Teh Dyslexic Storytellers Blog

A Video Demonstration of Dyslexia

2012-01-01T12:37:00.002-05:00

Personally this makes my head hurt - so they are on to something. You know?

I think the possibilities are limitless here - but this could be done right so that new and upcoming teachers can get a better sense of what dyslexia can be like.

Questions from the Creative Learners at the Assets School

2011-10-21T18:22:00.002-04:00

Hi - Dear Friends from Ms **** Classroom.

I wish I has a the time to answer all your questions by mail - individually – I have created a list of answers to many of the questions that you have sent in your letters -

Please free to share them with others in your school as you wish.

When did you first know you were dyslexic?

What grade where you when you found out your dyslexic?

When I was in 2^nd grade I had fallen so far behind the other students that the school system told my parents they wanted to place me in special education classroom. My mother who was a Professor of education pulled strings in the school system to keep me in a public school classroom. My parents had me tested and defined as “dyslexic” by a reading tutor.

How hard was it for you?

Very hard – in 3rd grade I was only kid in my classroom that could not read.

What Grade did you learn to read?

4^th Grade I begun to read with some ability.

What level were you reading in 6^th and 7^th grade?

In 6^th grade I was reading the hardy boys and I read a copy of the hobbit in 7^th grade. I had reading comprehension and processing scores at the college level by 9^th grade.

Did you not like completing an essay or could you read by then?

I did not write my first essay till 8^th grade – I did not write a well written one till 10^th grade. My first term paper – 10 pages was in 11^th grade. Even today I think essays are waste of time and I don’t like writing them. Having aid that I do believe in writing letters to the editor and letters to politicians.

How was it like being different then the other kids?

Denial is an important part of the human experience. Denial allows us to pretend that everything is fine when it is not. It also gets us in trouble because we try to do things that we can’t possibly complete with out tutors or writing consolers.

How old is your sister now?

She is 4 years younger then me – still. I am 41 – she is 37

What was her favorite birthday party?

No idea…

Did the Birthday Party story really happen?

Yep and one of your legs is longer then the other because I have been pulling your leg.

What did the Cake taste like?

Sorry I didn’t eat it.

What type of Cake was it suppose to be?

Chocolate Cake with Chocolate store bought frosting – lots of store bought frosting.

How do you make such realistic stories?

To make a good tall tale you must start with the truth and build into fantasy. Have fun with your audience believe that your story helps them and share the joy of the story with them.

Great talking to you.

Eric James Wolf

http://www.ericwolf.org

Telling Tall Tales of Dyslexic New Yorker and When Cats Could Fly...

All these funny stories are on iTunes.

Changing the Game

2011-05-17T15:10:00.000-04:00

Sometimes technology changes slowly and you can barely see it. Then there are moments when the tech is seen anew and we realize that the whole world has changed. The wheel or the printing press. Today I had one of those moments. Soon you will to.

American schools have been slow to provide the tools for supporting people with disabilities - but many schools have been quick to supply computers to there classrooms. Trying to look modern without changing the fundamentals of there internal structure. Now a group of people have placed all the various programs that make computers tools of access for students. Basically free open source programs that fundamentally change the rules of the game. Of course they are cutting at the tree of money that Microsoft and Apple are counting for there supplies.

This is an amazing leap forward - parents acting in there own self interest for the good of there students with out institutional permission or support. Don't trust me read about it yourself at
http://speedchange.blogspot.com/2011/05/freedom-stick-and-massive-resistance.html

If this had existed when I was in high school - how my world might have been different.

The Law of Unintended Consequences

2011-02-09T11:45:00.002-05:00

There are many books about the law of Unintended Consequences. My favorite is the follow up book too - Time and Again – From Time to Time. For the dedicated 19^th century enthusiast I would recommend both – but for the rest of us here is the plot point of the book that intrudes me.

Man travels back in time to stop WWI by saving the Titanic. Man sinks said ship by changing the course of the ship. Hence the Law of unintended consequence in action. I have many more from real life…

What about United States Trains Islamic Extremists to battle evil Soviet Empire… not good ending there either….

Rabbits released in Australia as game animal leads to rabbit invasion…

I could go on and on – humans have been living this story for thousands of years so I am nor surprised to read recently that asking students to lineup in line alphabetically has had unintended consequences that last a whole life time.

I remember fondly they day my 4^th grade teacher had us lineup by last name first – I think it was only once. Ahh the glory to have a W in your last name! The authors of this study have discovered that people with letter late in the alphabet were more likely to be quick to seize the first opportunities and people with a, b, c’s are more likely to wait and search for the best opportunity.

I find that I am the fastest eater I know – mostly because in grade school I had 12 minutes to eat my lunch. I had 12 minutes because it took us 10 minutes to get served and I was always at the end of the line. Lunch was 50 minutes long – but I wanted to catch the 25 minute group walk out to the recess yard. Remember when we had recess in grade school? – ahh the good old days?

So today I eat to fast – I really try to eat slowly – but it’s I the bones you know? Just another reminder of the important and influential role that teachers can have on students with the smallest of decisions. Choices that last a lifetime.

Read the original report on the paper here...

http://lifeinc .today.com/_news/2011/01/26/5909358-how-your-last-name-affects-shopping-decisions#comme nts

Where the hell are the all the Dyslexic Advocacy Organizations?

2010-11-16T12:59:00.002-05:00

I know that many of the readers and followers of this inactive blog - that's a mouthful - are not particularly interested in following politics - but to quote Howard Zen - "You can't be neutral on a moving train."

Recently I have been following with great interest the recount in Alaska and I am disturb to see that are political system is so willing to dis-enfranchize an entire group of people. Namely people like me dyslexic folks. The question arises - is the percentage of rejected write in ballots in Alaska related to the number of people who are dyslexic or other wise can't fully participate in a literate society?

I am going to send this question to Nate Silver of the 538 blog - I am not sure if busy Nate will have time to answer - I hope he gets to it.

Before I go into the logistics of this - here is the situation in short

Lisa M's whose name I will not even attempt to spell - father lost a governors race to Sarah Palin - Sarah endorsed Lisa M's tea party primary opponent - Guy in checkered shirt. Guy in checkered shirt (Joe Miller) actually campaigned - Lisa M did not - resulting in a surprise - Lisa M lost primary and Joe Miller received the Republican endorsement - which in Alaska is basically the election.

But it's personal so Lisa M declares herself a write in candidate. Now that would be hard any way - but she has an impossible name to spell here is it is pasted from else where - Lisa Murkowski

The last federal senate write in candidate who won an election was like decades ago... Since that time lots has changed about how we view writing and reading - I hope we live in a society that honors those who struggle with literacy and dyslexia. Unless of course you live in Alaska - as of last week Joe Miller's campaign has been challenging any ballot that is misspelled or even written in script - as opposed to being printed.

Gets us back to the question... is the percentage of rejected write in ballots in Alaska related to the number of people who are dyslexic or other wise can't fully participate in a literate society?

Many people who have trouble reading choose not participate in voting because they don't want to self identify and feel foolish as non-readers or below par readers. I found some academic papers that demonstrate a direct effect between literacy and voting in the States.

The National Institutes of Health says that "About 15 percent to 20 percent of people in the United States have a language-based disability, and of those, most have dyslexia."

Let's assume that the percentage of dyslexic people in the general population is 2x the percentage voting in the election. Let's say that many of those people have successfully compensated by bringing in one of those rubber bands or a piece of paper with Lisa's name on it. But let's say that roughly half of those people who are dyslexic - forgot to bring something in writing to copy or other wise are in denial. I am a big believer in denial. or they did not vote at all. or had the paper and still miswrote it.

I think it's fair to say that the only natural answer to arrive at is that most of the people having there ballots overturned in Alaska are the literate challenged, the dyslexic and the illiterate.

Luckily for Lisa M - she has attracted enough votes that she does not need to worry about the 8% that are being challenged by Joe Miller - that guy with the checkered shirt. But in the meantime I have another question - where the hell are the all the dyslexic advocacy organizations?

Where are all these expensive nonprofits who claim to have my self interest are heart?

At what point are they going to start actaully representing and protecting the interests of the people they claim to serve?

Guest Post - Dyslexic Professor Duane Smith

2010-07-17T17:11:00.001-04:00

This Reader wrote this lovely comment on the last post on the Blog - so with his permission I give you his story as a post so you don't miss it.

After failing the first grade, I was diagnosed with Dyslexia. I failed English in the 10th grade, and algebra a total of five times. By the grace of God, I graduated high school with a 1.9 G.P.A on probation for bad behavior. Following high school, I failed out of three different community colleges. The first class I failed was public speaking. After my third attempt at college, in as many years, I became a car salesman. Selling cars was one of the best learning experiences of my life, however, at the age of 21, I did not posses the discipline to work sixty-plus hours a week for commission. So I quit. Needing to do something, I applied for the Los Angeles Police Department, only to fail the written exam. My father was an LAPD sergeant. A friend of my father had administered and graded the test. Severely humbled and having no other options, I decided to try college a fourth time.

I figured if I was going to be serious about school, I should start by retaking the courses I had failed. During the summer of 1991, I enrolled in a public speaking course at Los Angeles Valley College with Professor Betty Ballew. Professor Ballew not only inspired me to take the class seriously but encouraged me to join the LAVC public speaking team. To this day, I don't know why I agreed to do something extracurricular that was academic...but I did! I joined the LAVC public speaking team, and my life was changed forever. Professor Ballew inspired me to celebrate my strengths, and address my challenges.

I am now a tenured professor of speech at Los Angeles Valley College, where I serve as the Director of the forensics (public speaking team). I am now privileged to regularly participate with and foster countless success stories as I serve the very program that changed my life. On April 15-19th, 2008 the LAVC speech team competed against 74 other community colleges and over 450 of our nation's best speakers and won the Phi Rho Pi national public speaking championship tournament held in St. Charles, Illinois. However, the highlight of the year was a very special student named Marcus Hill. Marcus, a former stutterer, became the most successful competitive speaker in California community college history, as well as, the overall top speaker in the country while at nationals in Illinois. Like my Professor Betty Ballew, I am truly blessed with the privilege of helping students discover their individual strengths while actively negotiating their challenges.

In 1991, a college professor asked me if I was "retarded?". That same year Professor Ballew told me that I had "presence," and asked me to join the speech team. Professor Ballew focused on my strengths, and helped me to acknowledge and confront my challenges.

For several years I have contemplated reaching out to the dyslexic community to share my experiences. If I could encourage others to discover the empowerment that can be discovered by identifying and exploiting one's individual gifts; while at the same time motivating people to address their personal challenges, I would honor the opportunity.

Please forgive any spelling mistakes :)

Sincerely,

Duane Smith
http://www.dyslexicprofessor.blogspot.com

Dear Reader

If you are dyslexic and have a story to tell you are welcome to share it here... post you potential post below and Iw ill will consider it in due time...

Eric Wolf

Hiatus

2010-04-06T07:25:00.003-04:00

Teh Dyslexic Storytellers Blog is on break because of my work with the Art of Storytelling Podcast, the International Storytelling School, Eco Storytelling Retreat and LA Conference with the National Storytelling Festival. Be back in a few months - please feel free to read by topic in the sidebar in the meantime.

Eric Wolf
PS: A red head on a beach....

Learn to Lie like a Pro with the Host of the Art of Storytelling Show.

2010-03-30T13:17:00.001-04:00

Eric Wolf, the host of the Art of Storytelling with Brother Wolf Show, is available to be interviewed on or before April 1st, 2010 on how to lie successfully for April Fools' Day. In 2009 he was interviewed on Fox 45 local News in Dayton, Ohio. Eric Wolf was a Master of Ceremonies’ at the Smithsonian in Washington D.C 2009 Folk Life Festival.

In his interview he will discuss the advantages of lying and how liars have solid, political, social and psychological reasons for doing so. He will defend an America tradition that dates back to the founding of America back to Mark Twain, why, even back to the Pilgrims. He will also demonstrate the art of tall tales and flat lies for the viewing audience.

A successful tale tall or lie uses five storytelling techniques.

1) The lie needs a basis in truth.

2) The story needs to have a spectacular departure from reality.

3) The teller must have a personal body language that supports the lie.

4) The story should contain at least one small, reasonable detail that rings true to the listener.

5) The teller must have a willingness to defend the lie as truth.

The Art of Storytelling with Brother Wolf Show

The Art of Storytelling Show has had over 127, 000 downloads since it began podcasting in 2007. Created by Brother Wolf (Eric Wolf) in the spring of 2007, the show brings the best and brightest of the storytelling community to the world stage. 43% of listeners are from outside the United States from over 100 different countries.

The Art of Storytelling Show is the world’s sole interview- format show dedicated to exploring the art and science of storytelling in all its forms. With over a hundred interviews available for listening to online at http://www.artofstorytellingshow.com, this podcast has become the premier resource for understanding and practicing the art of storytelling worldwide.

For more information:

Eric James Wolf

Host of the Art of Storytelling with Brother Wolf Show

http://www.artofstorytellingshow.com

(937) 767-8696

The Biggest Step

2010-02-18T13:54:00.004-05:00

The writer is the host and producer of the Art of Storytelling Show

The biggest step towards towards success that any dyslexic person, or parent attempting to support a dyslexic student can make is realizing that they don't need to make their focus in life around what sucks. Life is short and reading and writing are important. Alright in a literate society reading and writing are really important. But it is also important to spend time building other life skills, like having a moral compass, playing games, making friends and holding a job. All skills that can be accomplished by anyone whether or not they can read.

I am not saying that you or your child have to give up your education. But what if you took a year or two off to try other opportunities? Taking your kid out of school and locking them up at home while you go to work might not be a good option unless you don't have to work or you have a hundred acre ranch to hang out in. Working parents can recognize the value in sending your kid to summer camp setting for one month out of the year.

Perhaps your desperate reader loves baseball or tennis? Whatever the area of their life that allows them to decompress and energize after a long day of not reading in a school setting. Do not tie their dreams or fun to their school grades or ability to read in any way shape or form.

Find their success however small and feed them. Find their dreams and light them on fire.

In the end building up what has been torn down in our children is a parents job. In the end we must live with the choices and the personalities are children own.

Why if your dyslexic spying may not be the best career path.

