Feathers Of Resilience

In the Evergreen Forest, a Wise Owl worked as the head teacher for all the animals.

Wise Owl taught reading, arithmetic, Earth Science, and Social Studies. He was known for inventing clever games like predator trivia, disguise and seek, and hunting. Wise Owl loved to teach. He always found it gave him a sense of feeling helpful to his little animal students.

A little Owl had caught Wise Owl’s keen eye at the beginning of the school year. He noticed that Little Owl struggled to finish his homework, was very quiet in the classroom, easy to tears, and never volunteered for class projects.

One afternoon, Wise Owl was grading papers at his birch desk, sipping some Green Tea, when he overheard his students laughing and teasing Little Owl outside the classroom. Wise Owl quickly got up from his feathery soft desk chair and went to disperse the rowdy crowd that had been surrounding Little Owl.

“What was going on, Little Owl,” asked Wise Owl.

Little Owl raised his ear tuffs and stared at the lime green grass. After a bit, Little Owl looked up at Wise Owl and said, “All the kids were reading a comic book. One of them asked me to read a part. I couldn’t do it.”

Wise Owl had a feeling this was going to happen sooner or later. He had a feeling that little Owl was having problems reading. He hoped the little Owl would seek help, but Wise Owl had to take the lead.

Wise Owl took Little Owl under his wing, walked him to an aged tree stump, and motioned for him to sit down.

“How long have you noticed the words are hard to read?” asked Wise Owl gently.

There are times when small words seem simple, but then the letters get all mixed up and I can't understand them,” said Little Owl.

“Let me guess, is it b’s and d’s mostly?” asked Wise Owl.

“YES!” cried Little Owl. Then, all at once, Little Owl began to cry. Rivers and rivers of salty tears ran down his feathery face. “How did you know?” he asked between hiccups.

“It’s very common to have those silly letters play tricks,” said Wise Owl. “Little Owl, do you find the words hard to sound out?”

“Yes, it takes me time, and I struggle to remember all the sounds.” wailed little Owl.

“Ok, ok, now, get it all out. It’s not good to leave it all bottled up. Have a good loud cry,” said Wise Owl.

They sat together as Little Owl let all of his pent-up emotions out. When the tears subsided, Wise Owl encouraged Little Owl to breathe deeply, shake off his wings, and find something pleasant to focus on.

“I’ll brainstorm some ways to make reading easier for you and then get back to you, ok?” asked Wise Owl.

Little Owl stared at Wise Owl in bewilderment. “You can’t fix me. Something is wrong with me; the kids said so. They don’t want to play with me; they are afraid they will catch what I have.”

Wise Owl got angry but tried not to show it to Little Owl. “They can’t catch what you have. You are not sick. Run off and play. I need to do some research.” Wise Owl answered.

Little Owl ran off to play, and Wise Owl got busy learning all about what he suspected Little Owl’s learning style was.

First, Wise Owl poured over academic books from the Acorn library. Then he consulted with other Owl teachers. Day after day, night after night, Wise Owl educated himself on different learning styles. Finally, Wise Owl devised a plan to help Little Owl.

One day after school, Wise Owl met with Little Owl in one of Little Owl’s favorite spots to play. Learning needed to be in a relaxed environment thought Wise Owl. This would help Little Owl's comfort when tackling hard reading task.

Little Owl watched as Wise Owl pulled out different objects from his bag. An apple, an egg, an orange, a chalkboard, and sheets of white paper as well as different colored pens.

“Ok, Little Owl, pick up the apple.” asked Wise Owl.

Little Owl did as he was told.

“Now feel the apple in your wings….smell it,” said Wise Owl.

Little Owl felt the smooth red apple. Wise Owl instructed Little Owl to describe the apple to him. Little Owl even sniffed the apple, and his mouth began to water from the fresh, sweet scent of the juicy fruit.

“Can I take a bite?” asked Little Owl.

“Yes, go right ahead,” said Wise Owl.

“Do you know what letter it starts with?” asked Wise Owl.

“A” answered Little Owl.

“Good, good. Did you know that it’s part of the vowel family?” asked Wise Owl.

Little Owl shook his head yes and told his teacher the other vowels he knew of.

They talked all about the letter A as well as the other vowels. They discussed what sounds the letters made, how to write them, and what words could they come up with. Eventually, Wise Owl added a few more letters.

A little while later, Wise Owl had Little Owl read a few words they had learned from the letters they practiced with. Little Owl began to realize that he was reading a few short 3 to 4 letter words a little more easier.

“I am getting it!” Little Owl said excitedly.

“Yes, you are!” said Wise Owl.

