Let me tell you how I learn...
I remember being at school and secretly wearing my headphones to listen to music.
Not to be deliberately defiant, but to help me concentrate on my work.
The problem was, my headphones were only seen by the teachers as a “distraction,” much like many other things, such as my choice to dye my hair or have a nose stud.
I was in fact a very hard working student and it was more of a distraction for me when teachers would tell me to tuck my shirt in, when I would have felt much more comfortable and would have learnt a lot easier, if I could have chosen how to wear my own shirt or to style my own hair.
When I studied Art for GCSE, we could openly listen to music in front of the teacher, which was fantastic! It helped me to focus on my work and made me feel less nervous during my Art exam.
I worked with KD yesterday. KD and I are big Harry Potter fans (as you well know) and yesterday we enjoyed watching some Harry Potter videos and listening to music. During this time, KD made excellent progress with the fabric that she printed last week and has now decided to sew, to create a bag.
At Running Deer, we recognise that everyone is an individual and may want to express their uniqueness in what they wear or how they learn.
A great example of this is how our school is based in the woods and we use the outdoors as much as possible to help our students to learn rather than sitting down in classrooms full of lots of people, all day.
As caseworkers and teachers, we understand that spending time outside, learning 1:1 and even having some background music are all factors that can sometimes help people to focus and having the choice over this is so important.
Aimee