2010-02-08T10:58:00.001-05:00

Wired magazine wrote an article on the spy who could not spell. Makes for an interesting read on the importance of realizing ones limitations.

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/01/ff_hideandseek/

#3 - Break the classwork down into pieces so it won't be too complex for the students to understand.

2010-01-29T10:39:00.004-05:00

When knowledge is broken down into little pieces, the information is taken out of context. This makes the learning process more difficult for the students. This is not only because the students struggle to comprehend the new information, but they also grapple to relate the material to a familiar context. Without a sense of place the student has no anchor to relate what they are learning in class to the world outside. In a very short period of time the student will begin to lose interest in the class work

Brain research has suggested that human beings learn by two basic methods, route learning and map learning. Route learning is short-term memory and map learning is more permanent long-term learning. A good example of route learning is when a tourist memorizes instructions to find a house in an unfamiliar neighborhood. These instructions are only good for one particular task, and the instructions assume that the tourist won't get lost or forget them on the way.

If that tourist stays in town for a couple days, she might find herself identifying some frequented locations. This tourist has begun to build her contextual map of the city in which she is visiting. This map is a part of her long-term memory. If she decides to stay for a couple of weeks in the same city, exploring it more thoroughly, she might find that her personal map of the city is getting good enough so she does not need to relay on the routes she had memorized for getting around

Teacher guidance is important in the early stages of every student's development, but the teacher has to respect the student’s development of an independent process. The teacher could allow space for individual interpretations of the information being studied.

When we learn, we build our map to a level where we can function effectively independently of other sources. Students develop competence when they are allowed to become independent of teacher guidance and when they are allowed to develop their own maps. Having the teacher support this process of gaining independence is very important to students. Sometimes students need someone to hold their hands and sometimes they don't. A good teacher knows the difference.

This is post 3 of 12 posts on How to turn a Teacher into a Prison Guard.

Art, Storytelling and Dyslexia

2010-01-15T14:34:00.005-05:00

The writer is Eric Wolf Storyteller

Art is not limited by state budgets, the few hours of life apportioned or others acceptance. The only limitation of art is our desire to embrace art as we know it and to love that expression that calls us into our passion - into our being - into the voice of God. Of all the arts, storytelling is the most able to thrive despite budgets cuts, institutional ignorance and community apathy. Storytelling brings people together and serves as a beacon for community healing.

To be an artists is to give yourself over to a creative process that promise no fruit with each effort. But instead enlightens our lives with a gift that can only be declared - soul. Art in it's purist form is God's hand in our mortal lives. A living testament that their is more to our lives then this simple physical frame. To be an artist is to see the world, not only as it is - but as it can be or will be by our will.

Art makes meaning where there is none, gives power to the powerless, heals wounds long scarred, and above all hold love triumphant for the entire world to see. Successful art brings people together through compassion, forgiveness and understanding. Art and storytelling is held and holds community in it's sacred trust. Art binds the sinews of the mortal world into a tapestry that ancestors hold in their immortal coil.

When we examine what it means to be dyslexic in a modern society we find ourselves looking at an entire class of creative types who are artists by definition. Though their creative efforts may be far from what society defines as “art”. They as a group fall in the range of artist by their very necessity of invention. Their inability to fit with the bounds of normality causes them to rush into the worlds of creativity that others will never experience. Not to say that to be dyslexic is to be born a painter, actor, poet or artist. Far from that. Dyslexics make the best storytellers by the requirements of the world bent down upon them.

Storytelling is the refuge of sinners and survivors. Storytelling is an art long associated with lying and dishonesty. Oral Narrative is held in disrepute for the same reasons it is so widely successful. The ease at which storytelling can be adapted and used to support the powerless and the oppressed is the same ease that allows sinners and con artists to bends it to their will.

Review of Learning Outside the Lines

2010-01-09T11:45:00.000-05:00

Jonathan Mooney and David Cole have written the student support book I wished I read when I started high school and college and was classified as having a learning disability

This booked is packed full of tricks and twists to get the troubled student to survive the system and all it’s annoying realities. From how to replace lost notes to how to take notes this book is an A to Z survival guide written by two students who had bee there and done that. Each author brings a unique perspective to the table with Mr. Mooney talking about Dyslexia and Mr. Cole speaking about ADHD.

As the authors point out students who are categorized with a learning disability are perfectly positioned to take advantage of the college system and get a full college education with out having to sit through another lecture or test. Many students are unaware of how flexible a liberal arts education can be and in this book we see all the levers and insider tricks laid bare.

Not being interested in attending any more schooling with my MS in Education I was not as interested in backbends and other nifty moves covered in the 2^nd half of the book. I as a dyslexic survivor of out modern schools system I appreciate the skill set that the authors offer – the one weakness of the book is that the authors don’t spend enough time explaining a students rights and legal recourse under the American with Disabilities Act.

Many students in technical schools and state colleges may find that some of these tricks described in the book are not available to them with out the liberal education focus… but even these students would benefit from a reading of “Learning Outside the Lines”

The most moving section of the book for me by far was Jonathan Mooney’s autobiography chapter. I hope that he has published this elsewhere because the story of his early educational experience should be widely distributed. I cried like a little baby when I read his description of hiding in the bathroom to avoid reading a loud to the class and how he took days off to avoid tests. Memories I am sure I have buried and long forgotten. I howled with anger to hear his description of his teachers’ hard line attitude that all the children needed to have the same standards.

These things happened to Jonathan and David in the 80’s when the American with Disabilities Act was in full force. I went through grade school on the liberal west side of Manhattan with enlightened people who did the same behaviors ten years before. This book makes me wonder how many teachers continue to belief that all children need to learn the same way. Growing up in NYC I was not turned off by the language, but I have read that some people are. My experience working with troubled teenagers is that they know all that language intimately and the idea that they need to be protected form it is insulting to them.

Thank-you Mr. Cole and Mr. Mooney for writing this book. Required reading for any college bound student who suspects he or she may qualify as a learning disabled student.

10 Best Dyslexia Resources Online in 2010.

2010-01-02T12:01:00.005-05:00

This list is up for revision - so if you have better resources to offer let me know. If on the other hand you want me to sell something for you - please give me money or don't bother me. I personally find much of what is written about dyslexia is either disingenuous or downright ignorant. The writing is not meant to empower the students, teacher or parents - merely to placate parents and help maintain an uneasy unholy alliance between schools and government in which a lot of people are gainfully employed and a lot of children willfully ignored.

I started out this list as a simple to do and find myself, here days later, a little pissed off at the state of blogosphere today. Are we as dyslexics so castrated as to have no voice? Are we with these few exceptions just lying down and taking it? What the hell? I am lucky to have reached these ten - I started out looking for blogs but I had to settle with resources because I couldn't find ten blogs that met my standards for inclusion.

1) Jonathan Mooney's Website

http://www.jonathanmooney.com/

Normally I wouldn't even consider a small site like this for the list, let alone for recommending as resource for parents, let alone top of the list, but the man is a genius. His book made me cry and I love him for that. The review will be coming our next week so come back and check it out if you get the chance. The to go resource for living with dyslexia in the system.

2) The Davis Method

http://www.dyslexia.com/

Look I don't know if it works. I don't care if it works - what I care about it is that they are trying something and they are by many accounts succeeding - without drugs or expensive therapies - maybe soon I will have a long conversation with a practitioner of the Davis method. They don't feel like some other slick outfits that charge thousands of dollars for snake oil, but some nice people trying there best with a difficult deal. In recognition for their efforts I place them in 2nd.

3) The Dyslexic Storytellers Blog

http://dyslexicstoryteller.blogspot.com/

Well clearly this blog is the best on the subject. LOL

I still dream of having other dyslexic people join me in writing posts of their experience in modern educational settings or in succeeding with overcoming there dyslexia. I invite you to help me spread the word. Here are the rules to submitting a post

a) No corrections by anyone else.

b) No selling or self-promotion of books, etc..

c) All real experience of dyslexic people is welcome here

4) In the Mind's Eye, Dyslexic Renaissance

http://inthemindseyedyslexicrenaissance.blogspot.com/

Like many blog actually written by a dyslexic person this blog does not post that often. But the writer is really striking at the underpinnings of the intellectual crusade that terrorizes dyslexic people all over the englishdom. I found his posts witty and a cleaver counter point to the old and some what out dated thought patterns else where in the blogosphere. A bright light in another wise dark room.

5) Eide Neurolearning Blog

http://eideneurolearningblog.blogspot.com/

Examining the brain and it's relationship dyslexia and other LDS issues. I enjoy every time I have found myself reading it.

6) Myomancy ADHD, Dyslexia and Autism

http://www.Myomancy.com/

Examining the world of LDS this blog does not publish enough.

7) The Dyslexia in Victoria Blog

http://dyslexiavictoria.wordpress.com/

This blog is a fresh if traditional perspective on dyslexia and learning in Canada.

8) Travel and Photography from the Dyslexic Point of View

http://jaypiddy.com/

I enjoy reading this blog - always surprising and inventive. Not always on topic but follows the rule that we love here - spelling after content - let not the lack of ability to spell stop us from delivering the message.

9) The Dyslexic Blog

http://dyslexiaparents.blogspot.com/

Pretty mainstream in its perspective. But has some fresher thoughts and perspectives of all the different parent resources on dyslexia perspective online.

10) Your suggestion...

There are fifteen wonderful website that are conspicually absent from this list. They are absent because they represent an orthodox perspective that is based on old world beliefs. Before you recommend one of them ask yourself; Does this website validate the idea of school over education?

Does this website empower dyslexic children?

Does this website recognize the ability of children to co-create?

Finally does this website have an inherit self interest in children or dyslexia being a problem that should fixed or solved?

#2 - Set the regulations for the classroom and be sure that the students follow them.

2009-12-26T09:26:00.004-05:00

This is post 2 of series on How not to Teach.

In many modern classrooms it is very easy to forget why the class has come together. The students are there to learn and the teacher is there to help them learn. When the teacher becomes obsessed with the process of keeping order in the classroom, the students soon forget why they are in school at all. The classroom becomes a prison. In a classroom in which development of independent students is paramount, power is infinite because the emphasis is on empowerment of the student to learn. It is true that order must be kept in the classroom, but not at the sacrifice of student confidence and faith in themselves.. Empowerment is taught through example, opportunity and practice.

It is the job of teachers to set up an environment where the students feel a part of a community of learners. Empowerment, group process and a sense of community must be learned and earned over a period of time by the entire class, including the teacher. Teachers who see themselves embarking on a venture, in which cooperation is the key, will find that they are participating in a growing, changing, classroom community. The key word here is community, in a community every one participates in the process of day to day living. No amount of legislation, dictation or regulation will create a community of learners. Only a good example and a humble teacher can do that.

This idea of sacrificing individual liberty and learning for the order of the classroom, and by extension the society, comes out of the middle ages when an education was received in monastery from monks. The monks were into practicing austerity, sacrifice and simplicity. They also recognized that religions tend to fragment with out a heavy dose of guilt and pain to keep everyone in the same line. They organized there class rooms like churches with pews and pulpit. These are all concepts that we don’t really need in the 21st century, but these puritan values remain present still in most classrooms.

This is #2 of 12 Ways to Turn a Teacher into a Prison Guard.

#1 - Demonstrate your expertise in the classroom from day one and do not allow students to challenge you.

2009-12-20T09:10:00.009-05:00

Teachers who are just beginning in the field most commonly follow this rule. Whenever the students become emotionally involved in what is going on in the classroom, the teacher will step in to calm things down and prevent the class from escaping the teaches control and getting out of hand. In this way, the teacher stops the learning process, taking control every time the class attempts to go beyond the guidance of the teacher. No private space or independent development is allowed inside the expert’s schedule and classroom.

No learning is allowed to take place because any true knowledge gained would challenge the teacher’s ability to speak with authority. The teacher speaks down to the student and is uninterested in what the student offers in the relationship between student and teacher. The teacher, who is busy showing their expertise off to the students, may or may not notice an attempt by the class to be independent, let alone take the opportunity to facilitate it. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. It's important to see how being the all knowing teacher can be a very satisfying, if ineffective role, to play in the classroom.

This is 1 of 12 ways to turn a teacher into a prison guard.

Intro to 12 ways to turn a Teacher into a Prison Guard.

2009-12-12T23:30:00.002-05:00

This series will attempt to examine the 12 basic traditional rules of teaching that block a student’s learning process. Currently these rules could easily describe the interaction of many classrooms in the U.S. and abroad. Luckily, many teachers intuitively knew that the twelve rules did not facilitate the learning process. Growing numbers of people understand that teaching is a process of facilitating empowerment of the student's individual learning process.

The Factory Model remains today the ideal classroom of our culture, despite over a hundred years of reform and progressive attempts to change the system. The American vision of what a teacher does, is a day filled with drills, spelling tests, read along, sitting in straight rows, and homework. This system of dealing with kids has evolved from a medieval model into the factory model classroom of the 19th century, a model that was developed and implemented with the management tools and philosophies of that century. System of education designed to teach Americans a common culture and political apathy. The current apathy and political listlessness isn’t responsible for a failure of the educational system; the political apathy of the American population is a direct result of that education system

Students and parents need to recognize themselves as consumers of a system of education. Once a student see they have choices in the school setting with the help of their parent, they begin to take the political power to improve their education. The public school system is forced to recognize parents who expect their inherent power to change the basic philosophy behind education. Parents and children can move beyond the consumer choice and create their our own models and ideals for what education means

A revolution in education needs to happen in the United States today. It is change of philosophy, not method that will rescue American education. The politics of education is currently defined by a struggle over who will control our schools. The politics of education can be about cooperating to unleash our youth’s ability to learn and change the world.

Just another update.

2009-12-12T00:03:00.004-05:00

Tomorrow I will begin publishing my opus from college on the How to Not Teach or 12 ways to turn a teacher into a prison guard. This article was written by me during my last semester of college in 1993 I will be updating it for clarity. These post are actually far more radicle then anything else I have published here before - I wrote this post while researching whole language reading theory and practice and other radicle teaching methods.

I wrote this piece while I was doing a direct for college credit teaching sessions. That's when I met with a teacher for an hour a week, did additional independent work and got a full college credit for a class. If I had only known about this when I started college I would have done all or most of my class work this way.

