen said there are two kinds of people – people who admit they need to write things down and people who don’t and would be better of if they did.

On another note….

I question the value of all of these social networking sites – many of them mean well – but for a guy like me who can only write so many words a day – it’s overwhelming. I am member of a professionalstoryteller.ning – and Facebook – I tested out Myspace and friendster – I am thinking that my personal experience with Facebook has been so good that I will continue placing all my energy there. Myspace may have more members – but the quality of the links and the conversations has not been so good.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Brother-Wolf-Storyteller/10656529609

Please take minute and join in my Facebook empire if your interested in such things – or have the passion for the storytelling bug…..

Standing on the Mountain Top

2008-05-12T14:10:00.004-04:00

I have been to the Mountain I have seen the perfect school. You can read all about it in a book - From the Children of a Child Centered School by Don Wallis.

A school that believes in child centered education and practices that belief in the classroom. Yes -- School can be good. Imagine a classroom where the teachers are not monarch's but instead facilitators, not bureaucrats - but leaders of the child centered environment.

Here is a chapter form the book

On Trust

A group discussion of the teachers of the Antoich school.
Ann Guthrie, Nursery
Jeanie Felker, Kindergarden
Kit Crawford, Younger Group
Chris Powell. Older Group
Brian Bragan, Arts/Sceince
Facilitating the discussion is Don Wallis (Author.)

Kit: Trust is essential to all that we do here.
Jeanie: Everything revolves around trust.
Don: Trust in the child.
Chris: And the children's trust in themselves.
Ann: And their trust in each other. The group.
Don Essentially what is it you trust?
Jeannie: In the child's ability to learn and to change and to grow. Their perpetual forward movement as human beings. I really have trust in that.
Chris: We all have trust is that. We see it and we respect it.
Don: You see it?
Jeannie: In my experience year after year, child after child, I see it. That's how I can trust it. I see it's real, over and over and over again. Differ int child after different child, different group after different group...
Ann: All those individuals within the group, all the different places where each child is. And where they all are, together.
Chris: And we trust that children are on their own time frame, their own developmental schedule. That each child had an individual clock for learning and growing.
Kit: They proceed when they are ready. That's so important!
Chris: And there might be a pause in a child's understanding of some things, or desire to understand some things; a pause in the progress of their development. But in the grade scheme of things; we know from seeing it, over and over; there will be that development. So when there's a pause, there's not a panic, like Oh this, child will never learn. We the teacher's trust that the child will and they do.
Jeannie: The pauses are important in their own right.
Chris: Some major progress, some growth may be going on there.
Ann: The children will pause. and internalize, and ruminate and digest; and come up with the next question they are going to ask. Then they go on with their learning. Each child has her own way of doing this. We know that here, and we trust in it. We allow it to happen.
Kit: The children expect each other to treat each other well. And they do. If a child does something out there that's risky, like really working hard on the unicycle, for example, the other children will manage to tell that child who is taking a risk, Good job!
Chris: I see this happen all the time.
Brian: It happened today, in the Arts/Science room. Henery was grousing about his art work, saying he was going to give up art, he didn't want to be in artist anymore. And Jade said, Henery, what are you saying? You are one of the best artists I have ever met. And Henery head that, you know. He said, Yeah I'm just having a bad day. I'm pretty sure Henery will be back painting tomorrow.
Kit: Henery thrives on that kind of support, he really does.
Brian: I think the children are inspired by each others successes, as opposed to being jealous of each other's successes. And that's a product of trust , I think. Trusting yourself , trusting that you are okay enough to appreciate some one else's triumph.
Don: So, trust is intentional here. It's part of the curriculum, so to speak. It's part of what you teach.

From the Children of a Child Centered School by Don Wallis and the children and teacher of The Antioch School From pages 19-20. 2005

Used by permission of the Author.

In the shadow of the Valley.

2008-05-01T08:50:00.003-04:00

Waldorf education has been around for a long time. But if you read the newspapers you won’t find a mention of it in the NY Times very often. If you do find a it mentioned, the comments are usually incredulous or at least lukewarm in there appraisal of the philosophies and educational practices.

Waldorf education was begun in Germany in the beginning of the 20th century at the waldorf factory. Mr. Waldorf was a successful German business man who wanted to provide a decent grade school for his employees children. He founded the first Waldorf school with the help of teachers inspired by the teachings of Rudolf Steiner.

Steiner was a spiritual theorist who believed that it was possible to apply scientific principals to an internal investigation of the spiritual world. A brilliant man his ideas caused a renascence in physical application of spiritual principals in multiple fields including politics, arts, education, agriculture (biodynamic) and retirement communities. Each of these separate fields have developed over the past hundred years until today where there common roots remain hidden for many people.

In education Steiner asked the question – how does the soul grow in the body over the first 21 years of life and what form of education would support the full growth of soul in to the body of a child? (My words not his.) He rejected and current Waldorf schools still reject the philosophy that the mind should be the primary target of a grade school education and he instead set about creating a community of students and staff that worked together to help children have a full experience of childhood.

Some adults are turned off by the repetitive nature of the Waldorf classes, but grade school children find the repetition soothing and a very safe environment. Most of all I have found that Waldorf children make the best listeners – I can perform almost any level of complexity material for a waldorf audience and they will take it in with relish while your average pubic school audience would have been talking in there seats with out my simple connection and constant management.

On visiting a Waldorf school as a dyslexic person the first thing I noticed is that Waldorf school does not punish the slow reader – most children learn to read by fourth grade with out any pressure in a Waldorf school environment. As some one who learned to read in fourth grade with LOTS of pressure – I would like to tell no pressure is a much better system emotionally speaking. (Said the nail to the hammer.)

Waldorf school are part of the public school system in Germany – but here in the U.S. there ideas are to radical for public acceptance and they remain privet with all the problems associated with private schools. Cost – elitist associations in potential families minds – poorly paid teachers etc…

If you live close to one such school –
Investigate as a possible place for your student to enroll full time.

