The Difference That Makes The Difference

 

   

   


     I am often asked, "What is the difference between what you do and ordinary tutoring?"  While that is a multi-layered question in my opinion, I will attempt to address it to some degree here.

    A key distinction in my approach is to seek the answer to the question, "What is the difference that makes the difference?"  In other words, why are some students so successful, while others are not.  Assuming for the sake of the discussion all things are equal (no organic or physiological issues, etc), the students all have, by and large, the same brain.  So why such a difference?  This achievement gap is the subject of MANY studies, and all sorts of things are seen as the answer. Here, however, I wish to offer a simple answer.

    To me, to seek the true source of this difference, we need to look at each student as an individual.  This means looking to unlock the potential in each student.  If I look at two students, one great in Math, the other terrible in Math, I GUARANTEE a large portion of the difference is how the subject is communicated TO THEMSELVES, namely, how the information is PROCESSED.

    In NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), their essential foundation is in something called "modelling"  Modelling is looking at a desired skill or attribute seen in another person, and getting "in their head" to discover the recipe for how they do it, then install that in yourself or someone else who desires it.

    A key component in my work with students to to elicit how they are processing information. How do they process what they are good in, and compare and contrast that to how they process what they have difficulty in.  Once that is determined, the work begins to "alter" the processing of the difficult thing with processing strategies of what they are good at.  Follow that?

     Therefore, the difference that makes the difference isn't in a magical curriculum, not in luck, not in "I guess Johnny just isn't a good student", or anything else. It is in the student's own self-communication, his/her own processing. There is no where necessary to look but within. This is, perhaps, the most hopeful message ever told to students who are struggling, and their parent who suffer emotionally with them.

      Until next time......

To get a free report that describes the foundations of this work, go to my website, www.easeoflearning.com