STORYTIME TAPESTRY

The Newsletter devoted to spreading love and cultural awareness throughout the world

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Special Treat ??“ From Me!

Sept 6, 2005? 

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Clarity in Writing

Carol Roach

Today I celebrate my writing through clarity. I often wondered what people meant when they said they did not understand and then all of a sudden a light bulb went off in their head.

I could understand personal insight because it came from deep within me. But for the life of me, if someone, a teacher, or a friend was explaining something to me and I didn??™t understand, chances are unless they were able to break it down, simplify it, or present it in a totally new fashion, I still would not understand. No light bulb in my head ever went off.

In fact it was more like cobwebs clustered in my head. I could see through the spaces and perhaps catch on to some of the concepts but my view was still cloudy and I felt like I was hanging on by a thread.

The more I did not understand, the more uncomfortable I felt. I found over time that my lack of understanding made many of my teachers uncomfortable as well. What these teachers did not realize was that explaining the concept over again in exactly the same way was not helping me. It was not that I was missing points here and there. I was sometimes lost from the beginning. These teachers felt that going over the same points would be like putting pieces of the missing puzzle together and suddenly the light bulb would go off and the puzzle was solved. It did not work. I couldn??™t understand the puzzle pieces let alone put the puzzle together.

Many times a student would volunteer an answer much to the relief of the teacher and that was the missing piece I needed to clarify the situation. Other times, the teacher would simply say to me, ???we have to move on, come see me after class.????  From this experience I learned to ask questions in such a way that I would get the answers to what was blocking my comprehension.

For example, if I am in a carpentry class and the teacher says, take this screw driver and pick this screw then go to work, and I don??™t understand, repeating the same thing to me is not going to make me understand any better. I don??™t have a hearing problem. I heard what was said. I am just confused on how to do it. Showing me the screwdriver and which screw is necessary still may not be the problem. I know what a screwdriver looks like and I know what a screw looks like. My problem is the application.

Now that I have these tools what do I do with them? If the teacher then says you take the screw and screw it into the fixture, it still may not cut it. I found that I had to ask the very specific questions, ???How do I screw, what is the action, how do I hold the screwdriver, or which way does the screw rotate???? You would be surprised how many teachers did not understand what I could not understand at all.

The more skillful teachers caught on right away, if it was a technical issue they took me back to the basics and if it was a conceptual issue they explained using examples analogies and metaphors, until finally one of their explanations made sense to me.? 

It was only when I reached university I found out I have a learning disability. My right brain functioning is above average but my left brain functioning is under developed. Math for example has always been a major challenge for me. Like many learning disabled individuals, I understand to a certain point and then I reach a ceiling. At that point, no matter how hard the teacher tries, he/she cannot blow the cobwebs away.

Taking a psychology degree was a big concern for me. I knew that I would have trouble with the statistics. Again, like every learning disabled individual, who makes it to that level and beyond, we learn coping skills. Our brain doesn??™t function in quite the same way as an average person, so we find ways to make our brain understand.

I remember sitting in a stats class while the professor was explaining a long formula on the board. He was so confident in his explanation. However, I was totally lost. It all looked Chinese to me; or more to the point ??“ Greek. I knew then and there I could not ask this man for clarification. There was no way he would be able to explain in a way that would register in my brain.

In order to make the formula clear for me, I took the elements of what I knew to help me decipher how he got to the conclusion. The result of this exercise was my own statistic formula; which did not make sense to any other person on the face of this earth. All that mattered was that it made sense to me, and I passed the course.

I transferred this skill to explaining situations to others and to my writing. I use analogies, like the great Dr. Milton Erickson. I use metaphors as well. I found when I was interning at the mental hospital it worked with some of my clients. For example, I would take a situation where they were having a social conflict and bring them back to one of their personal situations. Having them feel the impact that situation had upon them in many cases helped them to empathize with other people.

My friends love my metaphors. My friend Anita, will often remind me of the time when we were discussing how unlucky we were when it came to finding men, and I replied ???Yep we are about as lucky as two alley cats scrounging for food only to find the garbage truck already passed by.??? Not only did the metaphor provoke laughter it made the point more salient.

If I am talking about an abstract concept such as ???how big is my love???, the use of metaphors clarifies my writing; making my words more visible, and tangible.

???My love is as big as the deep blue sea, as big as earth and all its celestial bodies.???

Now that is a type of clarity that I can understand.? 

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Carol Roach

winterose@videotron.ca

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A Native of Montreal, Quebec, Carol is a graduate of Concordia, and McGill University.?  She holds a bachelor in psychology and a Masters in counselling psychology.?  Carol Roach is a published writer and newsletter editor.?  You can purchase her book: Picking up the Pieces: A Woman's Journey at www.publishamerica.com, or www.amazon.com.?  You can also go to your local bookstore and order it there as well.?  Carol??™s second book: Angels Watching Over is currently looking for a home. Stay tuned for details. ? 

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If you are interested in other stories feel free to join her newsletter: Storytime Tapestry at: http://subs.zinester.com/98907 , or email her directly at winterose@videotron.ca and she will be glad to accommodate you.?  Carol enjoys email and responds to every inquiry.

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