If your home schooling your LDS or dyslexic child. Waldorf exercises can be very soothing and helpful to integrate the left – right brain stuff that just seems to break down in us – “gifted” individuals.

Good Luck

Eric Wolf

Here is one small piece of the study conducted on Waldorf Graduates...

Comparison of Waldorf and US Population
Declared Majors General US Population (GUSP) vs Waldorf Graduates from 1991–2002
Arts & Humanities GUSP - 14.6% Waldorf Graduates - 39.8%
Social & Behavioral Sciences GUSP - 10.9% Waldorf Graduates - 29.9%
Life Sciences GUSP - 6.2% Waldorf Graduates - 9.9%
Physical Sciences & Math GUSP - 2.0% Waldorf Graduates - 2.8%
Engineering GUSP - 6.4% Waldorf Graduates - 1.8%
Computer & Information Sciences 6.1% Waldorf Graduates - 2.5%
Education GUSP - 7.3% Waldorf Graduates - 2.1%
Business & Management GUSP - 19.3% Waldorf Graduates - 4.6%
Health GUSP - 11.6% Waldorf Graduates - 5.6%
Other Technical & Professional GUSP - 9.7% Waldorf Graduates - 0.4%
Vocational , Technical, & Other GUSP - 5.9% Waldorf Graduates - 0.6%

The Path not Taken

2008-04-24T15:35:00.003-04:00

One of my kind readers asked me – so what is the other choice? If school causes so many problems and is so ineffective then what is the other option? That is a very valid question.

I am going to cover in the upcoming weeks a series of other choices besides traditional follower orders sit in a chair and do what your told public schooling.

So let’s start with the unschooling movement here are a list of unschooling conferences and seminars that you might find very interesting. IF your really into the idea that children must be seen and not heard you probably will be turned off by these folks – of course you probably didn’t read this far anyway – so there you go.

The unschooling movement is based on some simple ideas –
1) Learning is natural.
2) Parents are the best suited to raise their children.
3) Being curious and learning is in the human blueprint.

If you live near one of theses places – take the weekend to explore what is possible.

Thanks for reading and thanks for asking.

Till next week

Eric Wolf

The first place that comes to mind is the Rethinking education conference. One day I will get there – who knows when – but I will.
http://www.rethinkingeducation.com/

In Madison Wisconsin…
http://www.unschoolingconference.com/

In North Carolina…
http://www.liveandlearnconference.org/

LIFE is Good
NW Unschooling Conference
Red Lion Hotel ~ Vancouver, WA
Memorial Day Weekend, May 22 - 25, 2008
http://lifeisgoodconference.com/

Peabody, Massachusetts for the NORTHEAST UNSCHOOLING CONFERENCE
Memorial Day Weekend May 23-25, 2008
http://www.northeastunschoolingconference.com/presenters.html\

Toronto Unschooling conference
http://www.livingjoyfully.ca/conference/

Interesting site on all this - I found myself really enjoying some of the articles...
http://www.lifelearning.org

Remediation Report in 2005

2008-04-16T20:39:00.003-04:00

My rewrite of that same remidation report in 2005.

Written by Eric James Wolf, M.S. Education

Remediation Repotr of: Eric James Wolf

Summary

Eric Wolf is a very bright young man who, at the age of fifteen, is struggling with his identity and finding little in school to support his emerging adult selfhood. Eric is a bright, thoughtful, and creative student who demonstrates great capacity for thinking and creatively understanding mathematical, scientific, and historical facts and concepts. (Amazing, really, when you examine the degrading and dehumanizing treatment he has received in the school system.) Eric shows great ability to retain stories, but little or no ability to retain individual lines of poems or plays. Eric is a geographic learner; he can give you volumes of information about the space his classes take place in, but very little about what was covered in lecture.

Eric suffers from an undue enthusiasm for school, given his bad experiences. Like a spouse who returns to an abusive partner, he displays an unhealthy willingness to return to traditional school settings: in particular, Spanish, a class he has now failed three years in a row. Given his age and his ability to feel, where is his teenage rebellion? I fear he may have unrevealed energies that lurk beneath the surface. The emergence of these trapped feelings may harm him or those around him.

Diagnosis

While he is highly intelligent, Eric has difficulty finishing tasks and completing assignments. I believe that Eric, at the age of fifteen, has an impacted colon and an unhealthy diet, both of which contribute to his inability to think straight. In addition, Eric has taken to reading books instead of sleeping, getting only three to four hours of sleep a night. Eric is allergic to cats, carpet lice, and mattress mites; he should be tested for all known allergies in an urban environment.

Eric is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. His freshman year in high school was so stressful that he came close to suicide on several occasions. Every effort must be made to relieve the stress that has built up in his life.

1) Eric needs a regular exercise program.

2) He needs to radically restructure his diet and get enough hydration and sleep.

3) Eric needs a secretary or an organizing coach to organize his paperwork for an hour a week.

4) When Eric writes by hand, he is unable to escape the stress that he remembers from learning to write. This means that while writing a lengthy paper by hand, he is experiencing the same level of anxiety that you might experience skydiving or rappelling off a cliff.

5) Eric has visual difficulties that lead to frequent classical dyslexic spelling mistakes.

6) Eric appears to have internalized his failure in school into a martyr complex.

7) Eric appears to have suffered grievous emotional and psychic damage from his recent experience in a public school setting.

Remediation
1) Eric has expressed interest in fencing, walking, sailing, and canoeing, all sports that are available within the city limits. If he practiced one of them twice a week, he would be in much better shape physically. A pass to the local YMCA gym might also be an option if cost is prohibitive.

2) Regular large amounts of roughage and bulk might be added to Eric's diet. Oatmeal every morning for breakfast might make Eric's bowels more regular, thus removing important toxins from his body. Colonoscopy should be considered, although he would hate it.

3) He could drink at least eight glasses of water a day and sleep for eight hours. Both of these things need to be regulated by his parents.

4) A highly organized peer could be hired to help with his papers.

