The Extra Lesson: Movement, Drawing and Painting Exercises to Help Children with Difficulties in Writing, Reading, and Arithmetic

by Audrey E. McAllen

This revised and expanded edition of The Extra Lesson gives careful and thorough instructions for the remedial drawing, painting, and movement exercises developed by Audrey E. McAllen. The difficulties experienced by students struggling to learn writing, reading, and arithmetic are addressed by the activities described. Students of elementary and high school age are able to find a new connection to who they are and to their tasks, thus overcoming obstacles to their learning.

132 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this up 3 years ago out of an interest in incorporating some remedial exercises into my activities with my classes. Many of my students clearly needed something else, I wasn’t sure what to try, and I figured everyone in class could benefit from some movement or drawing. I thought it was worth a shot. I never got past the first chapter, and the exercises never made their way into my lessons.

Having now gone through this, I do and I don’t quite see how essential these types of remediation are. I do see how they would benefit younger children just starting out in school (grades 1–6, really). The gist is simple: help the ones who struggled though their (movement) development in early childhood to figure out how to control their bodies. The stronger the four lower senses are, the stronger the higher senses—so essential to academic work—will be. I had a hard time understanding the instructions for some exercises until I did them myself. I personally prefer to learn stuff like this in person, to try it out and see how it feels, so most of this book was intangible to me.

Also, the anthropop stuff sometimes threw me. Statements like “This is especially useful for children who have suddenly started to lie and steal” or saying that a student’s abundant use of green in a drawing indicates a heightened intellectual element gave me pause. And stuff like this happens a lot here. I’m sure there are explanations and deeper insights behind these indications, but the way they’re presented here left me guffawing at times and incredulous at others. Do this because soul blah blah and the Vertical Midline Barrier Blërg.

I suppose that’s why there are remedial education training programs and specialists who implement these educational support programs in schools. Just reading the book on this type of remedial support is like listening to someone describe a sumptuous meal: you kinda get it, but that’s not really what it’s like. Good to know though if I ever develop an extra lesson program for adolescents.