Reflection on “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
By Analiza R. Quicho
The story had made a stir in me. In fact, I have finished the entire book in one sitting. At first I thought that it was only one of those children books because of the drawings plus the way that the author delivered the entirety of the story. But I was wrong. It was both entertaining and informative especially about a particular kind of autism.
The fifteen-year-old narrator story, Christopher John Francis Boone, aside from being an emotionally inaccessible, is also far more different in compare with a typical crime-fiction protagonist: he is autistic. This might seem a severe handicap for a detective, but when Christopher come across on the dead body of his neighbor's poodle, stab by garden pitchfork, he still decided to probe.
The term autism may be referred to medically as PDDs or Pervasive Developmental Disorders or better known as Autism Spectrum Disorders. Contrary to the popular belief that it suggests an image of a person with only the most serious symptoms, autism has a wide spectrum of disorders. It greatly affects child’s social interaction, verbal and non-verbal communication and behaviors as well as their interests. (Woodbury, 2008)
The types of autism spectrum disorders according to its clinical criteria are:
· Asperger Syndrome
· Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS)
· Autistic Disorder
· Rett Syndrome
· Childhood Disintegrative Disorder
Among the given types, it is apparent in the story that Christopher is suffering from Asperger Syndrome. This type is the mildest in the autism spectrum. Children with Asperger Syndrome often have hardly any facial expressions; poor social interactions, fascinations, unusual verbal and non verbal communication patterns, and other strange mannerisms. They usually have difficulty understanding the body language of others. They might engage in obsessive routines and display an unusual sensitivity to sensory stimuli. They are often troubled by a light. They hate loud sounds, thus, they often cover their ears.
These characteristics of Asperger Syndrome are greatly evident in the story as portrayed by the Christopher. His drawings of different faces with different facial expressions, which he always keep in his pocket, aids him in understanding what other people are thinking or feeling. This denotes his unusual communication with other people. He is having difficulty understanding metaphors and rapid questioning which means the he cannot quickly process his line of thoughts. He very literal and has trouble using language in a social context. He often responds to this by closing his eyes.
He is also very particular with color. He loves red while he despises brown and yellow. Color usually dictates his decision and even his mood.
His obsessive routines include his fascination with prime numbers and red cars and rigid separation of different foods in his plate. He does not want to be hugged, grabbed and shouted. This signifies that touch and loud sounds served as an overpowering stimuli for him. He often reacts aggressively on these.
But Asperger Syndrome is mild compared to other autism spectrum disorders; some doctors even call it "high-functioning autism." Children with Asperger Syndrome often learn all about their preferred subject, and discuss it nonstop just like Christopher excessive fondness with anything that can be computed. An example of this is the formula he created in choosing the right door in a game show in order to win a car instead of a goat.
Overall, children with Asperger Syndrome are competent in functioning in everyday life, but tend to be somewhat socially ratherish and may be seen by others as abnormal or peculiar. Like what happened to Christopher when he travelled to central London to find his mother and to totally move away from his father. He is often laughed at by other people because he asks a lot of questions that other people find unusual and sometimes funny. But the thing is, he was able to board on train and even used his father’s ATM card. This makes him a socially functional teenager.
All in all, the story of “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” is a book that will be included in my buy-list. Though, the author himself did even mention the word autism in the story and was not really able to decipher the autism that Christopher had, it was a feel good book that made me realize that children with autism find everything so complicated because they created theirs very simple.
Work Cited
Woodbury-Smith MR, Volkmar FR (2008). Asperger syndrome.
doi:10.1007/s00787-008-0701-0. PMID 18563474.
Human Learning through Ages
By Analiza R. Quicho
Humans are born learners who establish the educational progression while he is kicking in his crib and does not stop until he dies.
The newborn baby promptly discovers that crying will bring him help and his mother’s presence means security and relief from hunger. In months that follow, the child becomes out-and-out learning machine programmed to master a rapid sequence of vital skills. He learns to crawl, walk, and feed himself and talk.
By the end of the second year, the child has developed a vocabulary around 200 words and by the time he is six, he has acquired a third of all his intellectual skills.