5) Eric may benefit highly from Waldorf handwriting classes and stress reduction exercises. Another option would be for him to study calligraphy or drawing: any period of intense study with pencil and paper would help refocus his feelings of success around holding a pencil or pen.

6) Eric is classically dyslexic, and it appears that his educational success is running four years behind his peers. In reading and reading comprehension, however, he is far above the norm for his grade level. Just four short years ago, he was reading at a much slower rate then his peers. I have no doubt that given time, he will surpass his peers in knowledge and writing ability because of his own desire to participate in society at large. I would suggest, given the academic failures and stress he experienced in the last year, that he be placed in an environment where he can have some positive life experiences: an art-centered or drama-centered school, or a program that focuses on backpacking, canoeing, or sailing.

7) Eric's insistence that he is capable of succeeding in the traditional school environment borders on psychotic. Is his sacrifice necessary? Isn't some part of learning meant to be fun? Why would any student be forced to take a subject that he is failing for three years in a row? What is the purpose of all this work and this effort? Professional intervention will help him understand that his environment is an artificial one with arbitrary standards. In particular, he could be freed of his desire to attend a traditional school setting. If a language besides English must be studied, then perhaps sign language would be a good option. Sign is a physical and visual language, perfect for a dyslexic person.

8) Interventions are an overused clich, but they are necessary. The adults in Eric's world must intervene to protect him from his schooling. They must force him to seek a different expression of acceptance, and they must explore and research other schooling options that may exist. The adults must ask the uncomfortable questions. What is the value of a traditional education for a non-traditional learner? And how do Eric's previous negative emotional experiences with school create an emotional trap that prevents him from seeing other options?
December 28, 2005

Several very interesting questions arose from writing this report.
I find these questions disturbing, and I hope you will too.

How does our children's happiness get crushed beneath our industrial society's need to regulate and prevent sudden change?
Is it really necessary that children take classes in subjects they will never use outside of an academic setting?
Who decides what subjects define civilization?
If 90% of all communication is nonverbal, what do children who spend must of their lives in highly regimented, physically restrictive classrooms run by a fascist-style government learn about their world?
Why does each generation from the 20th century feel a deep distrust of their elders?
Why does no one describe these feelings before the advent of industrial schooling in the 19th century?
Why do we ask our children to do so much busywork?
Why do we force our children to take tests that label a large percentage of them as failures?
What purpose does school say it serves? What purpose does school really serve?
Does school succeed in its real purpose?
Do learning disabilities exist outside industrial schooling?
What is the relationship between dyslexia and allergies?
What percentage of dyslexic children have allergies?
In countries without vaccinations, does dyslexia exist?
Is dyslexia a product of genetic damage or genetic vulnerabilities to toxemia of the body?
(A genetic response to allergies?)

Why does God give us Brains that don’t work?

2008-04-09T16:50:00.001-04:00

Genetic variability aside. It just seems to me that the brain is one humdinger of an ineffective way to store information. I mean if God had intended us to remember things she would have given us computer plug-in or other physical ways to keep track like say a pad of paper and a pencil - instead of relying on such foolish things as memories.

So what is the brain designed to do – some would say nothing. Cause there is no design involved. But what is the brain capable of handling. Well our brains are excellent at detecting danger and problem solving dangerous situations we can see (bears lions and tigers). Not so good at situations that are out of sight(Global warming and nuclear holocaust). The brain seems to be a very clever way to create new things with out having created the ability to see the consequences of those new things (DDT, Plutonium)

In general our brains seem to be really handy out helping us to survive – but not so useful at storing information. Luckily for us the human race invented writing and then computers to help us with that particular function.

Maybe God felt sorry for us cause we were with out nasty teeth or claws, thick skin or even fur. So she gave us creativity instead cause it would help to balance the scales.

The Time Warp of Dyslexia

2008-03-31T10:07:00.002-04:00

Through out my life I have been blessed by the ability to forget what I was just thinking. Some of you will no doubt think that this ability is a curse – a reality that has no silver lining. Well, I am here to tell what a gift it is to be so clever and creative that in every moment I can go wondering off into circles upon circles of new thoughts. I know that this is a gift because I have been to many workshops and seminars where people study how to be in the present moment.

This is not my problem.

My gift is to be always in this moment with out remembering what I was intending to do with it. I am “gifted” with fresh starts inserted randomly into my day. Fresh spellings, fresh ideas or fresh projects all I have to do is change locations and the major overhaul I was working on in the next room is forgotten while I blissfully fold laundry. Dyslexia to me is a statistically likelihood that I will have any ability to tie these moments together. The gift of dyslexia is that I can spend the morning with great focus and concentration on a project only to realize with surprise that I am in fact ten minutes late to another appointment.

I don’t need another workshop to be in the hear and now. My path is the path of all dyslexics – I am a student of the note to the future, the list to do or the five part plan. But here is the catch twenty-two I don’t like to make lists because they constantly interrupt my random flow of ideas. Stop laughing at me – if I can’t remember what I was gong to do, then clearly I am surprised when I look at my list. How dare I limit my startling creativity with a list of things to do!

But the mind is a fragile instrument and starting from scratch every ten minutes is not a good way to run business. So on my good days I give myself a little charity and forgiveness and do what’s on my list.

By the way – I think it’s time for me to start my list for the day.

Item 1) Finish Dyslexic Blog post ---- X
Item 2) Post Dyslexic Blog post ---- X
Item 3) Write the rest fo the list ---

Teaching Storytelling

2008-03-26T19:36:00.000-04:00

The best way I have found of getting children to tell stories is by creating a daily place of respect for storytelling and modeling good listening to the young storytellers. Build on the daily culture of your classroom, home, camp or daycare to include a sharing of the children’s and your stories. Young people learn best through modeling of the behavior you wish them to learn. If you wish to be surrounded by storytellers who are authentic, exciting and respectful of other tellers then all you have to do is to consistently model those storytelling standards.

Simple, but true...