On another note my process on this blog had changed -
1) am editing my work with a much lighter heart.
2) Wow I am editing my writing at all. Amazing
3) I have become very comfortable with sharing non main stream ideas about education.
4) Those ideas have defiantly developed.

I hope you enjoy this series...

Feeling an impact

2009-12-04T21:05:00.000-05:00

I have been writing the dyslexic storytellers blog for the past two years for mostly my own sense of self recognition and self respect - perhaps a little bit of pure need for release of frustrations relating to dyslexia. During that time I have had a view calls from people who are parents of dyslexic children and that has been exciting. Mostly because I care so much and secondly the assumption that the average American starts off with about the meaning of the words dyslexia, learning disabilities and schooling boggle my mind.

Recently I received two calls that have forced me to stop and examine my goals for this blog. One is an invitation to attend the Diamonds in the Rough conference in Washington D.C. to be interviewed on some of the topics I have written about here on the blog. The 2nd call is from the editor of one of the most commonly used special ed text books in university settings who shall remain nameless for the moment. She had some questions - The point is this blog is having a bigger impact then I realized and so I am going to think about how I can refocus and redouble my work for the immediate future - I want to move beyond questioning the approach to dyslexia in modern society - I want to find a new approach - I want to move away from issues of integration of dyslexic students and examine how dyslexic students can live in modern society as themselves.

What does it mean to be dyslexic and not be limited by it?
What does it mean to grow up never feeling stupid or side lined?
How have people who are dyslexic found happiness in this world?

In faith that there are answers...

Eric Wolf

Now Back to Storytelling for children and adults...

2009-11-26T14:41:00.001-05:00

Years ago I started my fairy tale line Fairytales Forever as Fairy tales for Single Parents. These stories a rose out of my work with inner city children in New York City. Many of whom are growing up in single parent household. This seven CD set touches on issues of interest to modern children through recasting the fairytales of old. I am planning on finishing this set next spring. You can read more about the Fairy Tales forever series at http://www.fairytalesforever.com/

Sean Buvala is working the other end of this market brilliantly with his new e-book Daddy Teller. Which you can read all about at http://daddyteller.com/. What I really like about Sean's work - with out having read it - is that he is empowering fathers everywhere to use storytelling role model there children. How else could you get the most bang for your very limited time with your children?

You could take my free e-course on Zen and the Art of storytelling in Seven Simple Steps, but that would still leave gaping holes in your knowledge of how to use storytelling with children as a dad. (or a mom) The fact is that knowing how to perform and knowing how to be present with your children are vastly different skill sets.

12 workshops I wish were at the International Dyslexia Association Conference this year...

2009-11-18T19:23:00.008-05:00

Here are the 12 workshops that would serve the attendees - if they happened upon them at this weeks IDA conference.

Statistical relationships in early age bedside home reading and dyslexic student reading later in life.
How to guide to storytelling in the home. Learning reading through desire.
An interview with a dyslexic lawyer, doctor, teacher, fisherman and fireman.
An open discussion with 3 parents who raised dyslexic children.
The relationship between diet and the brain of your child.
How to get students to care about reading when school has kicked the shit out of them.
Un-schooling the school were no one has a label.
My Waldorf schooled dyslexic child - the good, the bad and the lovely.
An examination of self interest - money and the role it plays in school settings.
Chinese lessons on dyslexia; using the herbs of the east.
When Dog let's you down. Discussions on God and dyslexia.
I feel... How to listen to your teenage Dyslexic.

I would love to find one of these workshops at the conference.

If you saw one this past week please let me know right a way. ;-)

Wish I was at the International Dyslexia Association Conference this week... not really.

2009-11-11T19:23:00.005-05:00

The International Dyslexia Association(IDA) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, scientific, and educational organization dedicated to the study and treatment of the learning disability, dyslexia as well as related language-based learning differences. Click the link to go to there website.

If your a long time reader you will see right away that my approach and the associations to dyslexia is in direct conflict. Reading through the conference brochure I am struck by how many of the workshops are about getting dyslexic children to mainstream as quickly as possible. These are children with a completely disconnected learning style form the the style of teaching that is used in modern schools.

Basically it's the word "treatment" that bothers me. I am not sick - I do not need a doctor or therapist because of my dyslexia. Though you may argue with me successfully that after attending public and private school as dyslexic person I may be in need of a therapist to rebuild my self confidence. There is nothing wrong with me - I just think different then 80% of every one else. I am not broken, but me and my kind have existed for a long time and will exist for years to come.

Maybe dyslexic children are the canaries in the coal mine- demonstrating to us and to our whole society that the modern model of schooling is broken and in need of reform.
For my next post I will propose 12 workshops I wish were at the International Dyslexia Association Confer

Dyslexia is more then not spelling.

2009-11-02T10:46:00.006-05:00

Sometimes it is difficult for people to understand that dyslexia is more then just having difficulty with reading, grammar and spelling. If only that were the case, dyslexia is a struggle with literate world that insists on treating everyone like they can fill out forms by hand. For many people, dyslexia also effects their audio recognition and more importantly precognition of events. In other words time is particularly difficult concept for many people who are dyslexic.

Both the movement of time and planning the use of time can be very difficult for dyslexic children and adults. As a professional storyteller I have struggled for years with stage timing and how to be aware of the time on stage without breaking contact with the audience.

Another reality that many dyslexic children and adults face is shame and other emotional baggage related to their struggle to function in a literate society. A society that does not seem to recognize best effort or tried really hard, but only recognizes spelled everything correctly.

"Scary Stories are good for your children," says host of the Art of Storytelling Show.

2009-10-25T23:09:00.000-04:00

Eric James Wolf, professional storyteller and host of the Art of Storytelling Show, is available for print, radio and television interviews to speak on how scary stories can be used to teach important life skills to children.

Scary stories and ghost stories have been used for thousand of years to gather interest in young people towards learning a new subject. Eric Wolf says “From ghost stories to strangers giving your child candy; scary stories have been used to help young people identify danger in the world.” Useful scary stories and ghost stories are based on truth, teach valuable skills and leave the audience feeling empowered against the villain or evil of the story.

Eric Wolf host and producer of the Art of Storytelling Show with over 100,000 downloads to date is the longest running, most successful show ever produced dedicated solely to perfecting the art of storytelling.

For more information: http://www.artofstorytellingshow.com/category/scary-storytelling/

Sunday, October 25, 2009
For Immediate Release
Contact: Eric James Wolf
Phone: (937) 767-8696

The Definition of Success for Dyslexic students.

2009-10-25T06:11:00.003-04:00

Recently I was asked to present at a conference on my success as a dyslexic person. I don't feel particularly succesful. I have the same amount of frineds as everybody I know, maybe less. I am married and I am a sucesful step parent. I have a business that is not really the runaway success I want it to be (yet). But when I turn off my fairly well developed mind of the critic. (and where did I develop this idea of the critic you may ask? - don't get me started.)

I find that I am very succesful. I live in my dream house to my dream woman. I have my dream job and I work really hard at it with some very specatcular results. If not the spectacular fiscal success - I have developed some substainsial results - and I am looking forward to even more in the coming months.

In every measure of the word success - I can say that I am successful. I set goals and I accomplish them - I have setbacks and move past them. I am a functioanl dyslexic person. Except that is not really the term I would use - I am really a functional whole person. I am something that I was never taught in school. Somehting that is not in the curiculm. A sum of the whole l that is harder to find then then the numbers.

I am a human being. Dyslexia is just a term to help the world understand and forgive my limitations of my humanity.

No Computer Allowed....

2009-10-17T08:12:00.000-04:00

I had to go to court to support a friend and I discovered a sign that blew me away - no computers or electronic devices allowed. Can you believe it? In defense of the need for privacy the court has gone to far I think. How are people with out decent handwriting to function? What if I had wanted to take notes? Or if I had needed to demonstrate to the court some evidence of some sort or other that is on my computer.

I probably would have needed to bear the $$$ of printing - trust it to government to be the last refuge of the luddite. All hands raised for the courts. Truth, justice and paper only please. From an evidence stand point I think the computer and electronic documentation too easily changed. Not that paper is any more solid really.

The assumption is that all attendees can write and then read a sentence in notes. But times are changing and many people keep notes on there laptop or even blueberry - expect of course in the Court system.

Ten Rules for Faking it...

2009-10-09T09:46:00.007-04:00

Again my readers inspire me... I have not set foot inside a english classroom in years or discussed current remedial reading teaching techniques since 2000, But I can rest assured that this basic tenet of teaching has not changed in the last ten years.

Don't teach the student how to cheat, fake it or get by. Instead make them slog through the material, because it's honest and necessary

What other handicapped group is forced to submit too such a rule? Are blind people forced to live with out canes because it makes them more honest. Children with glasses forced to live without them to be more real?

I wonder how many of teachers teach kids how to fake it? I mean at what point do we look a child in the eye and say; "Well you are 3 years behind the learning curve here are ten survival strategies that might be useful for you to know."

Maybe this did happen to me - I just don't remember it. But I don't think so. This is a big problem in modern education - people who have consistently failed to learn to read should be taught basic survival strategies.

Lets go through them here...

1) Lie - Well this was the hardest one for me and probably the biggest lesson. The powerless always have the right to lie to the powerful and who is less powerful then a student who can't read in a modern classroom.

2) Cheat - I am still not a fan of cheating cause I grew up a good kid. But I do believe in getting help from my friends on homework - I believe in many places that is called cheating. I just call it group support. Hint - you have to use your own handwriting if you can.

3) If all else fails just don't respond. A raised eyebrow may just prompt the answer to appear. Silence is the best defense of the cornered.

4) Sit strategically - The front row is great for hearing the teacher. But if the teacher likes to pick people out during class. Sit in the back behind the biggest kid you can find.

5) Get your homework done early - But think about not completing certain tasks tactically. Remember certain tasks take a huge amount of energy others much less. Weigh your options and choose not to take some. A captain of sinking ship can't save everything.

6) Books on tape are at the library and librarians are willing to find them for you - need I say more?

7) Pick a day of the week and never do any reading and writing on that day - ever.

8) Don't Cheat on Tests - This is fairly important rule - I have never met a test cheater who didn't get caught - of course I also did fairly well on non essay tests without cheating.

9) The goal is too pass - getting an A is great - but man a C- is just as satisfying when your working your ass off

10) Dear Reader - What rule do you think should be inserted here?

a) Send out an SOS and Ask for Help - admit to the adults who are kind and trustworthy that you need their assistance.

b) Laugh more - need I say more?

c) Stop the Blame Game - Blind people don's feel guilty for not being able to see - they might get frustrated sometimes - but they don't blame themselves for not being able to see...

Storytelling

Functional Illiteracy

2009-10-06T15:44:00.001-04:00

While everybody learning to read is a worthwhile goal. Yea Reading! I question the timing of the goal in educational settings and I question the value of forced literacy given the digital age we live in. But I wanted to examine the intense pressure we place on individuals who for whatever reason can't read and the underlying realties faced by people who are illiterate in a society that is based on the power of the written word.

I mention this because my hand writing is pretty much illegable - and that's if I am focused and really working hard. Forget reading a note from me if I am busy or in a hurry. Reading for me is a well won prize - but not when I am doing something else like say driving. Many a time have I been lost from not being able to read the road signs because the driving needed to be focused on. I prefer to have a navigator and I avoid a cell phones in the car like the plague... I have always been convinced that they are too much of a distraction.

Literacy for me is based on two things desire and access to successful readers. Numerous studies have demonstrated that successful young readers are more likely to have parents who read books in the house. Children copy what they are exposed too and we know that. We recognize that literacy in the United Sates is no longer in question. The question is how will be behave towards those who can not or will not be taught to read or write.

I am a big fan of literacy campaigns and giving books away as much as the next fellow... But can we get over any shame or embarrassment at being unable to read or write. Maybe we could just assume that if some one can't write - it's not from a lack of trying. That if some one can't read - it's not for want of desire. Let us treat those left behind in the literacy wars as battlefield casualties. Exempt form the needs of service they are the handicapped few who can with distinction serve our country or our people in other ways without the need to ever pickup a book, fill out a form or test.

How do I know if I am dyslexic?

2009-09-24T12:06:00.003-04:00

How indeed... Dyslexia as a word is only as useful as you relate to Institue teaching and institutional learning. The term forces institutions to bend their rules on apply tests to students so that a dyslexic person can succeed. Get more time on tests, access to a typewriter, a spell checker during written tests or oral examinations. Creating a level playing field for the dyslexic student.

A dyslexic person who is working in a private setting can normally pass successfully without revealing themselves. Though on occasion they may be embarrassed – usually other people will not connect this with dyslexia.

I have even heard of people who could not read passing in the public for years. I would ask you if you are asking this question - How do I know if I am dyslexic?

Does it matter?

I mean really if you are not currently in school then it probably does not matter. If on the other hand you are in school, current law is pretty clear. Every student in the United States and United Kingdom has the right to be tested for learning disabilities and their teaching plan changed to fit their basic needs so they can succeeded.

So if you are in school you should already know the answer - if not - then does it really matter?

Good Day Bad Day

2009-09-20T16:41:00.001-04:00

One of the most difficult things to explain to people who are not dyslexic is that learning disabilities are not constant. LDS is not like lighting a room where you can just say that the effect is set or controllable.

People ask me - can you spell, or what is your reading like? Most days it’s just like yours is my answer. After eight years of basic English and with the help of constantly writing new posts for this blog I have improved my style and writing comfort in the last year. Still I have bad days and good days.

Spelling is relative – grammar extra credit. Getting back to the point here – so if dyslexia is biological state and changes from one day to the next in relative effects. What happens when a dyslexic student goes in for a test o a bad day? If the student has the ability to change the test date – nothing will happen. If the school system is not flexible then the student suffers through a hard day.

The Importance of Family.

2009-09-02T10:22:00.004-04:00

Just so you know this blog has certain rules that explain why I don't have any one proof these blog posts... Dyslexia

When I was still in school back in the early 80’s the psychological pressures on me were immense. I was struggling just to get up in the morning and as a young 13 year old I was also trying my best to forge a new identity separate from my parents. I honestly did not know much and I thought I knew all I ever needed to know about the world. I thought that this is the way of the world.

