Dear Parents,
I remember sitting across from Daniel's mother and father at parent conferences, listening to them talk about their son’s lack of motivation. Dan was an eighth-grader in my humanities class who always seemed to have a thoughtful answer during discussions but never seemed to be able to put his thoughts into writing. "He just doesn't seem to care about turning in his homework. It's not important to him--he knows that you know he knows the answer," said his mother. Dan's father concurred, stating that it all came down to a matter of effort. "He's just lazy," he said.
I knew that Dan wasn't working to his ability level and so I agreed with his parents. I found myself saying how bright I thought Dan was and what a wonderful leader he was in class discussions. Then I made that most haunting of statements: "But he doesn't seem to be working up to his potential." As the words left my mouth, my stomach fluttered. I wanted to take the trite statement back. Dan's parents didn't seem to notice my inner struggle; in fact they nodded their heads in agreement. I had confirmed for them what they had believed at the start of the conference--Dan was just lazy.
After Dan's parents left, I sat back and thought to myself, what does that phrase really mean? Why would a child not want to work to his or her potential? Was Dan's father right? Was Dan just lazy? And what exactly does a lazy student look like?
To conclude that Dan was lazy is to say that he wasn't trying, that he didn't bring any effort with him into the classroom. This wasn't true. Dan was one of my leaders in class discussion, so how could I conclude that he lacked effort?
In his newest book, The Myth of Laziness, Dr. Mel Levine asks teachers and parents to look at students like Daniel through a clinical lens and try to discover the neurodevelopmental causes for these behaviors. Levine states, "Laziness is not an innate trait. We all are born with a drive to produce, like saplings growing in an orchard; we have within us the resources to bear fruit, to be and to feel useful and effective. Most of our own success and that of our children is experienced and demonstrated through accomplishments, the attainments of our heads and our hands, the sum total of our school, family, and career contributions. From early childhood on through our adult years, we want to show what we can do. We gain energy and feel good about ourselves whenever our personal output wins the approval, the acceptance, the respect of our friends, our families, our bosses (or teachers), and most of all, our own self-critical selves. To feel fulfilled in life, it helps immeasurably if you can take pride in your work."
Levine says that what we call "laziness" is similar to what the medical community calls "output failure" and draws a parallel to an overtaxed heart when the demand for cardiac output exceeds the heart's ability to respond. He reminds us that "chronic severe high-output failure may ultimately result in a decrease in heart muscle performance." Levine goes on to say that, "The same cycle can pertain to the mind, one that has become ineffective--when the demands upon it keep on exceeding its output capacities. When a mind is forced to strain excessively to meet production demands, academic output failure may ensue." Levine concludes that output failure is not a syndrome nor should it be seen as a label. "Low output occurs when one or more neurodevelopmental constructs interfere with productivity."
Three years ago the Laboratory Schools was fortunate enough to have Dr. Levine speak to our parents and faculty. During his talk he introduced us to his eight neurodevelopmental constructs, the clinical tools that he has developed to assess learning styles. These constructs are a way for each of us to examine our own learning styles and the styles of the children with whom we work, like Daniel. Dr. Levine is quick to point out that each of us has a unique learning style and that, in fact, different schools and workplaces demand certain strengths in particular neurodevelopmental constructs in order for success in a specific field of study or career. Daniel was running into the classic middle school difficulty of a growing demand on his ability to put his ideas in writing, a task that called upon him to use several neurodevelopmental constructs well.
When we think about Levine's eight constructs, we begin to learn about how we learn. It is this process that provides each of us with a greater understanding of our own strengths and weaknesses; this insight into our own learning styles is what Levine refers to as demystification. When we understand the ways in which we learn best, then we can build strategies to strengthen our learning. The construct categories Dr. Levine examines are:
After listening to Dr. Levine's presentation, the Laboratory Schools began the process of building an association with his Schools Attuned program. The goal program is to educate teachers on how to use the neurodevelopmental constructs as clinical tools in assessing the children whom they teach and, ultimately, to help teach our students about their personal learning styles so they understand the way their brains process information.
The important part to stress in the Lab Schools' involvement in Schools Attuned is to view the approach as one that works with all learners. Dr. Levine's work is not just about understanding learning difficulties or differences; it is about understanding the strengths that all students have as learners and ways that we can help children capitalize on their strengths while we help them find strategies to deal with their weaknesses. This newfound understanding occurs through a process called "attuning," where students are helped to learn about themselves as learners through a written analysis completed by parents, teachers, and the individual student.
More than 30 Laboratory Schools faculty and administrators have participated in Schools Attuned workshops, and we intend to have more faculty members participate in the program. A group of teachers and administrators are leading this process and are working to find applications for Dr. Levine's work at Lab. The group is called ALL (Attuned Learners for Life) and we meet monthly to construct professional development opportunities, meet with other schools using the Schools Attuned method, raise money to support sending more teachers to the workshops, and find ways to help teachers apply the neurodevelopmental constructs in their classrooms.
As more Lab School faculty members participate in Schools Attuned, greater understanding and analysis of the way students learn will be applied to curriculum development, assessment of student work, and the language we use to talk about student progress. We will find the language to talk about my student Dan and come to understand that he has some weaknesses in memory and graphomotor functioning. We will understand that almost every student is trying to work up to their potential and that when we look closely, we don’t have lazy students, but rather students who need our help in understanding why they are struggling and how they learn best.
David Feldman
Middle School Principal