Cultural Inertia in Teaching

2008-03-18T11:57:00.002-04:00

I read about the Video format wars at length last night. For you young people that's was back in the day when the superior Beta format was done in by the popular VHS format. Not because the market saw the much better qualities of VHS (Beta was better), but instead because a few middle level mangers didn’t do such a good job at marketing Beta and well just bad luck for the Beta manufactures. Many people were left with Beta machines and no tapes.

Witch reminds me of an ancient Chinese proverb I read years ago…

Student: Why does a river flow that way?
Master: Because of the water that came first.

Well – really I made it up – but it sounds like an ancient Chinese proverb.

Culture can be like river and sometimes it is just a matter of getting there first with your flag, standard or point of view. Then improving upon what you are trying to do to make it work. The problem comes if your basic concept is flawed – because you can’t build on shoddy foundation no matter how much money, resources or time you have. The whole thing is just going to fail again and again.

Modern teaching is like that – in the middle ages monks created a standard mythical ideal of the busy copyist who is a learned scholar and this mythological ideal has stayed with us through years of reform and rethinking.

Imagine for a moment that you are sitting in a monasteries copy room, Stacks of books and scrolls fill the room. The atmosphere is hushed and quite. In one corner is monk who busy working on maps. In the main section are two or three monks working on books. There ink bottles are full and their feather pens are busy. Sun light filter into the room from distant windows and the sound of birds can be heard, but the monks do not raise there heads from the books.

The head monk is sitting on raised platform in the middle of the hall. He is keeping track of the other monks work overseeing their production and quality of there work. The chief monk is not cruel , but neither is he really interested in the personal development of each of his monks. He is more concerned that the books, maps and scrolls being copied are accurate.
This mythology lies dormant in the mind of every teacher in the world. A successful classroom is seen as hushed and quite with scholars quietly working on there separate projects. Even though being a successful copyist has little too do with any connection with the word learning.

The problem of course, is that copyists are busy copying down important facts and figures, they are not engaged in effort to study or learn something. Also the role of the copyist has been replaced by the printing press about four hundred years ago…

Institutional teaching has had a couple hundred years to be improved, but the basic mythological ideal keeps getting in the way. It’s time we killed the copyists off – it’s time for us to cut loose the idea of that teaching is the transfer of knowledge too the ideal that teaching is the inspiration of culture.

The river flows on – why master does the rive flow that way and how do we change it’s course?
Perhaps you know the answer.

Strip Mining Our Children

2008-03-11T14:33:00.004-04:00

Recently I watched Sir Ken Robinson’s TED speech from 2006. He was of course brilliant and I was very impressed with his ability to connect with his audience and speak with in time. He addresses one issue and he covered it in depth. For once I am proud to say that I have a MS in Education. Sometimes it seems like people the most educated people never learned how to express information eloquently.

I highly suggest that you take the 18 minutes to watch this video if your in education today or if your just a parent of a child, It really does put a nice spin on things.

One of the key ideas that Sir Robinson talks about is that we are running our schools with the idea that college professor is the perfect human being. That are educational instutions wreck the life path of anyone who is not on that particular path in the name of higher ed. I personally don’t think the wreckage is worth it having been a piece of the mess myself.

Who are we – that we live such sort sighted lives? The only time that anyone was cared if I had a high school degree was when the government was regulating my employment as director of an after school program. Never in the last fifteen years of storytelling has any teacher asked me if I have a high school diploma or a college diploma. They just wanted to know if I was a good storyteller(yes) and if I had committed any felonies. (no)

So why did I spend all those years in school anyway? Personally it was to defeat the demon of somebody told me I can’t finish this and I’m a failure if I quite now. But I should point out that some of the greatest artists flunked out (Susana Vega) of the greatest schools (Columbia University) – not that it matters.

Inertia is such a powerful force in human culture. Why is the ham cut short ma, because grandma cut it that way. Oh – Grandma why do you cut the ham short? Cause your great grandma cut it that way. Great Grandma why – o be quiet boy – back in my day the oven was smaller – could fit the ham in with out cutting it into pieces!

School as a representation of government is such powerful sources of inertia – how do we as individuals reform or even understand these powerful mythological figures?

My remidation report - 1985

2008-03-06T09:58:00.003-05:00

Hilary K. Waldinger, M.A.
Riverdale, NY. 10463

Remediation Report: Eric James Wolf

Summary

Eric James Wolf is an extremely bright, thoughtful and creative student who demonstrates great capacity in thinking creativity. Understanding mathematical, scientific and historic facts and concepts, and reading literature perceptively. Eric has learning problems which can and are being remediate and which can be compensated for through small adaptive techniques on the part of Eric and his teachers. Eric had made some strong points in writing skills and will continue to do so this year in his tutoring program. Continued practice, motivation, and hard working, and dedicated to improving.

Diagnosis

While highly intelligent, Eric has perceptual difficulties in the areas of visual perception and visual memory. Eric also has problems in language processing, that is, in organizing and sequencing letters, syllables, words and sentences in written and oral presentations.

These perceptual and processing problems are manifest in Erics written work, his difficulties with a foreign language, and his occasional problems in organizing oral presentations. In terms of writing and organizing, these problems are manifest in several specific behaviors.

1st Eric Must and does need to spend much time and effect in organizing himself; his papers, notebooks, books.
2nd Eric has some trouble organizing his essays effectively under time pressure. He needs time to organize these concepts in the expected and clear sequence.
3rd This sequence problem exists in his sentence structure. Sentence fragments or run-ons that appear in class work produced under time limits are not an indication of mental laziness or indifference. Eric merely needs a bit more time to proofread and make corrections for those errors. While Erics sentences structure is steadily improving, Eric cannot yet discriminate between correct or incorrect sequences with 100 percent accuracy.
4th Sequence problems are very obvious in Erics spelling patterns. His reversals and misspellings, are all symptoms of visual perception and processing difficulties. Contributing to his problem is Erics handwriting, witch reveals his processing problems in the motor area. This is not intentional sloppiness or carelessness.