The emotional bedrock of my teenage years was that I could take for granted that my parents loved and accepted me. I can remember no occasion where they dressed me down or chewed me out because of my bad grades or failure to be academically successful. Both of my parents struggled with feelings of guilt, but they both refused to pass off or express these feelings at me. My parents understood that the last thing a dyslexic child needs is to be yelled at because of bad grades.

I can not stress enough the importance of supportive home life. I am talking about regular meals and at least one parent present at all times in the house. I am not talking about faking a marriage so that both parents can live in the same house. I am talking about the parent who has the child checking in everyday with homework and other school work. Most importantly knowing where the child is at all times. This creates a sense of safety for the child that can not be over estimated. Dyslexic children struggle with issues of safety. School is not safe so it becomes very important that home be safe. By safe I mean predictable, scheduled and comfortable.

Good Luck. As a parent I can only tell you that parental guilt is not really helpful unless it inspires action so cut it out ok?

Left or Right of Dyslexia

2009-08-18T08:11:00.002-04:00

Make sure you take the time to read the rest of my posts on my dyslexic blog.

Yesterday I got lost for five minutes. My directions said turn left at the second light and I got to the first traffic light (it was red) and during that two minutes of sitting there and thinking about storytelling and the world; I discovered that I could not remember witch light I was at – the first one or the second one. So I turned left and after a few minutes realized something was up and drove into a gas station to get directions.

This experience is a classic dyslexic moment. Two lefts – take the 2nd left no problem with left was that? 2nd left? Right? HA. In this case the answer was not that important my 20-year-old daughter had to wait for a few more minutes at the airport. But I can think of a lot of situations where it does matter a great deal to not get confused as to the correct choice. So I slide away from jobs or responsibilities that place too much weight on one decision. EMT or Surgeon come to mind for me.

There are many dyslexic people who hold positions like these and they have developed coping mechanisms that they can trust. Part of what happens is the newness of the choice creates the opportunity for confusion. I would not be confused at the traffic lights in my town of Yellow Springs Ohio. There are five total. This particular set of directions was important and time was a factor. Pressure is the other side of this equation. A little bit of pressure increases the chance a dyslexic person will make a language related mistake not less.

Maybe I should add cross-country taxi driver to my list – but GPS systems make a great compensation method if I can just get over my pride and joy of figuring it out for myself.

To read more about my work as a storyteller please check out my main website click here storytelling.

Labels as Good - Labels as Bad

2009-08-05T23:43:00.007-04:00

Eric Wolf writes on Dyslexic on his Blog

On the last blog post a reader of this blog commented - witch is always nice - hint, hint, wink, wink and nudge, nudge. She wrote a nice note suggesting that it was a mistake to embrace the label of dyslexia that we are not served by embracing labels because we are not our labels we are ourselves. I could not agree more... in fact to me the road too freedom for dyslexic children is in the opposite direction from more time spent learning to read, write or do any schooling at all - but towards a lifestyle where they are able to master their confidence, there faith in themselves and grow up with out ever having to be told day after day that they need to learn harder or faster

While I agree with the thrust of my readers comment - I wonder if we make an error in abandoning the label so quickly. I have spent much of my life running from the label and must examine the consequence of all those actions. Judged with out the label I am ineffective, sloppy and a lazy. Judged with the label I am working hard, highly intelligent and driven. In fact only when I embraced the label did I really find some success in any literate or academic endeavors

If I were blind you would not expect me to abandon my label and take driving lessons. If I had no legs you would not want me ot give up my label and crawl up the stairs. Labels for handicapped people are very helpful they allow others to see what limits exist for us and under what circumstances we are likely to succeed or doomed to failure. Of course we are not our labels - but we have to recognize that the label protects handicapped people from being placed in a situation that is precarious to us.

I clearly can write and read. Many dyslexic people cannot. I clearly can spell to a degree that is rare among dyslexic's. In an academic environment when identify as dyslexic and I call upon the help offered by the handicapped accessibility law. I am allowed certain supports. I can be very successful, but only when I embrace my label. To do other wise in that situation is fool hardy and self-destructive.

Nuts in Bolts of being Dyslexic

2009-07-30T12:26:00.008-04:00

Recently I had a classic dyslexic experience.
For the past five months my phone service has been telling that it has messages.

As a dyslexic person I have tendency to switch the audio recognition of sounds, colors or other stimulus. Red means green, black is white, t is h or yes means no. While the more obvious red and green analogy is rare for me these days. I have been known on a once every five years occasion to go through a red light. (That could be an interesting PHD for some one; Dyslexia and traffic accidents – anyone?)

Usually for me dyslexia means that I have to dumb down what I say to write – or - I have to use words of simpler variety in order to communicate effectively.

When I read - My optimum communication style is the first person spoken narrative.
When I speak it - Communication is easy for me by word of mouth using stories.
When I write it - Storytelling works the best.

That little exercise made my head hurt - Back to the phone service.

The phone company sent me a signal (when I pick up my phone the dial tone - stutters or blinks.)
I, as dyslexic person, reversed the meaning of the stimulus. For the past 5 months I have been thinking that no one - has left me a message. Think about that - not a week not a month for the last five months I was convinced that none of my calls were returned.

I mean really; how is that possible? You could think - well Eric is an idiot. I had tests - and I'm not really. So there is another explanation. Well - many dyslexic people have memory issues. They fail to connect past language related events with present ones with current ones. Dyslexic children struggle with issues of time and time management. The long and the short of it is – I didn’t notice that more then a week had gone by with out getting a message.

Not to forget that dyslexic people have lower self esteem then other populations. So it is onlly natural for a dyslexic person to think that on one called them. ☹ Did I mention the 60 messages waiting for me in my voice mail?

The Gift of Story

2009-07-17T12:16:00.008-04:00

While not writing for this Dyslexic Blog I have a career as a storyteller I am currently attending the Talk Story Conference in Waikiki Hawaii and yesterday I went out and volunteered for my friend Jeff Gere who set up the conference and works for the Honolulu parks and recreation department. A bunch of us storyteller went off and told stories at various camps and parks programs just for fun. I forget how much I enjoy just telling stories to children – that as an artist I get so wrapped up in the passionate desire that storytelling and the arts in general get accepted – no – get embraced that I forget the simple joy that is one person telling to an audience of children who are so thrilled to listen. When the audience is so jazzed to see you - you get jazzed to be with them and suddenly it's like your flying. Not work - just the joy of storytelling.

The Value of Childhood

2009-07-08T09:25:00.004-04:00

Recently a fellow storyteller Bill Harley wrote a blog post on the reality of childhood and how over protective human society has become. Read his post on “Is childhood more dangerous now?”

I would suggest that as the average age of our society has risen and as our society has become less spiritual, less community oriented and more individual, cynical and isolated. We have become more afraid of death. Death is no longer seen as natural – but instead is the elephant in the room. Any accident any encounter with the unknown becomes an opportunity for death to stalk us or our family. All great lies have a gleam of truth and death really is stalking all of us. The good news that life just wouldn’t be the same with out it. Death gives sweetness to life it forces us to face our fears it forces us to live. We know that at some time in the future we will die and we better get our act together and do the best we can in this life because someday with or with out warning the clock will stop.

But we have denied death to our children. Not in the sense that we have prevented it – but in the sense that we have separated it from out children’s lives. We have bubble wrapped death in pink ribbons and video games where death means you get another life just like the one you had – isn’t that nice?

But the cool thing about the post that Bill wrote is that he is talking about a problem that has been going on for a long time – the invasion and the capitalization of children’s lives to they point were they have no time to 1) be themselves 2) be around children only spaces and 3) make there own mistakes.

But there is a whole different level to this conversation. Today much of the natural world in America as it was experienced in the 30’s 40’s and 50’s has been paved over to develop suburban housing. We have built a world were many children just don’t have the space to explore – they don’t have the excess to the opportunity.

We have built a world with out wood lots, streams or fields. This lack of access prevents the question did you play in the woods today? from even arising.

I (my family) live in the vale, a 13 family land trusted community on 37 acres of woods and fields. We have given up real-estate speculation and gained the knowledge that our children spent time growing up building dams unsupervised in the local stream or rope swinging off a 20 foot drop or sneaking up on skunks. Or a hundred other activates that they survived unscathed form and I never heard about. These experiences gave them fortitude and a strength of character that can’t be duplicated by camp or school.

Why Doubt sucks.

2009-06-17T09:51:00.004-04:00

or The physiological and psychological realities of being Dyslexic.

Thanks for reading this blog for more blog posts check out the rest of my work at http://dyslexicstoryteller.blogspot.com/

I am sitting in a classroom in 3rd grade. My heart rate is high I am in fight or flight mode. I can feel my pulse beating behind my ears. The room seems hot – I can’t help but look around the room for a place to hide. Maybe if I slouched down in my chair I could avoid being picked out by the teacher. I can not read. I am the only non-reader in my class and I know it. I am a shamed. I wait all day for recess and pray it does not rain.

I am sitting in beginning Spanish in 7^th grade. I have no idea what is going on in the classroom. I work hard at night to catch up, but I slip further and further behind. My body does not know that I am sitting in a classroom in the best junior-high in Manhattan. Instead my body believes that it is walking across the African safari with a lion behind every bush. I am preparing to fight or run for my life.

The teacher addresses me in Spanish and I freeze. A useful response to a lion or a leopard, but not to a Spanish teacher.

I am sitting in basic biology in college. I keep notes religiously. I can’t read half of them or figure out what they mean. When I use the text book I find the new words overwhelming. I test on reading compression tests better then my peers, but here where the words are too many, too new and complex I find it difficult to associate the words on the page with the words that are spoken in the lectures. I enjoy the lectures and discussions, but during labs and exams years of training kick in an I turn into a adrenaline junkie who looks like bumbling fool.

Dyslexic individuals have millions of years of biology working against them as they attempt to work there way through the literate world. As I have written before in this blog the biggest block to the success of a dyslexic person is the realization that success starts outside of the fields that dyslexic students are weakest in. As human being’s we need to build on previous success and previous triumphs in order to build into our weakness. The disadvantage that dyslexic people start with such a handicap they need to create other areas of success to hold them over whether is theater, sports, math, science, fantasy, or relationships. Before suffering the trials and tribulations of dyslexia it is important that students have some touch stone of success.

Thanks for reading this blog for more blog posts check out the rest of my work at http://dyslexicstoryteller.blogspot.com/

Laughter is the best medicine...

2009-05-26T12:28:00.002-04:00

The Onion who never covers anything seriously has covered teaching disabilities ;-)

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/report_increasing_number_of?utm_source=a-section

The Definition of Education

2009-05-23T22:36:00.004-04:00

Eric Wolf is a storyteller whose work can be viewed on ericwolf.org.

Words are tempting to use and take for granted. To explore the root of words is too explore their common usage and their hidden meaning. In the industrial revolution the schools were used to bring a rural and disparate population into the modern industrial world.

Dyslexic individuals have through there inability to function successfully in school settings demonstrated the hidden agenda of schools. Modern schools are creating a uniform and generic cultural norm that is useful to a government that seems more interested in creating a population that is willing to follow orders then create solutions. Dyslexic students are revolutionaries not because they want to be – but because they must be to survive.

I have written here before on the importance of growing children who maintain there ability to be creative in the 21^st century where creativity is the coin of the realm. But first let us exam in what the current idea of education is based on. Here is the current uusage fo the word education on…

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/education

Usage: Education, properly a drawing forth, implies not so much the communication of knowledge as the discipline of the intellect, the establishment of the principles, and the regulation of the heart. Instruction is that part of education which furnishes the mind with knowledge. Teaching is the same, being simply more familiar. It is also applied to practice; as, teaching to speak a language; teaching a dog to do tricks. Training is a department of education in which the chief element is exercise or practice for the purpose of imparting facility in any physical or mental operation. Breeding commonly relates to the manners and outward conduct.

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If education is about tempering the heart and ruling the emotions of the individual… if education is about getting the mind in top shape at the expense of every other aspect of the soul’s journey through life, from the emotional maturity of the students, to the flexibility of the body then perhaps it is time we admitted that the current model – the current ideal of education is completely off the track for what we want for our children.

How do we build a world where education is no longer seen as what is done to you, but instead education is what a student does to themselves because there desire and hunger for knowledge is so great. If point of Education is temper the passions of the heart and the creativity of the soul. Then perhaps it is time time less children were educated - the world may indeed improve.

What we owe to the Wheelchair.

2009-05-05T08:34:00.005-04:00

Eric Wolf is a Storyteller and you can read more about his work at http://www.ericwolf.org

It is tempting to think that Dyslexic students are not handicapped. After all they don’t look any different then other students in the public schools. So it is natural to just think of them as kids who need more time to do their homework. That is if we forget the lesson of the wheelchair.

A wheelchair is obvious and the steps in front of the building are just as obvious. If there is no elevator or ramps to gain access to a building - then by definition the building is not accessible to the handicapped. There are still a disturbing number of building that are not accessible to a wheelchair bound person in America today and this lack of access is physically defined and powerfully self-evident.

Dyslexic students also need help getting past own set of “steps”. They need help making school accessible if they are to participate. This is true whether or not you can see the steps that block them from successfully accessing the public school system.

For some students that may mean having a teacher’s assistant in the classroom to help them with their reading assignment. For other students that may mean allowing the dyslexic student more time to read or perhaps giving them a shorter spelling list for spelling tests. For other students them may mean not posting the results of test in a public setting or having grades define the classroom experience of the student.

Of course it is critical that dyslexic students and all learning disabled students be treated as mainstream students and allowed access to regular recess and nonacademic activities. How many parents have been told – you son or daughter is dyslexic so we held hum back form recess to give them more reading lessons? Would we hold back a semi-blind child to study reading as well during recess? How about short child to grow faster?

The lesson of the Wheelchair is that handicapped access is structurally a part of modern society and that when access is not provided the barrier of the student to participate successfully in the activity is defined before the event starts. Thus the success or failure of dyslexic student in a school setting has more to do with the school then the student.

7) Our weakness becomes our strongest asset.

2009-04-27T08:35:00.003-04:00

(This is the 7th post in a series on 7 principles that every parent should know about their dyslexic child. To see them all click here – 7 tips for dyslexic parents.)

