Thursday, June 3, 2010

TweedleWink Teachers

This post is long overdue.

It is dedicated to our teachers with deep, deep gratitude, love and appreciation.

TweedleWink teachers give this program Light and Life through the love and devotion they have for the children in their classes.

It takes a lot to see each child's most positive state of being—and to hold that image for them consistently.

The teachers I've come to know and am honored to teach with in our classrooms are top notch and genuine. They know how to balance fun and play with the delivery of a quality educational program.

Becoming Childlike

Here is how you know if you are a right brain teacher.
Situation: The children in your class stop listening to your world cultures lesson. Instead, they pretend that they are cowboys and cowgirls, that they are on horses and begin to gallop around the classroom.

If you are a left-brain teacher

...you will be come frustrated because the children are not paying
attention. You will demand that they sit down, sit still, be quiet and listen to the lesson.

If you are a right-brain teacher
...you will gallop, too—joining in the fun of creating a multi-sensorial right brain image—adding content from the day's lesson, whatever it might be.
Are you visiting France in the World Cultures segment? Then you'll gallop around the Eiffel tower, stopping off for a bite of cheese. Saying "Merci" to the French cheesemaker, with a fond "Au revoir!" and then counting from 1-10 in French before galloping off once again.
This level of joyful creativity we cannot train, it has to be there to begin with.

It all begins with Love.

It takes a lot to be a right brain teacher. It takes patience, unconditional love, focus, play, creativity and joy.

Our Wink and TweedleWink classes are weekly one-hour classes. Each class is information-rich.

Teachers take time each week to study the topics to be presented, practicing the languages, games and songs over and over before the new weekly lessons begin.

There's much to study beforehand!

In a TweedleWink class, we feature 8 segments:
  • vision enhancement (photographic intake)
  • vocabulary-builders
  • world cultures (including geography and language)
  • music (including classical music, rhythm, and perfect pitch training with tuning forks)
  • reading (phonics, whole words, love of literature)
  • math (dot recognition, equation play)
  • science
  • art (fine art, cultural arts and crafts)
...all using movement, play, songs and meaningful interaction with the children.

In a Wink class, we feature the 7 steps:
  • Alpha Relaxation
  • Eye Exercises
  • PhotoEyeplay
  • Mental Imaging (3-dimensional, multi-sensorial)
  • Observation Training
  • Memory Linking
  • Photographic Memory and Speed Reading
So, as you can see, it's a lot.

For the teacher, it's not an easy routine—it's a work-out because of everything we cover and all the constant movement! But, for the men and women who have joined our teaching team, it is truly a labor of love.

I really just want to say: God bless you, teachers. You are truly amazing.

Thank you!