FRIDA's DRAGON.
A. B, C + D #10.
ED’s N.B.
This delightful True Story from Jack Watson is about how he celebrated the talents of one of his students. He calls her Frida, 8 years old, who could barely read and was unwilling to write.
HOW IT STARTED.
Socially, Frida faced constant challenges: diagnosed with neurological differences, yet previous schools hadn’t offered the correct understanding or support, Frida had spent little time in classrooms with peers, leaving them feeling marginalised, outcast and unwelcome; none of their behaviours fit what others - children or adults expected. To them, everything felt like punishment for simply being who they are.
Our school changed that.
Frida spent nearly every lesson with their peers. My role was to create resources they coulduse to access the same tasks as the rest of class and remain as part of the group, rather than being elsewhere like they don’t belong with us. For example, if the group was writing narratives, Frida’s goal might be a simplified version of each section, supported by a teaching assistant (TA). Together, they’d complete a full story.
Year 4 went well.
Year 5 did not. Frida was paired with a child who had even greater needs and they struggled to work together. A change in teacher and TA - meant to familiarise Frida with more adults - only disrupted their progress.
So Frida came back to me in year six.
HOW IT WENT.
A the class teacher, my official role was to help children develop skills outlined by the government and research. So did I conquer all of Frida’s academic challenges ? Did they reach the expected reading, writing and maths level for their age ?
No they didn’t.
But for Frida, these weren’t the goals. Because while Frida faced significant challenges, they also had extraordinary talent.
Here are just a couple of their year 4 creations :-
A clay dragon, crafted using only a drawing pin.
A chalk dragon (Frida had a real dragon phase) drawn in about ten minutes.
For an eight year old, this level of skill was extraordinary.
In year six, I gave Frida as much time as possible to practise their art. They kept a doodle book at their desk for use after finishing learning tasks or while I read to the class. In the back of the room they had a space for larger projects, working on these during the brain breaks or when they needed a moment of calm.
This approach gave Frida a sense of belonging that they’d never experienced before.
I also visited their future secondary school. I wanted to prepare the teachers for the unique child they were going to welcome and explained Frida’s strengths, childhood challenges and needs, hoping to ease the transition. I even reviewed their timetable so that I could mirror it’s structure during Frida’s final months in Primary school.
And of course I wanted to see the arts facilities.
CELEBRATING FRIDA.
We achieved academic progress we were proud of but, more importantly, we made school enriching. Frida attended regularly, gained social confidence and made friendships with a very popular group of children. By the end of the year, thy finally felt they belonged.
Inspired I created clothing featuring Frida’s drawings.
A T-shirt with an axolotl in a frog onesie.
Another one with an octopus wearing a bowtie.
And a jumper that I’m currently wearing adorned with a moustachioed spider holding a cup of tea and a croissant. (Look at his hat. Isn’t he to die for !)
Knowing their creations lived on in these tokens filled Frida with pride. They may never have expressed their gratitude in the way most of us do, but I know they valued the gesture. They may not understand why I felt the need to champion them but they felt the benefits in spades during their final year.
Many Thanks to Jack for allowing this crosspost, on a subject that touches on so many aspects of our caring lives.
For the full article https://substack.com/@howtobeateacher/p-152787015…
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SO, Dear Readers, many thanks for being here, sharing your time with me, Maurice.
Fantastic work. "we made school enriching". Yep, got it.