The human mind has an amazing ability to compensate for any inability to cope with the processing of information. Can’t see colors and need to cross the street? - learn to watch for the actions of other people. Can’t smell very well? – realize that a wet nose smells better then a dry one. Blind and want your clothes to match? – learn to store them in sets in your closet.

Whatever the physical limitation, the human mind is very capable of adapting to the situation. Because of my dyslexia I have become a very effective storyteller and public speaker. I learned early in life to use my vocal ability to compensate for my inability to read and write. Basically when I was young I needed to think quick on my feet.

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. I have spent more time studying how people learn then I care to admit. I am well versed in many different methods of organization and I even know witch ones are better for dyslexics to use successfully.

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. I know that this can be hard to hear for parents of dyslexic children. The silver lining is not so shiny when you’re looking at a 3rd grader who can’t read in a public school setting.

There have been numerous studies demonstrating that dyslexic people make better business people and are more successful as entrepreneurs. 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 yourself get someone else to do it for you.

One of the worst lessons taught in public school settings is that work should be completed in isolation. Dyslexic children learn the opposite lesson because they most have someone else involved in there writing projects to complete them. Through a perverse trick of political intrigue and Machiavellian thought the public schools are forced to allow them and even supply this support to the students. Thank God (or Washington) for the Americans Disability Act because schools are required to give support to disabled children so that they can succeed.

Eric Wolf

Should Storytelling Conferences be Professionally Recorded?

2009-04-20T09:40:00.003-04:00

Last summer I pushed for the recording of important sessions of the National Storytelling Network’s (NSN) 2008 Conference I was recording my session on the future of storytelling online for this podcast. I figured why not do a little more? I exhausted myself and recorded the membership session and the regional NSN rep session. These recording are the property of NSN. Unluckily I work for myself like most artists and it took me two months to edit the work – then having finished it - I promptly forgot about it. Finally in November I got my copies to the NSN board. Jo Radner, the NSN board chair was very excited about getting some key sessions recorded. I got the feeling the board would have liked faster service – but you know the old saying you get what you pay for and I was free.

Others recorded the Keynotes and the Master storytellers concert. I don’t know what happened to these files. I’m sure the NSN got a copy of them somewhere. The master storytellers performance - Doc McConnell’s last performance - was almost not recorded! I saw the volunteer putting his equipment away before the performance, and when I asked why, I was told by NSN volunteers that the storytellers would never agreed to their work being recorded.

So I walked up to each storyteller and asked them for permission to record their performance “for NSN” with any other uses to be worked out later. They all said yes with a great deal of passion and Doc McConnell said we could do anything NSN wanted with his recording. I’m sure I was too pushy for bystanders

The reality is that storytelling has an advantage over other art forms, because new work is always being created. We all have material that we have not performed in years. We all have stories that were once primary to our performance, but now no longer capture our attention. What if all of that material was still available? Mostly I try to downplay storytellers’ fears by asking this one question: Reframing the whole debate… Do you want to be a part of the historical record?

That is how I would frame this debate over recording conference sessions.

Five years from now if this material is available will it still matter to you? Won’t you be on to other things? Wouldn’t it be nice to have this historical moment recorded? The question is not “Do we record our conference sessions?” The question really is ”When do we release our conference sessions? One year? Two years? Five years from now?”

The storytelling skill set is timeless – the skills and abilities we have today will not, unlike computers, internet or blogging, become old fashioned – they are ageless. I personally know that the storytelling movement has a lot to offer the world and think it’s time we stepped up to the plate to offer our skills. NSN or any other national organization could be the vehicle for that delivery. Who ever builds a content delivery system around the art of storytelling first will win that race and be the source for the international storytelling movement for the next twenty years. My website www.storytellingwithchildren.com is well on the way to being the source for all things relating to storytelling with children, but what about storytelling with seniors, in business, marketing, or any of a dozen different topics that I have not had time or resources to cover in the depth that should be covered?

NSN could be so much more then a network, using it’s conference it could bring the separate candles of the storytelling community into a bright light that would shine forth across the world.

Recess in American Education

2009-04-13T09:50:00.004-04:00

Remember recess that time in school where you got a break from your daily chore of home-work? As adults we have learned that breaks are important to productivity. Regular scheduled breaks increase creativity and the ability of students to retain information.

Many adults have fond memories of growing up in public school, but here in America our children are attending schools where increasingly recess has been marginalized or removed all together to make way for more study time. Like a run away fright train going down hill every faster the idea that children should learn reading, writing and arthritic at ever earlier ages has taken over our school systems. Forget character education, creative genius or empathy development; will they score to grade level? is the question being asked by everybody in today’s school systems.

In the name of increased test scores recess has been removed from ever lower levels of education until it can be seen as reasonable to see a day when there will be no recess in our public schools.

Recess was a time of slight supervision where children had a moment to explore their personal identity. Where they were able to keep a little piece of that uniquely American experience that was the backyard, the neighborhood or just hanging out with your friends. This time is increasingly gone. Removed by system of parenting and an educational philosophy that says that an unsupervised child is a danger to themselves and their environment.

The rub is that recess is supervised: the child’s choice of activities is not. Recess is not acceptable because it reminds us that children don’t need to be supervised to learn, children don’t need constant adult attention and children can get by for increasingly large amounts of time by themselves with out us. Recess reminds that even after a hundred years of an increasingly dogmatic and bureaucratic American educational system that the essential nature of American children is of independence. Clearly recess has got to go so that we can have more tests, learn one more spelling word and demonstrate our sacrifice of the heart at the holy alter of intellect.

Recess has to go so that the testing industry can make more money printing duplicate unnecessary tests and congressman can go home to their districts and speak about increasing standards in education.

I am passionate about this because 30 years ago I went to public school and I am dyslexic. While normal grade school children need a break, learning disabled students need it even more. I did not learn to read till 4th grade and I can tell you that with out regular recess breaks in my schedule I would not have be here today. I would have cracked into a million pieces under the strain.

Children need adults, but they also deserve a break from us just like we do from them.

Eric Wolf M.S. Ed.
http://dyslexicstoryteller.blogspot.com/

Call of a different sort of reform in America’s schools.

2009-03-29T08:24:00.004-04:00

I submitted this as a commentary for NPR all things considered – well not this piece – well it was nice of them to consider it. Eric

We need to pull back on testing our students and spend more time on the arts, with a focus on real world communication skills, creative problem solving and people management that businesses will need to have if America is to be successful it the 21st century economy.

The ability to spell or add, are no longer relevant to the success of anyone in a world that includes word processors and spreadsheet programs on every computer. The ability to recall a certain historic date or scientific fact will not decide the fate of any American with Wikipedia one click away. Even the valued alphabetizing skills developed in grade schools across the country, once used in leafing through the Yellow Pages by every American is now obsolete due to google.

There are many skills that are still relevant – skills that become even more important in an economy where any job is just one click away from being outsourced to Indonesia. The capacity of students to: manage people, be creative in the face of conflict or problems, a willingness to set goals and follow them, to speak with truth and passion to an audience of any size and a stubborn willingness to keep trying will lead directly to success in the next generation.

There has long been a growing disconnect between the creative skills used in the arts and business to succeed and the skills that America’s schools teach. It’s time for schools to be based on a 21st century model where creativity, originality, passion and perseverance are the coin of the realm.

One of the key skills that could be developed further in American schools is the use of storytelling. Not the sort of storytelling of sweet little old lady at a library reading a book, a worthy vocation. But the American use of storytelling in every aspect of our lives from successful interviews, to sales, in media and in just normal everyday talk. I have had the pleasure of visiting hundreds of schools around the country as a professional storyteller and I am sorry to report that only one school had any experience with public speaking prior to my arrival. The ability to speak without notes, to as Mark Twain once said – “extemporize” or to just feel comfortable answering question in public, are essential skills to any student’s long term success in life.

It’s time for us to rethink what it means to be in school. When creativity and perseverance is our guiding light the world opens it’s doors to meet us.

Eric Wolf has a M.S. in Education and is the Host and producer of the Art of Storytelling with Children Podcast with over 80+ hour long interviews on how to use storytelling in just about every aspect of school and life. http://www.artofstorytellingshow.com

6) Emotional Learning is more important then intellectual learning.

2009-03-14T15:09:00.006-04:00

This post is part of series on 7 Principles every parent should know about dyslexic children.

In the modern creative economy the strongest most hirable asset is creativity and emotional objectivity. When we are able to create content based on demand, when we are able to serve the needs of the market place through our inherit creative gifts - we will never be short for happiness, success, work or money.

When we are placed in subservient rule to our natural destiny by the forceful removal of our own confidence and moral compass. When we are slighted for our unique creativity and natural abilities we give up our own forward motion and attach ourselves to the success of another. We become drones or factory workers, we wait for the boss to tell us what to do.

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. Students who graduate from most learning institutions today are able to follow instructions, but are lacking in creativity and problem solving. Many modern high-school graduates have not matriculated into an identity of adulthood they have failed to take on the mantle of responsibility that is missing in so much of modern life.

In the late 19th century schools where an important part of our nations successful transition into the industrial revolution. But the current creative economy rewards people based on their unique ability to fulfill the needs of the marketplace. In the modern economy, intellectual ability has become cheap and plentiful and creative ability has become sought after and rare. If I want facts I can go to my computer and find them. If I want good writing or decent editing I have to pay through the nose.

But my spell checker is free – my computer comes with a keyboard. The role of stenographer has been replaced at every modern office. Typists are no longer needed, but good managers are hard to find.

That leads us to the most important reality of hiring new workers in today’s cooperate and business world. Maturity is rare - there are many grownups, but few adults in today’s economy. Creativity though associated with children and teenagers when expressed by a mature adult becomes passion and expertise.

The emotion ability to make decisions, work with people, compromise and push through, the moral certitude and mature surety of grown adult has become rare in post industrial society. In combination with the ability to be creative it is the only thing that can lead to a wild and successful like. So far I have seen few schools that can teach that.

This post is from the Dyslexic Storytellers Blog feel free to check out Eric Wolf's writings on being dyslexic.

The Top 10 Storytelling Blogs of 2009

2009-03-09T09:14:00.004-04:00

I rarely write articles for this bog – but I started thinking about it and I thought as way of thanks I would write a short article giving thanks to all those bloggers who have been so supportive of my podcast over the years. Keeping in mind that many of these people have become my friends, I apologize to any worthy storytelling blogger who feels excluded form this list.

1. http://www.artofstorytellingshow.com/

If you reading this post – I’m sure you are reading this post on my blog so I’m sure I don’t need to convince you of the value of this blog on the web. I have tried to bring to this podcast every storyteller of every merit in the international storytelling movement. I only have a few hundred to go – so please spread the word as to the value of this resource.

2. http://storytelling.blogspot.com/

Tim Ernetta has a fabulous blog called “Breaking the Eggs: Performance storytelling in the 21st Century”. Tim planned years in advance for this blog by reserving the word storytelling in the blogspot universe – thank goodness he had the foresight. Instead of another dry examination of movies, theater or television, we get this entertaining look at American storytelling. He has one of the most refreshing views of what it means to be a modern storyteller. His examination of the boundaries of storytelling and his willingness to leave no stone unturned in his examination of what it means to be a storyteller, professional or other wise, makes this blog required reading for anyone who is serious about storytelling in the United States.

3. http://professionalstoryteller.ning.com/profiles/blog/list

A Ning is a new word like Google, Ebay or Facebook – Nings are dedicated online communities with a common philosophical focus. The professional storytelling Ning founded by Dianne de Las Casus includes not just one blog, but hundreds of storytellers blogs all combined into one overwhelming RSS feed. Give yourself the gift of examining what it means to take your storytelling to the next professional level.

4. http://2008pics.blogspot.com/

K. Sean Buvala has a courageous picture blog of his own professional storytelling career recorded over the period of a year with hundreds of pictures. Honest and raw, it is a must read for any inspiring performer who wishes or dreams of making a living from their art form. He has several other online storytelling projects and each is worthy of its own place of honor – so be sure to explore the links on this blog page to find out more about what he has created online.

5. http://lisb.wordpress.com/

Limor’s Storytelling Agora is a valuable addition to the international view of storytelling in the 21sot century. Sometimes Limor just speaks about her basic experience as a storyteller – like many other storytelling blogs. Then suddenly she will launch into an examination of storytelling itself, why we do it, how we do it or just what it means to be a storyteller in the 21st century.

6. http://storytellingnotes.blogspot.com/

This is Priscilla Howe’s professional storytelling blog. She is one of the busiest storytellers that I know and you can pick up a lot of tricks of the trade if you pay attention to the space between the words in her blog. She is a professional and her blog demonstrates it with over a thousand professional gigs on her resume. This is a blog to follow for other professional storytellers.

7. http://www.storytellingadventures.blogspot.com/

Rachel Hedman’s blog, Storytelling Adventures, has been a long term project for her. She posts on a regular basis on the storytelling art form, issues relating to performing in various venues and the development of various gigs. Rachel currently has been developing a new project online, so be sure to check that out through the links. I am sure it will be just as in depth, interesting, detailed and good for the soul as this blog.

8. http://storyconnection.net/blog/

Dianne de Las Casus has a professional blogging presence – she writes books and a regular lengthy newsletter, maintains a healthy performance schedule and answers all emails. I don’t know how she does it all. Actually I do – because she talks about it at length on her blog.

9. http://www.dyslexicstoryteller.blogspot.com/

My personal blog – where I reach out to parents of dyslexic children - not really a storytelling blog – but a great example of how to create content for a specific audience to whom you wish to tell stories. If you are a regular follower of this blog, you will understand my passionate interest in the way Americans view school and learning disabilities.

10. http://www.uncalledfortour.blogspot.com/

Although this does not appear to be a permanent addition to the storytelling blogsphere, it looks to be of such originality and vision that I had to slip it into this lineup of storytelling blogs. These three tellers are reaching for the sky while mere mortals seek the old places of last resort.

This is a repeat of a post - blogged at http://www.artofstorytellingshow.com//2009/03/05/the-top-10-storytelling-blogs-of-2009/

Well - Some one is reading on...

2009-03-07T13:57:00.000-05:00

I still get fairly heavy traffic on this blog despite the lack of activity - but recently I was recognized for being among the top 50 blogs on dyslexia - which I find amusing being that I am not satisfied that dyslexia exists....