Remediation

Erics learning difficulties can be remediated effectively with appropriate instruction or they can be circumvented with appropriate adaptive techniques for classwork. Currently, an individualized tutorial program has focused on remediating Erics organization problems and his sentence structure. Tutoring has also developed some techniques for organizing essays, answering short answer questions, and writing paragraphs. Eric has made very good progress in using correct sentence structure. We have been working intensively on identifying and using subordinate clauses, identifying subordinate clauses used as sentence fragments, and combing sentences by using subordinate clauses. A successful instructional program for Eric should stress the practices listed belowâ€¦

1) For teaching language arts or language, a multisensory approach is most successful. Eric needs to hear speak, see and write any new vocabulary word, spelling, grammar, preferably using all these senses in the same lesson. Using all the learning modalities in one lesson reinforces each area of perception.
2) Structured sequential instruction is most effective for learning a language skill. Eric learns best when he is presented with one new skill at a time, through a multisensory approach, and given copious practice in saying, writing, and reading that skill. For example, in learning subordinate clauses and subordinate conjunctions, he was taught one category of conjunction at a time. (e.g. time, then cause the result then condition ). He read, wrote, spoke and heard subordinate clauses suing that one category until he knew each of the subordinating conjunctions automatically. Only when he knew all the conjunctions in a category automatically did we move on to the next.
3) Continual reinforcement and review of previously learned items is crucial because these new language skills are not natural for Eric. For example. Even after moving onto a new category of subordinate clauses, Eric must be given a brief review of the categories previously learned. Each new skill must be built on an old one, which is reviewed and reinforced as that it is not forgotten.
4) In teaching essay writing, Eric must learn a Skelton of the pattern of organization required. Once he has the overall organization delineated for himself, he can express his ideas more fluidly and coherently. Thus, Eric must always prepare an outline for himself, organizing a thesis or topic sentence, his main ideas and his supporting information.
5) When writing a first draft, Eric should skip lines so that he can go back and correct errors in sentence structure or spelling. This would be god practice for in-class essay examines or writing exercises.

There are some adaptive strategies witch Eric can use that will allow him to better demonstrate his true abilities while not giving him any unfair advantage over his classmates. These are listed below

1) When writing an in-class essay or exam, Eric could use a skeleton outline, which does not have any content at all: rather, it is just a visual reminder for him of the overall form an essay should have. IT will just outline the ingredients of the essay â€“ thesis statement, main ideas, and supporting details. Currently, Eric carries such a skeleton in his notebook, which can be used for any and all essays because it has no content. If he could use it, he would write more coherently and produce far better exams and papers.
2) If Eric could carry a spelling dictionary with him to school (such a dictionary shows only the correct spellings of words, no definitions), he could turn in some better work with more accurate spellings. Again, to use this in a testing situation is no extra advantage, because only information in such a dictionary is the correct spelling.
3) In learning gramner, Eric needs more structured practice than do other students. However, Eric will learn and use concept once it is taught to him. Therefore, one method of approaching the problem is to notify Ericâ€™s tutor or parent of the areas covered in the term. The tutoring program can then focus intensively on these skills so that Eric will know them by the end of the term or in time for the unit presentation in class. Another approach might be to engage a student tutor for Eric who can give him extra practice on a skill.
4) For learning vocabulary words, particularly in a foreign language, Eric needs much practice with flashcards, with writing, and listening to tapes or dictation.
5) Eric should be given the opportunity to take essay essay exams on an untimed basis, so that he can have a little extra time to organize his thoughts and make some corrections in mechanics, if this is at all possible. This is not at all necessary for multiple choice or short answer exams where Erics learning difficulties do not hamper him. Perhaps he could just have could just have an extra five minutes a the end of class. If extra time is impossible, perhaps Erics work can be looked at attentively for its content rather then its form (spelling, etc).

April 15, 1985

-----------------------

Today in 2008 this report seem obvious, but remember when it was written it was, by man by many who read it, considered cutting edge or out side the box thinking. Times change.

Eric Wolf

The Life Experience that Uniquely Qualifies Me to Speak about Learning Disabilities.

2008-02-27T12:43:00.000-05:00

I was born on January 20, 1970 in NYC. My mother says I was almost born in a taxicab. I wore an eye patch for the first few years of my young life to help my eyes adjust; this may have affected my visual nerve development in subtle ways. I enjoyed a busy life as a child, and everyone complimented my ability to speak to adults and settle the disputes of others.

At a young age, I developed an internal compass that I have followed throughout my life. This compass has led me into some strange and wonderful places and through some rough waters. Life is not always fair or kind, but I was blessed with a good family and a rich home.

The seasons turned, and many mysteries of lifes eternal wheel were revealed to me: the color of the sand on the creek bottom near the summer cottage we rented; how the homeless men survived on the streets near our apartment in NYC; the imaginary world I created in adventures with my friends; and the great mystery of my little sisters birth into the world. However, despite all this amazing knowledge, the gift of reading remained elusive.

I wanted so badly to be able to read, but the connection between the action and the ability did not come. I can not remember when I first learned to read; it is buried in layers of feelings I am reluctant to dig through, like an anthropologist afraid of land mines. Here lie the bones of dragons, and over there may be high explosives left over from the wars; either may lead to my destruction, so I will sit quietly and theorize about them.

I am reluctant to admit that my tutors taught me anything, because I am an American and I want to believe that I did it through my own passion and labor. However, I would probably have suffered even more painful failures without the assistance of my tutors or my parents ability to pay for the private reading and writing lessons. I feel for students without the resources to pay for that additional support in today’s schools.

I believe that my passion for stories is what kept me going; my father read novels to me, and I was interested in reading my own books. When I was thirteen, I read The Hobbit in ten hours. I was very proud.

My writing ability has lagged behind my reading ability; like a man who is drunk with his first victory, I reel from place to place, unsure of my footing. It has always been this way with my writing. I cannot write in straight lines, but the curves may be interesting to the beholder.

In ninth grade, I flunked out of the Bronx High School of Science, and I was suicidal that year. I failed physics, biology, English, and Spanish as well, I felt like I failed all those classes. More importantly, I was harassed every day on the school bus by other students. Writing became something I hated. Writing was not creative; it was punishment, a cruel exercise in self-inflicted wounds. Writing was a bloody payment for small gain.

