Does it really matter which pen, pencil, notebook, clock or fidget our student's use?
Weirdly, yes... significantly.
Struggling students are often situation sensitive, and their supplies are a part of that.
It is surprising how helpful the right tool can be. This might be the easiest strategy of the semester. Strategic supplies won't make or break the semester, but they will sure help.
1. Eraseable Pens
There are some very cute, very trendy, and very gel glittery pens out there. They are fired. Let them go.
Color is almost as essential to our struggling student's learning process. So is the ability to easily erase. Frixion Eraseable Pens by PILOT have both of these strategic bonuses. I swear by these utensils, and so do my clients. I love how they erase even cleaner than pencils, AND the eraser never ever runs out.
A word of caution about these amazing pens. The ink erases with heat. The erasers actually create thermal friction to make the ink disappear. This means that the erased image could come back a little when in very very cold climates. It also means that your homework will erase if you leave it in the windshield of your car during an Arizona summer. If you actually do that, just pop it into the freezer for a bit to get your work visible-enough again.
Why is color so essential?Our struggling students love colored writing instruments because color helps them think. Color pops out the main ideas, and pushes back the details. This is something that doesn't come easy to our brains. Our brains tend to see everything as important and right now. How do you organize information, when it is ALL important, and ALL right now? You use color! |
2. Dot Grid is Better Than Lines
Struggling student's brains tend to struggle with organizing information. Writing notes items in a long list, just doesn’t always make sense for them. Color is a huge help with this issue, but so is space. Having the freedom to visually organize information both vertically and horizontally, in a way that makes sense to your student, will do wonders for their comprehension and learning.
In other words, given the freedom to write what they need in what way they need, helps them learn. Struggling student's notes tend to have information sideways, circular, charted, illustrated, highlighted, and bolded. I call it 3-D thinking, and notebooks with dot matrix pages (instead of lined) support this unique (brilliant) way of processing information.
Dot matrix began as a form of journal styles, but I've been seeing them more and more in the office supply sections over the years.
3. Hedgehog Rings Are Better
Move over spinners and stress balls.... you are being replaced! Please read the following out load:
"Fidgets are tools, not toys."
"Fidgets are tools, not toys."
Simply put, our struggling students think better when their body is busy. But moving is not often an option in the classroom (or corporate meeting room) environment. When you need to move to think, but can't move, but need to think... fidgets help.
The Hedgehog Ring (a.k.a. Spikey Sensory Rings or Acupressure Rings) is my number one go to. I buy these in bulk and give them away. They are small, silent, and less than 50 cents each, so get them for your friends and family too.
The Bike Chain Fidget (a.k.a. Flippy Chain) is a close second favorite. It has all the same benefits of the hedgehog ring. They cost less than a dollar each, so it's not the end of the world if one gets lost or broken.
Painless, yet powerful. Swap out some tools and supplies and give them all a try. Your struggling student will let you know what works and doesn't work.
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