If you are seeking a more traditional approach to dyslexia I would search below....

From Guide to Online Schools

All the best

Eric Wolf

Listen to the youth they know the way...

2009-02-15T15:58:00.003-05:00

Storycorp jst collected an excellent interview in CA.
http://www.storycorps.net/listen/stories/kim-wargo-and-her-daughter-ida

Taken a listen and really breings home the idea that we are not just talking in the abstract here - dyslexic students have faces.

The Quagmire of Opinion vs Fact in Dyslexia

2009-01-22T08:36:00.003-05:00

Recently a very Nice parent commented on my blog. Check out the comments on previous two post.
In there comments and questions they suggested that the rights of dyslexic students are a matter of opinion not law. The key idea hear for me is that Learning disabilties are not opinion or political hairs to be split. Learning diabilties can be proven - tested and demonstrated in written and verbel tests consitently over and over again.

I give you the definition of dyslexia by http://www.medterms.com

Definition of Dyslexia

Dyslexia: A specific reading disability due to a defect in the brain's processing of graphic symbols. Dyslexia is a learning disability that alters the way the brain processes written material.

Two commonly held beliefs about dyslexia are that children with it are prone to seeing letters or words backward, and that the problem is linked to intelligence. Both beliefs are incorrect. The problem is a linguistic one, not a visual one, in dyslexia. And dyslexia in no way stems from any lack of intelligence. People with severe dyslexia can be brilliant.

The effects of dyslexia, in fact, vary from person to person. The only shared trait among people with dyslexia is that they read at levels significantly lower than typical for people of their age. Dyslexia is different from reading retardation which may reflect mental retardation or cultural deprivation.

The treatment of dyslexia should be directed to the specific learning problems the person has. The usual course is to modify teaching methods and the educational environment to meet the specific needs of the individual with dyslexia.

The prognosis (outlook) for people with dyslexia is mixed. The disability affects such a wide range of people, producing different symptoms and varying degrees of severity, that predictions are hard to make. The prognosis is generally good, however, for individuals whose dyslexia is identified early, who have supportive family and friends and a strong self-image, and who are involved in a proper treatment program.

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Back to my words....

In the beginning dyslexia was discovered in very smart people. Naturally it was assumed that dyslexia and many other learning disabilities were just effecting smart people. But over time it was discovered that dyslexia can be tested and found in 20% of the population regardless of I.Q. While it is true that many dyslexic or LDS people are gifted at speaking or talking to compensate for their disability - These gifts ARE NOT gurantted they are earned through the hard work that individual puts into compensating for the fact they can't read and every one else can.

It is tempting to think that these idea are my opinion or that they are just a matter of one persons thoughts vs some one else's thoughts. But they also are a matter of legal recourse to thousands of families around the country when the school refuses to recognize their child's Learning Disabilty. Dyslexia is as real as blindness just a lot harder to see. (pun intentional)

5) Institutions serve their own agendas.

2008-12-29T12:36:00.007-05:00

This post is part of series on 7 Principles every parent should know about dyslexic children.

All human institutions: government, corporations and schools serve their own selfish self interest. This is called politics or the survival instinct. Organizations that fail to look out for there own self interest fail to continue to exist. 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.

Rights you have…
1) You have the right to have your child tested to be find out if your child has a learning disability. You do not have to pay for this right. This right is guaranteed by Federal Law.
2) Your child has the right to an equal playing field - The test can discover how to give your child the same access to learning and success that other students have by themselves.
3) Your child has the right to go to school in a safe environment. No child should be treated or identified as different in front of there peers. Dances caps are out!
4) Your child do not have to attend special ed classes with out your agreement. You can always appeal any decision the school makes.

In addition you may have the ability to influence the out come of your child's school year by influencing some basic choices the school makes before the year begins. Assuming your child has been tested and is dyslexic then…

1) Learn how the culture of your schools approach to children with learning disabilities. Ask around – find other children with dyslexic kids – believe me they will know weather you can go in like a lamb or a lion. They will also know who your potential allies would be.

2) Interview next years teachers and talk to parents who have attended there classrooms and choose the teacher your child will be in based on your teachers comprehension of learning disabilities.
3) Give your child an advantage by doing reading with them in evenings during the summer - you do the reading – they see you read and see how fun it is while knowing that your not going to ask them too.
4) Meet with your teacher at every single parent teacher conference. Ask to meet your teacher before school begins – Understand that your child’s teacher is probably very busy right before school starts and they may not want to meet or meet very long. Try to keep this first meeting short and too the point.
5) If the school wishes to place your child in a special ed classroom you have the right to refuse such a transfer and if all else fails you have t right o change schools. LDS children learn better when main streamed then in a focused special ed room.
6) Join the parent teacher association – be a part of your child’s school as much as possible.

When you through all the homework your child needs support with after school in the evening you might be able looking at a full or at least half time job. So why are you not home schooling again?

Good luck let me know how I can help.
http://dyslexicstoryteller.blogspot.com/

Asking for help the Central lesson of Dyslexia

2008-12-16T12:34:00.001-05:00

Perhaps the key gift of being dyslexic is that the bedrock reality of learning disabilities is an inability to practice that central story of human experience… denial… denial of my inability to organize without assistance – denial of my systematic mis-spellings and denial of my incomplete memory. I can’t afford any of these denials – I can’t afford to pretend that I can organize, spell or remember with out assitance, because I can’t.

Must people can pretend that they are able to do these things – experts in brain research talk about how the brain is an effective tool for creativity but that organization and memory are not reliable uses for the brain with out using a written system in place. Now I know that many of my readers will disagree with this premise. Think about what I am saying the brain is not an effective tool for memory and organization. Here is the question that got me – what tool are you using to judge your ability to remember and organize things? Don’t believe my word – Read David Allen books.

I would suggest that your brain is not an accurate tool for judging your memory or organizational ability. Try a simple test – write down right now everything you did to day – put it in a envelope and date it one month from today. A month from now right down everything you wrote in the letter and then open the envelope. Make sure you include in your letter every single food or drink that you consumed today – every place you have gone and every person you have spoken too.

I know the what the results of your study will be… and I hope you do as well.

Dyslexic people learn a little bit earlier the value in writing things down and in asking for assitance from others in completing our daily task list. We are just lucky like that… I guess.

Fighting for Oxygen - Fighting for Life through Definitions.

2008-12-04T11:46:00.007-05:00

In politics and life - definitions define the debate - so the importance of being clear about the language we use in talking about dyslexia can not be over estimated. Recently a nice little professional website http://www.dyslexiaresources.com/ visited my little blog and out of politeness I visited there site. I was disturbed to notice that they used words like symptom and treatment when discussing dyslexia.

A disease has symptoms so that you can recognize when you have it. You can get better when you receive treatment and you can get cured. There is no cure to dyslexia - it is the the way you're built. Dyslexic people can not be cured or improved they are made perfect - the way God made them. The problem is not them the problem is everyone else who has decided that literacy written and read is a sign of intelligence. Dyslexic people are in the same category with people who are born blind or deaf.

If I asked you - How do you know some one is Deaf or Blind. what are the symptoms of there blindness what is the treatment? You would laugh at me. So Dyslexic individuals are in the same boat. Now having said that I do believe that their are things you can do to help the dyslexic in your life have better brain functioning - but those steps would work for everybody. You just see better results in a dyslexic.

A dyslexic who is exposed to the idea that dyslexia is a disease will have a false expectation that they are broken and will someday be cured. Dyslexia is who we are - it is our gift, it is our life and it is a reflection of God's manifestation of love on this planet.

We are born in a time when the role of science and belief that progresses is tied or bound to improvements in technology and engineering. Dyslexia is God's way of throwing a wrench in this plan - for we are all those kids who love art, who love the art of science and engineering - who don't test well - who do test well but can't write. We in short are the exceptions to the rule - well any rule. But in particular we are the exception to the rule that says that human behavior can be controlled, bought or sold.

New Take on an Old Argument

2008-11-28T11:58:00.007-05:00

After years of watching and wishing for whole language reading philosophy to rise in triumphant success over the other methodologies of teaching reading - in particular the evil phonics. I found myself astonished by a nonpartisan report out of New York University on how different reading styles effect reading speeds.

Processes Add Up To Determine Reading Speed, Study Shows. ScienceDaily. Retrieved November 28, 2008, from http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2007/08/070801091500.htm

I would be interested in seeing a comparison of the three system of reading with a dyslexic population. I would suspect that whole language would test higher, but the tests would kill the dyslexic test subjects. Far as I can tell both whole language and word recognition systems seem to suffer from a lack of profit motive in pushing there particular philosophies. Phonics seems to have no shortage of companies making money off of it’s success to such an extent that many of the studies proving it’s success seem a little too well funded. I suspect that reading is like many other skills; those who are exposed to it do it and those that are not exposed to it don’t.

In the mean time, I must admit that perhaps phonics has a greater role to play then I as a non-phonic dyslexic reader care to admit. Or perhaps the greater reliance in this New York University study on phonics in the participants is a reflection of focus on this method of reading in American Schools for the better part of half a century.

Why public libraries are so good for dyslexic children…

2008-11-24T14:12:00.001-05:00

When I was seven years old my mother used to take me to the library. As an adult I can imagine that she went as a supplicant to the temple of the great gods of reading. Please hear my prayers let my child see… words on the page.

Perhaps she believed that by spending time around books that I would become enamered of them. All I know is that my first memories of books is invoked whenever I find myself in an old book store, or older library stacks. That sweet smell of well loved books… a gift of my mothers love. She would have me pick among the picture books those collections that I loved the most. I remember carrying books to the counter to be stacked ten deep there for the librarian to check out. These she would read to me every night.

I think that the advantage that libraries have over schools with dyslexic children is that nobody checks at the library to see if you can read. All they care about is that you bring the books back. My favorite books that I borrowed from the library had the coolest pictures. So if you have a dyslexic child take them to the library and have them check out any comics, picture books or other juvenile fiction that they would enjoy.

Peace

Eric Wolf
http://www.ericwolf.org

Misspelling on the rise... Thank God.

2008-11-06T10:35:00.004-05:00

This article on Making an Arguement for Misspelling is a great resource. The author touches on some of the reasons that I believe that dyslexia is caused by- or aggravated by the educational institutions we force are students to participate in.

I totally did not see the misspelling in the articles title - till the spell checker pointed it out to me. Did you see it? Laura Fitzpatrick makes a good argument for why in a living languge we should let creative spellers go there own way. Personally I think some discussion of the cost from nervouse or emotionally inscure dyslexics should be included in the calculations. Spelling nazi's beware your days are numbered! Some how I don';t thing the New York Times will stop proofing there paper anytime soon. sigh...

Dyslexia is...

2008-11-05T14:55:00.004-05:00

Going through all the jelly jars in the cupboard to find the one cherry jar.

Strawberry, raspberry, raspberry strawberry blueberry awww cherry.

Opening the jar smoothing a nice slice of jelly toast. Taking a big bite of jelly covered bread....
only to discover that the jar you opened was raspberry all along. In fact that jar of Cherry jelly never existed at all.

PRESS RELEASE: Speaking out in Defense of Scary Stories on the Art of Storytelling with Brother Wolf Show

2008-10-25T16:30:00.004-04:00

Saturday, October 25, 2008
For Immediate Release
Contact: Eric James Wolf
Phone: (937) 767-869

Speaking out in Defense of Scary Stories on the Art of Storytelling with Brother Wolf Show

Eric James Wolf, professional storyteller and host of the Art of Storytelling with Brother Wolf Show, is available for print, radio and television interviews to defend the use of the scary Halloween stories in the oral tradition with children.

Scary Halloween stories and ghost stories for children have taken the place of ritual trials of adulthood for teenagers, according to Mr. Wolf. They also serve as a means for adults to warn children away from dangerous places or behavior. Ghost stories and scary Halloween stories in the oral tradition can be age appropriate and satisfying for families. Currently on his the Art of Storytelling shows website he has five interviews available for easy download about the art of telling scary Halloween stories.

Eric Wolf does not condone or support horror or the graphic use of violence. “It is possible, however, by carefully working within the confines of scary Halloween stories and ghost stories for children, to leave our audience psychologically stronger and more emotionally capable of dealing with their fears or the shock of real world disasters,” Mr. Wolf says.

#

Storyteller Eric James Wolf has performed nationally at such venues as the American Museum of Natural History; Bank Street School for Children; Barnard College; Blue Theater - Toronto, Canada; Columbia University; The Fund for the City of New York; Kings Island Amusement Park; New York City Clearwater Festival; New Jersey Liberty Science Center; and The International Performing Artists for Youth.

He is the host and producer of the Art of Storytelling with Brother Wolf, a one hour interview format show. Mr. Wolf has M.S. in Education from Lesley University.

Eric Wolf’s Website
http://www.ericwolf.org

The Art of Storytelling with Brother Wolf Show
http://www.artofstorytellingshow.com/

A list of five episodes on the Art of Storytelling with Children with storytellers speaking on how to use scary storytelling with kids.
http://www.artofstorytellingshow.com/category/scary-storytelling/

To schedule an interview, call…
(937) 767-8696

###

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

2008-10-21T13:56:00.006-04:00

This post is part of series on 7 Principles every parent should know about dyslexic children.

The spark of desire is the one true 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 child’s desire to know.

Schools were built during an age when it was necessary to create a uniform cultural identity through compulsory schooling. While nationalist may still argue that for the good of the state individuals should be normalized across a wide spectrum of types and religions – I would argue that in a creative economy that normalization will kill the engine that fuels the governments economic success. Government schooling is killing the drive and the ability of the economy to supply the needs of the state.

One of the few good arguments that I have heard for running government schools that makes sense to me is that for many children Public School is the one time a day that they get a good meal. I think that's great - let's build a cafeteria in the pubic library and any hungry person can get a modest meal government paid. Or let's run high school and middle school the way many private colleges are run - you take the classes you want to take from the teacher you wish to learn from.

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 music, now is a good time for stories, now is a good time for character development Each of these windows open and close with a the development of the human being. I'm not saying you can't teach a old dog new tricks, but... it sure is hard.

I have spoken with teachers who teach college level algebra to 5th graders - but the response they get form administration is - What are we going to teach them in 9th grade algebra?