To learn more about my experience of high school, read my remediation report from that time period or my more modern version.

I am proud of my high school diploma, college degree, and Master’s of Science in Education, but I wonder if these degrees were really distractions from the important work I have set myself - distractions that delayed my life’s purpose and wounded me almost to destruction.

So I have set this purpose for myself: to reach out to students who are defined as learning-disabled, dyslexic, or learning-challenged and empower them to identify their passions and dreams, to get the students to laugh at themselves and see the light at the end of the tunnel, and to show them that learning is not complex or hard, but easy and fun.

Once there was a girl who couldn't see the letter s

2008-02-21T09:18:00.002-05:00

*ara wa* the nice*t child you would ever meet. *he had *weet per*onality, a nice *mile and wa* very *mart. Her only weakne** wa* that *ara could not read, hear or talk the letter *. Witch could be very difficult for her. Her mother would want her to go and fetch her *i*ter* and *ara would come back with one of them in*tead of all three.

*pelling te*t were a drag at *chool though *he did find with word* like naught and doubt, but *nake and *u*piciou* e*caped her. *ara became concerned and nervou* in *chool one day becau*e the teacher *aid they were gong to *tudy the country of *pain. Witch i* very natural reaction con*idering that *ara though they were all going to have to go through a rather painful experience to *tudy the *ubject. Another difficulty wa* following the he or *he pronoun in any particular conver*ation e*pecially if the per*on talking wa* di*cu**ing a conver*ation between a girl and a boy. "Then *he *aid and he *aid thi* in re*pon*e…'

*ara di*covered over time that it wa* po**ible to live with out the letter * until *he could *pend whole day* with out mi**ing it. In*tead of wondering – deare*t *i*ter who I love *o much – could you plea*e pa** me the *au*age*? *he would *ay hey –Rachel - could you kindly hand over the meat *tring plate to me? It helped that her *i*ter* name* were Rachel, Jane and Amanda. But here mother'* name wa* *u*ana and *ara allwa* called her Mom - ju*t to *ave time.

What is a letter to a friend?

2008-02-14T22:32:00.003-05:00

Once there was a boy named *ris who could not see or say the letter z. It didn’t really seem to matter expect on days when he went to the *oo to see the *ebra. So he didn’t really think anything of it

Then one day he met a girl named *eneta who could not see or say the letter c. Witch was a real pity cause she had a *at and that she loved named *harles and *harles was a *hester cat with strips. She was particularly sad because she loved to order i*e *ream *ones – with lots of *ho*olate *hips. When ever she asked for i*e *ream *ones – with lots of *ho*olate *hips everybody laughed at her. But when she met *ris she felt much better.

They became the best of friends – but people would ask them – How can the too of you be such good friends you can’t even say each others names!?

They would just smile and say – what is a name to us – but a word. What is a word to us – but a few letters. A friend is some one who understands what you are going through. Then the two friends would smile and point to the other. Who else would understands me better?

Wrestling with my Brain

2008-02-08T18:12:00.000-05:00

I have been thinking about memory and the central role it plays in my life. I know that I remember things, but I also know that I forget things as well. The likely hood of forgetting something increases if I have not gone through the motion of writing it down. Sort of like you only need seatbelts when your not buckled in rule of driving.

I have learned that I need to write things down. But I have also learned that I can’t read my own hand writing half the time. So I compromise by writing things down on the computer. Witch is not always as handy as it sounds. Last January I purchased an ipod and I find the date book option in the ipod really useful. Of course I am dead set against owning a cell phone – witch I will go into in some other post.

David Allen in his book "Getting Things Done – The Art of Stress Free Productivity" says that most people have been in some version of mental stress for so long that they don’t eve know they are in it. He also says that the mind can only hold three things at the same time. After that you start loosing stuff. You can read more about David Allen on his website

I really identify with this concept – not only do I forget stuff like every one else. But because of all this stress from dyslexia early in life I have a whole mental recording about how messed up. Hopefully you don’t have all these emotional echoes from when you to forget your home work that you spent three works diligently working on so that you could hand in one assignment on time – come up when you drive to town to get the bread and bring home the cheese, yogurt, carrots, and the tub of ice cream, but not the milk.

At this point in my dialog or rant depending on who I am talking too and how long I have known them – I will be getting a puzzled look. My friend will say – but Eric I forget things too. Do you? Do you forget things three to five times a day? Do you live in fear of forgetting things? Do you tell people that you would like them to consider calling you if you don’t show up to the meeting just because you might have forgot? Are you always saying in meetings – hum do you have pen I forgot mine?

I can remember 28 hours of storytelling material on the drop of a pin and tell to a very high professional level.

But that is not the real kicker about my memory. Here is the thing if my memory is not so hot – Then what evidence do I use to convince myself that my memory needs watching?

Really I only have what I remember and man I can tell you that I am not really clear on all that –
1) I just don’t rememberr everything I have forgotten
2) I am a very optimistic person and given the choice between realism and a healthy dose of positive vibes – I’ll choose the positive feelings.
3) Denial is very important crutch to some one who has taken nine years of basic English equvalent and still can’t spell equivalent. I mean for crying out loud I am a certified card caring dyslexic individual writing a blog – What other credentials do you want that I have a high ability to deny reality effectively?
4) Emotionally admitting that my mind is not trust worthy is right on par with admitting that Masters of Science degree I worked so hard to get was given out by lottery and any day now they are going to come for me and as for it back. ( over my dead body)

Recently I had a friend of mine who I told about David Allen and his books.
I said that everybody is built the same way and that there are two kinds of people those that admit they need systems to stay organized and those that are pretending they can function with out any system of organization. He claimed in response that his wife was able to function with out any intentional organizational structure. She was just so organized and scientific in thought. I smiled politely and agreed.