“Now, let’s work with those tricksters letters, b’s and d’s.” said Wise Owl.

Wise Owl had Little Owl trace some b’s and d’s in the air, in the sand, he used worms to shape the letter forms into the b’s and d’s. Little Owl thought that was a hoot! He was really having some fun with this letter learning.

When the afternoon breeze began to grow cooler, shadows appeared to dance on the playground, Wise Owl called it a day. As the older teacher began to pack his bag.

Little Owl asked, “Why did I struggle before?”

Wise Owl looked down, and Little Owl looked weary on hearing the answer.

“Your learning style is Dyslexia,” answered Wise Owl.

“What is that?” screamed Little Owl. Now he really looked frightened.

“Don’t be scared, “ Wise Owl said calmly. “Reading, writing, and understanding what you read is a little more challenging for you.”

“Learning with visuals, interactive games and learning at your own pace, you will get it.” answered Wise Owl.

“The other kids say I am dumb?” said a worried Little Owl.

“No, they don’t understand. It’s like having different colored feathers, different wingspan. There is nothing wrong with you.” said Wise Owl.

Little Owl was relieved. He had sensed something was different about himself. He thought he was sick from a disease.

“Little Owl, listen to me. You are smart. Learning with Dyslexia simply requires us to use different learning methods. Today, I saw that you learn easier with pictures.” said Wise Owl.

Little Owl still didn’t look convinced that this was going to be easy.

Wise Owl thought for a bit and then said, “Will you help me? Teach me”

Little Owl looked surprised at his teacher. “You want me to help and teach you?”

“Yes, you need to teach me how you learn best.” Wise Owl said. “Better yet, we both can be detectives and find ways to make learning easier for you.”

Little Owl warmed up to the idea of playing detective and teacher. His little face brighten at the idea. Then a shadow of doubt crossed his face.

“Will I get better?” asked Little Owl.

“You are not sick. You learn and understand differently. Although you'll need to put in more effort than others, it will eventually get easier. Can we work together on this” asked Wise Owl.

With his head hanging down, Little Owl, took a deep breath, looked up and said, “Yes, I can try.”

“That is all I ask and trust the process, ok?” said Wise Owl.

From that day on, the two met daily and worked on Little Owl’s learning of his letters. Little Owl worked very hard with this studies. Some days were harder then others. Little Owl had a few melt downs at the worn tree stump when the letters played tricks on him again. He screamed, he cried, he called himself dumb.

Wise Owl sat and watched Little Owl have his frustrated moments. Then when the emotional storm was over, they picked up where they left off and began again.

Wise Owl told Little Owl to bring the comic books in so they could read them together. Wise Owl had Little Owl teach him all about the characters and storyline. Little Owl loved playing teacher. He even wrote up a quiz for Wise Owl to take.

Wise Owl knew that having Little Owl teach him would lessen Little Owl’s anxiety. Having Little Owl write and come up with questions would in effect teach Little Owl reading and writing comprehension.

Letting the student become the teacher was most important aspect of reducing the student’s anxiety, Wise Owl thought.

Little Owl began to trust Wise Owl. One day told him that math was a struggle too. They began to meet another time for understanding how to use Little Owl’s learning style to make math easier.

Little Owl improved in reading and math homework by the end of the year. He even began reading some comic books to other young animal friends.

Wise Owl watched from afar, pleased with how little Owl was doing and how the other young animals welcomed into their fold.

Acceptance, Wise Owl thought to himself. Little Owl thrived as the others learned to accept different learning styles.

“It doesn’t matter how fast or how they learn; it’s about understanding and accepting the process and not giving up.” Wise Owl said to himself.

*****************

This short story started out as a word-of-the-day prompt: wise.

An Owl always pops into my mind when I think of that word. With my Wise Owl, I began to tell my childhood story. I was diagnosed with Dyslexia and mixed receptive and expressive language disorder at the age of three. Back in the '80s, Dyslexia was not widely understood. I fell behind with my peer group, struggling with reading and writing, which created labels of dumb, stupid, and sick being thrown at me.

A dedicated teacher became my reading tutor and got me to read around age eight. She worked tirelessly to help me learn how I saw letters and the need for visuals. With my learning of reading, I learned how to learn, which is a skill that, if I had not had Dyslexia, I may not understood.

Jump to 2024; the educational world has better understanding that everyone learns differently and at their own pace. Although children will be children, bullying still occurs. The academic world still needs to throw out the term "learning disability"; instead, "learning style" should be used more.

I dedicate this story to all the children out there who are working hard to learn to read. I hope this story gives a little comfort to parents who watch their child struggling to read.

With perseverance, trust, and more detective work on what learning style works best for the child. It can happen.