Wanting to Learn

"All children want to learn and can learn."

This phrase...has me thinking.  I was in the first day of Responsive Classroom training in amazing New York City.  The opening introductions to the week began and this statement was said.  I have always been a believer in all children being able to learn.  I am a special education teacher and firmly believe that all children can learn.  My motto I say sometimes is "All children will learn."  I do not know if I have ever heard that all children want to learn.  Maybe I have heard it and it never crossed my mind to question it until now.

As I have mentioned in previous posts, I spend much of my summer reflecting and processing.  The summer is spent on replenishing and restoring my mind.  My conference time started off with a reflection thought.  Do all children want to learn?  I reflect back on the last couple months.  Some of my big learning moments were not pleasant.  They were not easy.  They were not fun.  Learning something new is to change from one state of mind to another.  There is actual physical change that takes place in a person's brain when something new is learned.  And, as many say, "I don't like change."  They say this for a reason.  It is uncomfortable.  It is hard.  It is work.

As I continue to read Kristin Souers's book, Fostering Resilient Learners, I learn that trauma physically affects the brain.  It causes a person to act and react in a certain way that is trying to keep them safe.  This in turn causes a discomfort or inability to learn because our brain is in survival mode.  She says it this way,

When humans sense that we are in danger, our brains switch to survival mode, triggering a flight, fight, or freeze response within us.  In this mode, our body's sole mission is to escape danger and return as quickly as possible to a regulated and safe state.

And, if we are living and reliving trauma, our brain gets stuck in this survival mode state.

So, is it that all children want to learn ... when they are trying to survive?  This is a question that is going to reshape my teaching this year.  It is reshaping my thinking.