But it turns out that this organized and wonderful woman (she is a very nice person) Forgot two separate massage visits with my wife's massage practice. Here is the key idea here – we all need systems of organization and if you are dyslexic you just need to admit that faster then everyone else.

Frankie Loves Peanuts

2008-01-31T12:11:00.000-05:00

Once upon a time there lived an elephant named Frankie. Frankie lived in a zoo; not one of those modern zoos that you may have been to, but an old zoo with tired buildings and cracked sidewalks. You would think that this would make Frankie a very unhappy elephant, but no, he was very happy indeed. The lions were not happy, the penguins were not happy, the parrots and the monkeys were not happy, but Frankie didn’t care. He was happy.
Outside of Frankie’s window, just off to the side of his trench there was a little machine for giving out peanuts. Every day the children would come from all over town, and they would bring their lunch money and their candy money to buy peanuts for their elephant. Frankie was very happy. He would reach through the bars of his cage with his long trunk, and he would carefully pluck each peanut from the little hands that offered them. Then he would take the delicious peanuts, he would put them in his mouth, and chew each one… oh so carefully. Then he would smile, look out at all the smiling faces, and he was so very happy. Frankie loved peanuts.

One day a man in a suit came to the zoo to make sure that everything was safe and that the zoo was taking care of the animals. This man saw all the sad animals, the cracking concrete, the worn down buildings and the peanut machines. He shook his head, “We will have to close down this sad little zoo in a few years. We could sell all the animals except for the elephant. He’s too old to sell. We will have to put him to sleep and give his body to the glue factory.“ Then the man said, “Ed, stop filling up those peanut machines;. it’s too dangerous. The elephant might hurt someone. No more peanuts for Frankie.”

Ed was very sad. He had been taking care of Frankie for a long time. He knew how much Frankie loved peanuts, he knew that the man was serious about closing down the zoo and that would be the end of Frankie. He took away the peanut machines so that Frankie wouldn’t see them anymore, and he hoped that Frankie would forget all about the peanuts. The children stopped coming to see Frankie. Now Frankie was unhappy.
He stood in his cage, looked at the blue sky, and got very depressed.

One day Frankie decided not to get up. He said “This is the end. I’m not getting up ever again.” What a sad little elephant he was. Ed came in to clean Frankie’s cage. “What’s wrong Frankie are you OK?” he said, “I have a treat for you.” Ed reached into his pocket, and he took out a little bag of peanuts. But Frankie didn’t move, he was that down. Ed looked at him, then he dropped the peanuts and ran out the door to get help.

Frankie was lying there not feeling so good about himself, but he kept smelling peanuts. He looked around and there was the bag that Ed had dropped. Frankie thought he would have just one, and maybe another and then, all of a sudden, the bag was empty. Frankie was feeling a little bit better. He looked over and noticed that the door to his elephant house was standing wide open. Frankie thought, “maybe I can get my own peanuts. I’ll just take a quick look around town.”

Frankie tried to be very quite about sneaking out of the zoo. But all of the animals saw him, and they wanted to go too. The lion roared. The parrot called. The penguins splashed and the monkey yelled. Frankie ran out of the zoo fast. The man at the toll both said “Stop Frankie. Go back.” But there was no stopping Frankie. The elephant ran into town. He smelled something really good. Hmmm, what was that smell? He ran around corners, and down streets until he came to a bakery. He didn’t like bread, even if it smelled so good.

Frankie decided he needed a place to hide out so that the police couldn’t find him. He was lucky, and he found a beautiful fountain with many stone elephants. This was a great place for an elephant to hide on a hot summer day. While he was hiding in the fountain a police car stopped in front of the fountain. Frankie thought for sure he was caught; but the two officers were only having lunch at the fountain. “Where did my peanuts go?” said one of the officers, “I had them right here.” Do you know where the peanuts went? Then I don’t need to tell you. Frankie loved peanuts.

Frankie smelled another delicious smell. He followed his nose for a long time and discovered a doughnut shop. He found the doughnuts easy to carry on his trunk, but he still wanted to find some peanuts. Then Frankie smelled another scent. The smell was s so rich and full of flavor. He thought, “This must be where there are peanuts hmm… but there were no peanuts, and that shop was full of people drinking coffee. Frankie was getting discouraged. He had looked everywhere all over town, but he could not find any more peanuts . I might have told him to look in the grocery store, but he never asked me.

It was getting dark and Frankie smelled peanuts! He was so sure that he ran down a street, and over a hill. There, they are in front him was a peanut factory! Frankie ran into the factory. He looked through all the different rooms until he found a room filled with piles of peanuts. Frankie had never seen so many peanuts and his whole life. The pile of peanuts in that room was five times bigger than him! There were dump trucks and bulldozers to move the peanuts around. He ate peanuts till he was full. Then he burrowed into the pile of peanuts and leaving only his eyes sticking out.

The next day when the workers at the factory workers came back. They were surprised at how many peanuts were missing. “Where did all the peanuts go?” they asked. I don’t need to tell you. Frankie loved peanuts. The next night, after the night watchmen had been in to check on the peanuts. Frankie went exploring. He explored all around the factory until he found a little building which said, “Top-Secret” and “Keep Out”.

Elephants are very curious creatures , and Frankie couldn’t help himself . What was in that building? Was it a special type of peanut? A secret recipe?

Frankie peered in the door. He didn’t mean to break-in. He just kind of leaned on the lock a little. Then he stuck his head in the door. Then he had to get down on his knees, and crawl in the room. There were lots of peanuts in this building, each in its own special pile. Some were marked, “peanuts with honey,“ and others were marked, ‘peanuts with mustard.’ Frankie’s favorite type of peanut was with chocolate.

Frankie ate all the peanuts covered with chocolate. Chocolate is not good for elephants. He did not feel so good, and he fell asleep standing up. When Frankie woke up it was morning, and he had been caught. There were cameras taking his pictures, and women with microphones. He was surrounded by people; policeman firemen and doctors, but best of all Ed was there too.

