Using RPM is an Adventure in Innovation

            Although using Rapid Prompting Method (RPM) teaching strategies follow specific guidelines, there’s always room for creativity and quick thinking.  Soma is a master at this. Watch any of her videos and you see how she takes whatever a student says or does and turns it into a learning experience.

            I feel honored and blessed to be able to work with Aiden. He’s a wonderful teacher for me; always letting me know when something works and when I “bombed.”  As we work through a lesson, there’s a part of me, the objective observer, silently noting the interaction between the two of us.  When he becomes upset and walks away, using the word, “NO!” emphatically, I have to ask myself what just happened:

1.      What triggered his wanting to stop?

2.      What can I do to use his walking away as a distraction to get him back to his table to do more work?

a.  “Aiden, thank you for letting me know you don’t want to continue the work we were

     doing?” Writing down on two pieces of paper, I ask, “Was it too easy and boring, or

     was it too hard for you?” 

b. Regardless of the answer, I have to re-adjust my approach.

c.  I might engage him in doing some physical mirroring activities with my hands and

    arms, giving him a chance to move away from the academic work.

d. Then, I either give him 2 choices of what to study next or ask him what should we

     look at next?

3.      I could use his walking as an opportunity to get the yard stick out and have him measure his steps from the doorway to the stairs, from the stirs to the bedroom, from the bedroom door to his desk.  If he gets to the desk, it’s easier to get him to sit down for the next lesson.

This is only one example of how I deal with his not wanting to do work. I’m sure you’ve run into similar situations. What do you do?