I’m ranting I know - but I am ranting against an ideology of schooling that says that the smartest - and every student is smartest in one subject - whether or not it is apart of the schools official curriculum - example - boys, cars, or comic books. - the smartest students must wait for everyone else - or must conform to culture that says fit in.. oh the exasperation!

7 reasons to Join the Art of Storytelling with Children NING!

2008-10-14T00:32:00.003-04:00

In reverse order like a letterman top ten list... http://storytellingwithchildren.ning.com

Drum roll please....

7) You love Eric's podcast and want to make him feel accomplished for the hundreds of hours of work he has invested into the Art of Storytelling with Children Podcast.
6) You never heard of Eric or his podcast and feel sorry for him spending hundreds of hours on his podcast.
5) You love children (not in a weird way) and love to write and share about storytelling with children..
4) You want one more website with a decent google page rank to list your storyteller website and increase your visability on google.
3) You love to tell stories to children on the amateur level and want to belong to a storytelling networking community - and the professional storyteller NING is a little intimidating.
2) You recently had bad accident and are trapped in a full body cast unable to escape from your hospital bed except through the internet.
1) Your a social networking addict

Seriously though consider joining now because you love telling stories with children...
http://storytellingwithchildren.ning.com

Incase you missed it Eric Wolf's Website
and Eric wolf's Storytelling Podcast

3) All populations are not uniform.

2008-10-10T15:00:00.003-04:00

This post is part of series on 7 Principles every parent should know about dyslexic children.

I have outside of my door – in the hall a cartoon that I treasure. It shows a field with a tall tree to the left. There is a man in a suit n’ tie and he is sitting on the right looking at a line of creatures. A monkey, an elephant, a bird, a penguin, a seal, a dog and a fish in a bowl are sitting in a line on the left of the picture in front of the man. The man is smiling as he says – “For a fair exam everybody has to take the same tests – The first test will be to climb that tree.”

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”. As parents every where know – normal can be set or changed very quickly by the environment we are in and by the friends we keep.

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 parents and educational experts.

Your child is an individual so why are you placing him within systems that require he or she be one a face in the crowd. The schooling system of education was based on four widely divergent models combining together to create the American School system as we know it today. First the monks in the monasteries with in the idea of diligent and repetition to learn a task defined the highest of educational standards - for the 14th centaury anyway. Secondly the American government under the pressure of hundred of thousands of immigrants needed a way to quickly create a cultural common experience in a country that was filled with people who wanted to make it on there own. Third the American Factory system of the 19th century industrial age required workers who could fit into the mold and follow instructions. In the beginning and of this century the progressive social movement and the conservative social movement sought to support the development of American moral values by controlling the content of what is taught in schools today and for the last hundred years.

If you are unsatisfied as I am with my philosophical examination of modern schooling. There are Encyclopedias written on the history of the American Educational system – if you are new to those tomes – let me suggest for you a very quick and insightful read by John Gatto - Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling.

Just so you know - I keynote on this topic the philosophical and historical realities of the school system with a M.S. in Education.

Fasting for the fourth day today….

2008-09-29T07:06:00.002-04:00

A health fast – a kidney cleanse using the Dr. Shultz methodology and products. I feel great – but have much less sleep needs. Drink more fluids in the last four days than I normally drink in a week. I appreciate water on a whole new level. Locally we bought this really cool reverse osmosis water filter last month and I no longer have to purchase my distilled water.

Here’s the thing I have been fasting on and off for health, spiritually and general wellness for years. I have fasted on mountain tops, in temples and on NYC street corners. I am have gone with out water for 48 hours (very dangerous) – Food for seven days (not dangerous at all really) and a whole year without eating any wheat, meat or dairy.

A lot of people panic at the thought of not eating. As a trained survivalist I know that food is fairly low down the list. Things like breathing and staying hydrated come first - in fact you really don’t need to eat another bite unless or 3 or 98 for at least thirty to sixty days from right now. Of course fasting can be more nuanced then that – health fats should be carefully considered and then done anyway.

I know that when I fast for health with all the herbal teas and juice flushes that I feel great! My mind and my ability to focus goes up and my need for sleep goes down. I am still dyslexic the basic nerve patterns have not changed, but I am more able to function on a daily level. Best of all I feel really good about life – I have a smile on my face and I am thrilled about what is going on around me.

I did a 30 cleanse last year? Maybe two years ago and it ignited my soul fire to burn so bright and clear. IF you are parent of a child – remember that nobody should be forced to fast – so keep that in mind when planning any radical departure in your current approach to health in your family. We want to have a good time loving our bodies and taking care of ourselves. We don’t want our children to grow up thinking that food is the cause of their problems – though it is true that diet can be a key effect in your child's ability to adapt to their LDS.

How about this for map of the USA on Election day?

2008-09-24T19:32:00.007-04:00

This is off topic but very interesting - there is a real possability that the Electoral colelge will tie on election day.

Now wouldn't that be interesting?

A radical proposal.

2008-09-20T14:56:00.004-04:00

What if we don't need to learn to read and write anymore?

What if modern video or audio technical ability has created a world where writing is obsolete.

I mean really in a video age does anyone who doesn't want to have to learn to read or write have too?
Of course those who think this will be excluded from this conversation by their practice.

Just wondering....

Hope you have been able to listen to all 7 of the Ira Glass interview clips....

Ira Glass on Storytelling

2008-09-20T13:31:00.003-04:00

I feel like this is a real gift to storytellers everywhere.

He really has a good points that all storytellers and writers everywhere.

Just to bring us back to storytelling

The mind is not a dumping ground (Part B)

2008-09-09T18:29:00.001-04:00

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. Set your boundary of what is acceptable violence wisely and early in life. Yes the average child's mind is capable of incredible amounts of flexibility, but the dyslexic child is already has a lot on there plate why add more?

Remove access to violent video games, television programs or DVD’s. Place Internet accessible computers in common space for easy adult supervision. I am always shocked at how unaware adults and women in particular are of how close pornography is to there child’s easy exploration and curiosity. Internet controls are a must for any computer supervise. Computers with Internet access must be i public spaces and must be check regularly for inappropriate use.

Give yourself permission to not talk about adult emotional subjects with your child. This is incredible important not only in the avoidance of intellectual ideas that involve guilt or other depressing self sabotaging ideas, but also in the avoidance of using your child as dumping ground for your emotional storms. I am surprised by this because in my family it was not considered appropriate, but I horrified to discover as an adult that my family was the exception not the rule. Many children are placed it eh terribly uncomfortable position of being forced to comfort or play parent for there parents at a young age. If you find your self compaiing to your child about any aspect of your life - I woudl suggest this stop - just stop. Yea share your life iwth them - but leave out the emotional worries and troubles of being an adult. Especially if they are dyslexic or other wise Learning Disabled.

Say I love you to your child or teenager even if they look horrified. Say i love you a lot. because they should hear it every day of there life from somebody - why not you?

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 outside away from the 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. Warning: A weekend in the country in an ideal place is not a replacement for a real relationship and can be an opportunity to realize how far from being in the moment your family has moved.

The mind is not a dumping ground (Part A)

2008-09-01T11:26:00.004-04:00

Your mind reflects your environment and if you or your child is dyslexic you need to give the dyslexic mind every edge that it can get. Control or limit the amount of television, cable or movies that contain violent or horror content. Your trying to give the dyslexic mind a calm and tranquil world to be in. Dyslexic people live in an unstable world were left is right and time is unstable. If possible limit the expectation of adrenaline states.

I am addicted to sci-fi and spy movies. My parents were obsessed with murder mysteries. They taught me to love the adrenalin state that is created in the body when watching a video program. I am sure that many people reading this never considered the alternative, don’t have a television, DVD player or computer in the home until your youngest child is at least ten or eleven. This will set the pattern for the rest of there life.

But wait – I can hear the outcry – but my children will be excluded when all the other children talk about this movie or that youtube! Maybe – most likely they will just watch it at their friend’s house. At your house you will supply them with board games, paints, paper, pencils, crayons and a thousand other doorways into the imagination. Your house will be source of joy and imagination. Also of course boredom and complaints – but boredom is the sign of a free mind. Take it for what it is a compliment.

For more on the effect of TV on human culture check out
Four Arguments for the Elimination of television by Jerry Mander
As described in Wikipedia (Short)
As published in Mother Earth News (Long)

A letter to my daughters (and all the daughters of the world.)

2008-07-26T18:05:00.018-04:00

I have reached an age where I find myself concerned by the foolish optimism of youth in pursuit of true love. I have begun to dismantle the minefields of my youth and crawl through the wreckage in hopes of finding some gems to share with my children. Here are seven great gifts of building lasting and meaningful relationships with men. I hope they help you in pursuit of your dreams. I have learned them the hard way so you don't have too.

1) Truth has its just rewards. Don't be afraid to express love – because guys are dense and we just don’t notice that you care. Women are socially more aware then your average guy. Perhaps the biggest lesson of my short life is this. I have seen too many people settle for what they think they deserve and never express their true heart's desire. Life is too short to remain unspoken and what is the sense in being in the production anyway if you not going to have a main part?

2) The first five minutes of your relationship define the rest of your relationship. If he treats you like shit – he is never going to stop. He might pause, but the pattern will return. If the guy treats you disrespectfully on the first date – it’s not going to change. Move on... you are more important then any of that crap so just say no to assholes. To see how much a guy cares about you, watch what he does not what he says. Honestly a man will say anything and do anything when sex is involved. So why trust what he is saying. Watch how he acts. Does he express interest in you? Does he listen to you? Does he show you respect when around other people?

3) Nice guys are usually quiet. If you want to be with one - you are going to have to be more forward then you are comfortable with. An emotionally stable person is less aggressive, less pushy and in general nice to be around. When you fall for a nice guy and you have followed point one above, then you will need to do the parent test. What are their parents like? When you get married (or just settled living together comfortably) you will be surprised how quickly your boyfriend's personality reverts to the pattern of his early childhood parental example. Yes - they can escape the pattern - but are they really trying? You know - are they doing the work to unlock family emotional baggage or do they arrive in your long term relationship baggage intact?

4) If you’re serious about being in a good meaningful relationship, buildup your intention of what you want. Most people don’t do this, they don’t spend any time thinking about they want in a relationship and they end up with suffering the logical consequences. Buildup this intention when you are not dating so that you can have clarity for what you’re looking for in the next relationship.

5) Try to find guys who are a part of your social network or belong to a community. The average man is more aggressive and stronger then the average woman. (Obvious) However few people realize that it helps men to keep their aggression in check when they know that there is a social network or community keeping a silent eye on their relationship. Whether it is your high school graduating class, the village gossips, or your church choir. It really helps to build long-term relationships when the guy has to explain his actions to people outside the relationship. This means that you may want to look for guys inside certain social networks – church, school, village, nonprofits etc… Facebook does not count.

6) There are two disturbing tendencies with young women. They have tendency to attract assholes for dates and they have difficult time being alone. I wish you luck at overcoming these two realities of modern life. The truth is that given the modern internet world there is no reason for anyone – beautiful or not - to hang out with an asshole or be alone unless they want to. Given that the population of the USA is 304 million and that 150 million are guys, there are millions of guys in your age range. I think you might be better served by saying no to the assholes – as for how to identify them, I send you to point 2 above.

7) Do your homework - know yourself. Go to counseling – know God - grow up - find a faith - become deeper then everyone else you know. Move past the consumer blame-based culture we call America into the depths of adulthood. Practice using I statements whenever possible. For example - I feel, I want, I love, I care – instead of you statements – you – whatever. Join women’s circles and find strong positive women to hang out with. Quite smoking, at least cut back on the drinking. Take a self-defense class. Look in the mirror – straight in the eye and say “I love you” once a day till you believe it.

I have thought about this a long time and I hope you find these points helpful. Just know that you have the gift and the power to create the world you live in. I know that you may have spent the first 18 years of your life being told what you can not do - but just remember that you are of an age where limits are where you set them, not where others tell you they are.

One of your Fathers,

Eric Wolf
http:www.ericwolf.org
http:www.artofstorytellingshow.com
http://dyslexicstoryteller.blogspot.com/

The body and the mind are attached.

2008-07-01T16:19:00.008-04:00

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?

2008-06-25T15:34:00.005-04:00

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.artofstorytellingshow.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.artofstorytellingshow.com/
http://www.ericwolf.org
http://dyslexicstoryteller.blogspot.com/

Seven Principles every Parent should know about dyslexia.

2008-06-11T13:17:00.009-04:00

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.

There is a heck of a lot more on this topic here - http://dyslexicstoryteller.blogspot.com/2008/07/body-and-mind-are-attached.html

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.

There are two further posts on this subject at
http://dyslexicstoryteller.blogspot.com/2008/09/mind-is-not-dumping-ground-part.html
http://dyslexicstoryteller.blogspot.com/2008/07/mind-is-not-dumping-ground-part-b.html

3) Human populations exist on a bell 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 parents and educational experts.

Read more on these thoughts at http://dyslexicstoryteller.blogspot.com/2008/10/3-all-populations-are-not-uniform.html

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 music, now is a good time for stories, now is a good time for character development Each of these windows open and close with a the development of the human being. I'm not sayign you can't teach a old dog new tricks, but... it sure is hard.

Schooling is based on the idea that real learning is not available at home and that uniformity of culture is important for national identity.

A more thought out reasoning - http://dyslexicstoryteller.blogspot.com/2008/10/4-humans-are-capable-of-learning-on-j.html

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.

Read more on these thoughts at http://dyslexicstoryteller.blogspot.com/2008/12/5-institutions-serve-their-own-agendas.html

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.

Read more on these thoughts in this post...
http://dyslexicstoryteller.blogspot.com/2009/03/6-emotional-learning-is-more-important.html

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.

Read more on these thoughts n this post
http://dyslexicstoryteller.blogspot.com/2009/04/7-our-weakness-becomes-our-strongest.html

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

I have only touched the surface of what is possible with each of these principals.
Here is a list of all 7 in greater detail in later posts...
http://dyslexicstoryteller.blogspot.com/search/label/Seven%20Principles

Living with myself

2008-05-24T00:17:00.003-04:00

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

2008-05-12T14:10:00.005-04:00

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

2008-04-16T20:39:00.005-04:00

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?