In the adolescent years, 13 to 20, the developing individual struggles with a tormenting problem as he learns to think and behave like an adult. Then in early adulthood, both his perspective and his preoccupations shift. He becomes concerned with adjusting to a career, to his spouse and to his children; now he is involved with relating to other people.
Middle age brings one of life’s most difficult problem: learning to accept one’s lot and to reconcile oneself to the fact that all the hopes of youth are not going to be fulfilled. Then, with the onset of age, productivity and motor skills, slowly begin to decline-driving a car for example, may become hazardous. But, contrary to widespread belief, a person’s capacity for verbal comprehension, as well as his numerical and reasoning abilities, may increase well into old age. And some old people, who are healthy and young in spirit, find that it is never too late to acquire new skills and to gain new satisfaction from life.
Teacher Induction Program: A Teacher’s Instructional Aid
By Analiza R. Quicho
In education, teachers smooth the progress of student learning. Teacher may follow standardized curricula as determined by the relevant authority. The traditional “sink-or-swim” model for beginning teachers has not worked very well. Facing challenging work conditions and insufficient support, nearly half of new teachers leave the classroom within the first five years (www.allteachers.com). Among those who stay, it can take years to develop the skills they need to be most effective in the classroom.
Induction programs are set up at the local level to assist beginning teachers in their first one to three years of teaching. Typically, induction programs are intended to improve new teachers' professional performance with their students and within the school community, and to keep them in the profession longer as stated in Teacher Induction Modules.
It aimed to help new teachers improve practice, learn professional responsibilities and ultimately positively affect student learning. In addition to providing support to beginning teachers, these programs allow veteran teachers to reflect upon practice and can unite the learning community as each individual works toward the same goal - improving the quality of education. Induction programs also have the potential of elevating the teaching profession and fostering a collaborative learning community for all educators. These benefits can lead to a much higher rate of retention, as new educators find themselves in an environment that cultivates continual growth and success.
The evolution of induction programs began last 2004 spearheaded by the Department of Education as schools began to explore schemes to help the beginning teacher enter the teaching profession. (Ruiz, 2008)
Novice teachers have recently been exposed to new research and modern techniques for implementing curriculum, and mentors and coaches see that they can learn from the new teachers as well as share some of their experience.
TIP implementation in Bataan is one and the same as any TIP program being used in other high school in the country. Furthermore, the TIP has also created a competitive academic program that encourages division offices to develop longitudinal data systems that support value-added academic measurement both for elementary and high school beginning teachers.
Classroom and the Interaction Within
By Analiza R. Quicho
It has been said that a good teacher can teach anywhere and that a willing student is capable of learning in spite of the setting. There may be some truth to that. The issue is, however, whether teachers teach as well or students learn as much as they could have in better surroundings. It is simply a fact that the school environment itself has a largely untapped potential as an active contributor to the learning process.
Classroom creates a learning environment which is dependent on large size and diversity of composition. Classrooms’ specifications are based on teaching approaches that are dependent on small size and homogeneous composition. Size and diversity have their own special advantages which are then maximized through appropriate pedagogic techniques such as exercises; topics; projects. These techniques are designed to create dynamic conditions which counteract anonymity and competitiveness, while at the same time, and enhance community-based resources that create excellence in learning, cooperation; objectivity; peer modeling; mutual facilitation.
Classrooms are one of the important pieces of the education reform puzzle. The quality of the learning environment is known to affect students’ learning.
Learners’ participation in class is one of the aspects of classroom interaction. It is a process in which opportunities are created for learners to practice what he learned and to produce output. Involving students in the classroom provides the sense of ownership in their learning. It is easier to keep most students engaged in a lesson when they are participating through discussions, labs, projects and other student centered activities. Once engaged, students create their own respectful classroom environment through their interactions with the teacher and other students. Whether provided by the teacher or created by the class, classroom expectations or rules should support a positive and respectful environment.
One of the vital factors of students’ learning and to education reform is the role of the classroom and the interaction of the students within the classroom. When engaging students in development of their intellectual and emotional strengths and in examination of learning within the context of their everyday experiences and the society around them, classroom plays a second home to them.
Classrooms settings and set-ups change over time in response to new patterns of education governance and management, new kinds of students, new theories of teaching and learning, and new technologies, new classrooms.