Ed said, “Frankie you are famous. People all around the world have heard about you, the famous disappearing elephant.” Then cameras and reporters came closer to Ed and Frankie. “Why did Frankie come here?” they wanted to know. You know the answer to that question; Frankie loved peanuts.

That night Frankie got to go home to the zoo. The next morning the president of the peanut factory came to see him and Ed. He said that Frankie had made the peanut company famous. That nobody cared if Frankie had eaten all those peanuts because now everybody all around the country wanted to eat Frankie’s chocolate covered peanuts. The president of the company said that before he had been planning to close down the factory. Now he had to hire more workers, and he wanted to thank Frankie in his own way. The company had decided to give Frankie a lifetime supply of… peanuts.

That tired old zoo has been remodeled, and made into a new zoo. All the animals live there happily. In one little house there lives a very happy elephant, and every day, when the children come after-school he throws them peanuts! Frankie loves to share peanuts.

Can you assign Meaning as school work?

2008-01-26T12:57:00.001-05:00

I was rereading my last post and thinking about how many people experience school as one long game of trivial pursuit. Before you start to get upset with my view of public or provide schooling let's think for a moment - what is the purpose of school? I mean really? Like I'm not going to tell you.

Yes - to learn and to study - what though? To teach the cultural norms of the day, to round the sharp corners of our minds and smooth the rough places of our souls of that we al have the same approach to life.. This is why really wealthy people understand that school is an institution of politics and culture no an institution of intellect of knowledge. School has less to do with what your studying and more to do with how your studying it and what you learn from that.

Which brings me back to the whole point of my rant today. Can you teach meaning? I think so - I think that's what storytelling is all about. Meaning, self fulfillment, purpose and vision. Big words that don't really seem to fit into classrooms during these days of tests and state mandated curriculum. How do you teach meaning? More on that next week…

Letters to the Editor & Dictionaries

2008-01-25T15:39:00.000-05:00

I wrote a letter to editor this last week all about my experience letting my car die and replacing it with a bicycle. I have mentioned before on this blog how much I value the Yellow Springs News for serving as my finale check editor before running my letters. This allows me to be free to participate in the body politics of Yellow springs.

This last letter to the editor I wrote really illustrated the effective of the written word nicely because every where I bike people say to me – O – I read your letter in the Yellow Springs News. It’s sad to say that the era of newspapers is long over and now we replace such fine institutions as the NY Times with well NBC or CBS no – really – Wikipedia. ☺

Or better yet just read my blog. I am in love this one institution of my town this sweet old paper. I don’t really get why they don’t publish the whole thing online and sell google ad words. I’m sure they would make more money that way then any other way. Maybe I am just so pleased that people read what I wrote and it did something – had an impact. I think that might be one of the common lessons that dyslexic children learn early – your writing does not count for nothing - rely on your silver tongue least you forget just look to your dictionary – that book you never opened.

Really – why would a person who reverses the letters in words five times in minute look at a book that is alphabetized? So they can learn to better scramble the words? First time I used a dictionary was when I had to face off against my grandmother in scrabble. She had seventy year so scrabble playing mastery and I could not spell. I used the dictionary to even the score I proud to say I won a game out of the fifty or so attempts.

Down with the Grammar Nazi’s

2008-01-18T10:07:00.000-05:00

I have an arrangement with my local paper, the yellow springs news. I write letters to the editor and they kindly edit them, with my permission, so that the typos and other snafus are removed before publication. This allows me to participate in the body politics of my village. Though whether or not the local newspaper is relevant to what is going on in town is a whole different question worthy of discussion. I wish that more people were so kind and generous with there editing abilities.

I am sure that a large percentage of the population does not participate in community politics simply because they feel that they would make fools of them selves any time they sent something into the paper or even posted a comment on an online forum. Maybe it’s a side effect of high school English that many people see the potential risk (embarrassing omission of grammatical ability) far out weighs the potential gain (Getting a letter in the paper).

Perhaps it is the way those of us who are gifted at writing or spelling there way through life behave towards those who are not so gifted. Maybe it’s a few bad apples that spoil it for the rest of us. All I know is that if I didn’t have the kind support of the editorial staff of the paper at my back I wouldn’t be writing those letters to the editor cause I don’t need the five emails I would receive telling me that I need a comma after the second sentence and that I dropped the past tense there and by the way shouldn’t I have someone correct my letters? Like the government is going to give me a grant for that!

Many times if I have not hired or begged a proof writer for some piece of writing; I have had individuals who can edit assume that I have been lazy or that I have been worse yet ignorant of my misspellings. Maybe that is my secret desire of this blog to change the tone of our dialog about spelling and grammar. To a kinder more gentler one where people who can’t spell are given the reasonable expectation that they are trying there best to participate and that there best would look so much better if they had a helping hand from those who can see in the colors of the rainbow.

Of course the grammar Nazi’s won’t be reading this blog, because of all the typos, but what do want out of me anyway?

My Artistic Statement

2008-01-11T09:49:00.000-05:00

It's funny how you can spend years on this stuff and it keeps on coming. Yet in just a few minutes you can suddenly turn a corner. Here is my latest clarity of purpose written in 20 minutes yesterday. If you are an artist or business person i highly suggest that you spend the time to narrow your purpose and sharpen your vision and I am not taking about your site.

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Purpose:
In a sentence, I support conscious parents in raising imaginative and magical children by reconnecting their children to the natural world.

Artistic Statement
I am committed to the empowerment of children and adults through storytelling. I use storytelling performances to build relationships between people and nature. I use storytelling to teach skills that lead to the practice of peace.

I am a guide for audiences, introducing them to the magical world and the natural world through my stories. My body is the canvas for my imagination and through storytelling I bring a fantastic and thrilling storytelling ride. My style of performance involves the use of characterization, sound and body motion. Each story is fantastic, magical, and present whether through tall tales of my life growing up in NYC, scary stories or modern fairytales from the heart.

I perform in mixed age venues in storytelling festivals, schools and children’s theaters around the United States. I am committed to my performances being accessible to the widest audiences, highest entertainment value, an underlying theme of grace where each story will teach a life lesson.