Math and the simple brain

It's a very cool, breezy Saturday. I heard yesterday that Kansas had SNOW in the western part, around Goodland-good grief! It's the first of May! Thursday night we had a lot of rain, and a lot of hail. My brother said there were still hailstones in the yard of the place where he works when he went in Friday morning. And last night was flat cold. I wore a coat to work, had the car heater running, and turned on the furnace when I came home later in the evening. I will be SO GLAD for warm temperatures. When I leave this morning, I'm going to need my hoodie and again, the car heater. The sun's out, but it's windy AGAIN, and chilly.

So today I'm going down to the church this morning to practice the piano-Dan and I are doing "special" music tomorrow morning, and then I'm rehearsing with a soloist. She's singing an old standby, but she wants it in a different key. Whereas people like my son can quickly and efficiently transpose music with what appears to be minimal effort, I have to think about it, and write down chords.

Transposition is a mathematical function, and back in elementary and high school days, math was something that not only confused and bewildered me, but caused me a great deal of anxiety. It's hard to explain to a person who sort of automatically understands the concepts how it feels to not be able to "get it" right away. One's brain gets muddled and confused when one doesn't have that automaticity.

This was one of the reasons I became a school psychologist. I understand those kids who look at me blankly when I ask them to solve what appears to be a simple math problem. I was working with a 3rd grader yesterday who had difficulty, even after repeated instruction and practice with his teacher, understanding the concepts of fractions, whole and mixed numbers. The teacher was semi-exasperated when talking with me about it later. "He just doesn't get it!! I try and try and he doesn't get it!!" That's right, he doesn't. I remember struggling with fractions some. And, I remember my first piano teacher, Mrs. Brown, trying to explain to me the concept of quarter notes, half notes, and whole notes. Her examples involved trying to picture a whole apple, cutting it in half, how many pieces do you have, etc. I'm a visual learner. I needed her to bring me an apple and a knife, and show me. Then I needed to do it myself. Then I needed to draw it out, then, I might be able to understand. This third grade student I spoke of earlier needs a lot of visual input, which, this teacher does some-she draws pictures on the board etc. But he, like me, is a slow processer. I saw her yesterday, standing at the board, in front of the drawings, calling on him, and the agonizing 20 seconds or so it took him to think about the answer, while the other kids squirmed in their seats. I felt his anxiety, and his embarrassment when after all that time, he gave the wrong answer. I saw the other kids laugh to themselves.

And I saw me sitting there, 45 years ago. I knew exactly what he was feeling. I walked over to his desk later, put a hand on his shoulder and looked him in the eye. I didn't say a word, but I think he understood. I'll be working with him next week, and we'll do just fine together.