2008-04-09T16:50:00.002-04:00

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

2008-03-31T10:07:00.004-04:00

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

2008-03-26T19:36:00.002-04:00

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...

Way of Teaching Storytelling

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

2008-03-11T14:33:00.005-04:00

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

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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

2008-02-08T18:12:00.001-05:00

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

2008-01-31T12:11:00.001-05:00

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?

2008-01-26T12:57:00.002-05:00

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

2008-01-25T15:39:00.002-05:00

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

2008-01-11T09:49:00.001-05:00

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.

What causes dyslexia?

2008-01-07T19:39:00.001-05:00

Well - my fellow searchers we travel on and I have been reading stuff online again and we all know that everything that appears on the internet must be true...

I read this past controversial issue of whether the cerebellum not properly developed is the key to causing dyslexia. I see a good argument here and I have begun to do more reading on the subject. Here are some older articles on the subject from the world wide web.

This Article is old news from BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/health/343139.stm

On CBS NEWS
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/10/21/60II/main579220.shtml

The Cerebellum as the Cause of Dyslexia
http://www.myomancy.com/2006/07/the_cerebellum_

Dyslexia and the Cerebellum: The Missing Evidence
http://www.myomancy.com/2007/09/dyslexia-and-the-cerebellum-the-missing-evidence

i have read before of how dyslexic individuals will sometimes during periods of high exercise or athletic feats temporarily lose all signs of dyslexia. I tend to doubt that if I work balance fro ten minutes twice a day for a year that after paying 3 grand for the privilege that I will develop new cerebellum - but what if I took the Chinese herbs and at the same time practiced juggling while balancing on high wire?

You laughed - I'm serious - I mean your talking to some one who has taken over the counter drugs for a whole year because he was told that his spelling might improve. Yes I didi the motion sickness treatment. But i do see a pattern here - balance, hearing, sound and spelling - they all seem to be related.

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I also found this amazing site on the brain and time witch is really cool but the reading is highly advances I know that some of my readers are not as interested in such thick headed and intelligent commentary - but this blog is worth keeping an eye on.
(Long as you don't keep an eye off me of course!)

Tick Tock Talk: The IQ brain clock
http://ticktockbraintalk.blogspot.com/search/label/dyslexia

NY Times Article on the Benefits of Dyslexia

2007-12-26T20:11:00.000-05:00

So Dyslexia has it's advantages after all as this article in the NY Times a tests too...

Is the benefit being dyslexic being some one who overcame dyslexia? Ny Times Article about Dyslexia at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/06/business/06dyslexia.html

Does finding a silver lining mean the cloud is not all bad?

As a entrepreneur am I better situated to build a successful business then other people who may not be as willing to get help as needed? Read the article and tell me what you think.

Is Dyslexia the result of Bad Teaching?

2007-12-13T14:21:00.000-05:00

Someone told me that they thought that a lot of children who were diagnosed as dyslexic were in reality suffering from a lack of teaching.

I don't think so - most children are over taught and the more I am involved with working with children the more I think that they need a gentle hand.

You don't teach two year olds how to read - unless they ask for it. So why do we insist on teaching at grade level so much? Studies show that it takes an adult thirty hours to learn to read at an adult level. So why do we spend years on it in childhood?

We do because the lesson is not reading - the lesson is to tame the spirit and squash the soul. A free people can not be ruled or conquered with out there implicit permission either through non-action or lack of imagination. If the ruler can kill the idea of freedom that what need has the emperor for the sword or the boot?

Dyslexic people are people who have less toleration for the crap that the rest of us call learning by route. A throughly discredited form of learning that has no business being in the same room with small children or adults - unless invited by there passion and sheperared by there own desire.

With Love

Eric Wolf

The Truth is Harder then You Think

2007-12-12T11:55:00.002-05:00

All of this effort to get my brain functional. The herbs taken. The delirious brain concoctions my wife has made. Mean time every night my wife and I took baths in the old claw foot bathtub. My wife herself tested for heavy metals a few months ago and she tested high for lead. She bought one of those lead kits for the house and brought it home and left it in a drawer somewhere.

My 16 year old home-schooler, was wandering through the drawers, found the lead test kit and just for fun he started testing stuff - including the tub. Turns out that the tub is in fact glazed with a lead based glaze. Makes me wonder how much of the memory issues I have been having are not dyslexia, but old fashioned lead poisoning.

Of course for the purposes of this blog - I am in fact dyslexic as proven under the tests given my in 1985 at the age of fifteen. Of course my dream is to successfully find a way of curing myself of the symptons of dyslexia through health, herbs and fitness. I think that lead poisoning maybe easier to deal with.

The gift of Success

2007-12-07T09:43:00.001-05:00

Recently I was talking to a friend of mine who is also dyslexic and she was struggling with writing and I asked for my assistance in creating successful methodologies to create written material. At some point in the conversation I asked her; does she have any examples of success in her writing practice and her answer was: no.

I was astonished.

I always underestimate my ability to be speechless. I was astonished that she had never had a writing teacher who recognized that success breeds success and that you have to start where the student is at – instead of where the standards say you should start.

Statistics and the teaching to the middle of the curve have done more harm to more people then almost any other idea in teaching. I find myself upset (again) that my friend who went through 18 years of public education has not one example of feeling successful with a piece of writing.

But then a very strange feeling come over me – I realized that I was grateful for a little piece of the MS I Education, BA in Human Ecology and HS degree that I have hammered through. I am grateful for those handful of teachers who saw that I clearly could not create written material on level with my peers, but I could write at my level and my ability and that would do very nicely thank you.

Sometimes is felt like I was a thirsty man walking through a desert – just looking for a place to drink. Thank God for compassion - thank God that I missed no child left untested. I call on writing teachers every where challenge yourself to challenge your students to their next level, not grade standard and not the middle of the curve.

Winter and Spring of 2008 Schedule of Guests

2007-11-30T10:05:00.002-05:00

For Immediate Release Press Release
Friday, November 30, 2007

Contact: Eric James Wolf
Phone: 937-767-8696

The Art of Storytelling With Children Podcast and Blog enters it’s second year.
This Podcast is a national conversation from all perspectives on the profession of “storytelling with children” recorded as a conference call on Tuesdays at 8:00pm.

We serve all members of the “storytelling with children” portion of the storytelling movement including presenters, listeners, administrators, educators, parents, and storytellers.

If you're not already on the email alert list, you must sign in by the Friday before the call to get the email that will give you the telephone number and access code.

If you wish to listen to the podcast, you can subscribe via iTunes or just listen on the website. Our listener base is still growing so spread the word about this great no-cost on-line program.

To join the list, go to www.storytellingwithchildren.com and add your name to the community email list.

Sincerely Yours

Eric Wolf
A.K.A. Brother Wolf to thousands of children world-wide.

#

Upcoming Schedule of Guests.

December 4th – No Conference Call - Yellow Springs Tail Spinners, Developing your storytelling abilities with a group.

December 11th - 8PM EST – Margeret Read Macdonald,
Telling across language barriers.

December 18th - 8PM EST – Michael Caduto, Stories about giving and receiving.

No show December 25th Vacation.

January 1st - 8PM EST- Bobby Norfolk, The brain is hardwired for stories.

January 8th - 8PM EST– Daisy Howard-Douglas,
Herstory - tell the truth, it will set you free.

January 15th - 8PM EST- Steve Denning,
Secret Language of leadership implications for education.

January 22nd - 8PM EST- Priscilla Howe, Creating a successful storytelling practice.

January 29th - Tuesday at 9 pm EST - Alex Feldman,
Connecting Quickly (and Managing Behavior) through Physicality.

February 5th – 8PM EST- Joyce Slayter, Telling to teenagers with newborns.

February 12th - 8PM EST- Dianne de Las Casus, Storytelling a safari into literacy?

February 19th - 8PM EST- Syd Lieberman, Telling your Family’s Stories.

February 26th - 8PM EST - Joseph Bruchac. The Truth of Native Stories.

March 4th - 8PM EST- Mark Morey, Storytelling as a Mentor

March 11th – 8PM EST- Dianne Williamson,
Literacy Development - Storytelling in the classroom.

#

March 18th - 8PM EST- David Epley, Comedy and Storytelling.

March 25th - 8PM EST- Jackie Baldwin - Kate Dudding,
Storytelling in Schools a reference guide to educational programs.

April 1st - 8PM EST- Sally Crandall, Historical Storytelling

April 8th - 8PM EST- La'Ron Williams, Supporting social justice through storytelling.

April 15th - 8PM EST– Jeff Gere, How you can Think Big with radio and TV.

April 22nd - 8PM EST– Jan Andrews & Jennifer Caylel,
The Power of Folktales in children’s lives.

April 29th - 8PM EST– Sally Crandall, Historical Storytelling.

May 6th - 8PM EST- Joshua Safford, Telling to the street – magic for eye.

May 13th - 8PM EST– Buck Creacy, What makes stuff funny in storytelling?

May 20th - 8PM EST– Karen Chace, Story by story, building a school storytelling club.

May 27th - 8PM EST– Avner, Avner Eisenberg, Avner the Eccentric,
The Body Tells the Story.

June 3rd - - 8PM EST– Dovie Thomason, Building Young Adult Audiences.

June 10th - - 8PM EST– Mary Jo Huff,
Early Literacy begins with rhythm rhyme & story time.

June 17th - - 8PM EST– Laura Simms,
What Happens in the Mind of Children during a story?

June 24th - - 8PM EST– Jim May, Storytelling in Classrooms .

July 1st – 8PM EST– Jack Zipes, Fairytales are still relevant.

July 15th – 8PM EST – Tom McCormack,
How indigenous storytelling bridges cultures.

#

Past shows available online at http://www.artofstorytelling.com/ for immediate listening or through iTunes as a podcast.

Mary Hamilton, "Working on Our Work" Storytelling Weekend.

Jonathan Wright, Cross-Cultural Storytelling.

Medicine Story, The Power of Mythology with Children.

Lyn Ford, Breaking into Storytelling.

Doug Lipman, Selling Ourselves Outside the Storytelling Community.

Judith Black, Child-Based Stories.

Jim Flanagan, Teaching Writing to Children with Storytelling and
Working with State Benchmarks.

Stephen Hollen,, Improvisational Storytelling with Children
Creativity and Children.

Bill McKelll , Founding a Storytelling Festival from Scratch.

Camp Directors:, Kate Fox, Ellyce Cavanaugh, and Zayanne Thompson
Storytelling with Children at Camp.

Kevin Cordi, Children Telling Stories – Giving Children a Voice.

Rick Carson, Working with Fear and Children.

Cynthia Changaris, Singing with Stories for Children.

Carol Birch, Working with Copyrights - How We Do the Work.

Eric James Wolf, Going to the Next Level with Your Storytelling Business.

Ellen Munds, Executive Director of Arts Indiana. The A B C’s of Running a Festival.

ETHNOHTEC, Your Highest Vision and the Nitty-Gritty of your Storytelling Practice.

Rev Victoria Burdick, M Div Hospice Chaplin, Storytelling in Ceremony.

#

Cristin Thomas, Director of the Tejas Storytelling Association. Exposing New Audiences to Storytelling.

Steve Otto, one of the founders of the Chicken Festival with Bringing Storytelling to New Communities.

Carolyn Franzini, Director of the Cave Run Storytelling Festival. Running the Festival and How Storytellers Become Candidates for Telling at the Festival.

Julie Mills, Festival Organizer of the Northern Kentucky Storytelling Festival.
Building a Successful Storytelling Festival at Your Library.

Mary Margaret O'Connor, Owner of Itales.com. Digital Storytelling using emerging technologies with your storytelling.

Larry Johnson, Key of See Storytellers. How storytelling in your school and classroom creates successful leaders.

Onawumi Jean Moss, Using culturally driven objects to create entertaining storytelling festivals.

Rachel Hedman, Co-Chair of Youth, Educators, and Storytellers Alliance. Child tellers speak out: what they wish adults knew.

Karen Czarnik, Conversation and songs for the timid singer.

Brother Blue, Street Storytelling and more.

Fran Stallings, Environmental storytelling telling Hope to inspire action.

K. Sean Buvala, Telling for Teens and Tweens.

Mark Wagler, Reshaping classrooms with narrative pedagogy.

Heather Forest, Musical Folktales for Children.

Tim Sheppard, The Authentic Playful Storyteller

Elizabeth Rose, Empowering teachers to use storytelling.

###

End
Storytelling with Children Website

I got impatient today again and I blew it.

2007-11-29T22:59:00.001-05:00

I sent an email to a listsev – I’m sure a few of you are on that listserv email. I started the email with me and another person instead of other person and I. Pretty obvious really I could have spared the thirty minutes to bother some body else. But honestly I was impatient and feeling really successful with other stuff so I didn’t get the document corrected. Spent a better part of an hour feeling guilty - beating my self up.

Most of the email was cut and paste from other previously corrected emails. Wait I’ll get it out so you can see it.

Here it is…

Well - Tracking the college E-Cats Free E-course.

Me and Rachel Hedman would like to give every storyteller on the planet a no cost E-course to help you get campus gigs.

We have prepared an E-course for you to take and use at no cost to you. It will give you an idea of what the full conference call course is like. If you are interested, go to
http://www.storytellingwithchildren.com/college to sign up for the free e-course. Fill out the form and after a few moments check your email and click the link inside the email
to activate your course.

Rachel Hedman has performed at Brigham Young University, University of Utah, California State Fresno University, West Hills College, Snow College, Weber State University and is
the co-chair of the Youth, Educators, and Storytellers Alliance. Here is what some people have said about the workshop Rachel Hedman presented at the National Storytelling Conference this last summer - College Big Cats: Tracking and Capturing the Performance.

I'm sure there are people on this listserv who are already experts in finding work on campuses and honestly I would love your feed back on the e-course.

Peace

Eric Wolf
http://www.artofstorytellingshow.com/college

I’m sure that you see other issues with the posting. But here is the thing – dyslexia really requires that you have a certain degree of optimism to continue writing and that same positive attitude gets you in trouble when you think of course I got it right this time.

Or maybe I just get tired of writing and getting everything proofed – baa humbug to proofing.
FREEDOM from editors!
Dyslexic people of world unite!

Truth is I just need to have patience with myself and my editors.