Ireland as a land of Learners
One of the great difficulties of education is we try to fit everyone in to the same box - it's generally accepted that this doesn't happen but - there's the "but" how else can we teach the masses?
Well that's the 1st mistake - thinking about the "teaching". If we instead look at the learners - the students and look at the world from their perspective we may begin to not only accommodate everyone but have them reach their full potential. Most of all have them be happy and enjoy doing it!
So if we take the learning nation of Ireland - what are they like?
Well we have a nation of sociable chatterboxes that have a huge number of successful athletics when you think about the size of the country. We make an impact wherever we go. We are also very generous again for the size of Ireland we contribute hugely in charity donations, peace keeping and volunteer work . We are hugely proud of anything irish!
So in simple terms that makes us Auditory, Kinaesthetic learners that need huge amounts of encouragement and praise. We really care about what everyone thinks of us, so like most other parts of the world we are a largely extrovert society. We need to work with others in social settings.
Books and a dyslexic reader
One of the ways I found years ago to cope with the frustration of taking too long to read a book was to read several of them at the same time! This means I can jump about and not get bored - so at the moment I'm reading 5! - last count and all of them are whirling my brain in different ways...
Imagine, French Children don't throw food, My life with Chimpanzees, Quiet- The power of introverts, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
Just don't ask me to read any of them out loud because I still can't read the words just the meaning! 
Dr. Naoisé
Review for The Purple View
"The Purple Learning eBook, brainchild of Naoise O'Reilly is such an easy read and so wish this kind of wisdom had been around when I was in primary education, (I reckon I could have been a brain surgeon by now). Naoise takes the holistic view and uses lego-block method of building a learning method individually designed for students. She see's Tutor's as facilitators in adapting their teaching methods to totally suit the student. It breaks down the teacher/student barrier and allows for two way communication, sounds simple but really very effective in promoting confidence and therefore promotes learning.
Naoise has a unique way of identifying each students individual learning style and once identified, can then be used as foundation building block, which in turn allows the student to grow and achieve their full potential.
As with most ground-breaking books the seed of an idea can lead on to great things, Naoise has developed the 'miracle grow' ingredient of learning, she does her magic and allows the student to find their wings and FLY... "June Shannon April 2012
I'm so deeply chuffed by June's words and I would have loved her to be a brain surgeon! Thank you so much for taking the time to review the book. I love the idea of being a 'miracle grow' - in fact I'd love all students to grow into the best possible version of themselves! Dr Naoisé O'Reilly
The Purple View eBook
The Purple learning method ebook is now available for Download!
Dr. Naoisé O’Reilly’s latest publication ‘The Purple View’ has emerged from her 3 years of research which has now successfully proven that ‘it’s not a way of seeing or thinking - it’s a way of doing that gets results for everyone.’ Her Purple Learning Project allows everyone to be a successful learner while taking their own attributes of potential, personality and their aptitudes to do this. It gives all students confidence and control over their learning environment and ultimately it gives everyone a way to express themselves which is what Dr. O’Reilly believes is the key point of education.
A link to the full services offered by our education projects
eBook now available for download!
The Purple learning method ebook is now available for Download!
An introduction video to the new book on the Purple Learning Project
An Introduction to our new book on the Purple Learning Project, The Purple View.
How does a dyslexic write a book in two days?
So I'm writing the book for the Purple Learning Project at the moment.... in typical me style I want it done now as quickly as possible -I hate having any task hanging over me... I always find one of the biggest struggles for me is that my brain works at a much faster pace than my writing or typing speed - though I am more wizz like on a keyboard! I also have that awful dyslexic fear of the blank page - how do you begin to fill them up! Where do the words come from? How do you find different words to use?
My way to get around all this is to start with the images for each chapter - I've already got a drawing of how the book is going to fit together - the plan..this includes all structure within each chapter too - I always think the best thing to do is to try and find just one line that sums the whole thing up and then expand! There is at least one picture that sums up each section.. just describe these and your sorted. It's all very mathematical really - I think in patterns, visuals and how these all fit together.
Having someone to describe them all to who types it up also speeds it all up. I dictated all my college exams so I'm a dab hand at thinking off the top of my head onto paper. This also means that it will sound exactly like me talking...
I'll never understand why anyone would want to spend a year writing a book - that's my idea of hell!
Naoisé
Interview on LMFM Radio regarding links between Depression, mocks and Gifted Students
This morning I did an interview with LMFM on the latest press release concerning our findings on the links between Depression in students facing the Mocks and how this effects gifted students in particular. How should we change the Mock exam structure to combat these difficulties that are being created for students nationwide?
Link to Radio Interview on LMFM
3 Year Irish Education Study Identifies Links Between Gifted Teenage Schoolchildren Battling Depression & The Mocks
3 Year Irish Education Study Identifies Links Between Gifted Teenage Schoolchildren Battling Depression & The Mocks
(Blanchardstown, Dublin, Ireland, Monday January 23rd 2012).
The results of a 3 year Study by Irish Educationalist, Dr. Naoisé O’Reilly, reveal a number of links between the rate of depression & gifted teenagers whose talents may or may not have already been spotted in schools around the Country.
Dr. O’Reilly, Founder of The Homework Club, confirms that teenagers are falling through the cracks in the education system as their talents aren’t recognised & this makes them prone to depression. In her experience, certain teenagers, depending on their personality types, can also fare worse.
On The Mocks front, she states, by 2nd year in school it’s already been decided whether students are good or bad at Maths for Life. ‘What are schools setting people up for?’ The Irish Mocks exam structure requires major & urgent reform as the current model is destroying young lives. Afterall, you can do nothing in life with foundation maths.
There are also disgraceful situations where gifted teenagers who slip up on small stuff in class are branded as ‘slow’ by teachers.
Multiplicity – do we lose it in the school system?
At the end of the first term at The Homework Club (our development centre) we work though an evaluation process with the students to wrap up the term's achievements. This has two main functions, firstly to get the students thinking about their own progress over the term, where they have reached and where they would still like to improve in each topic. This gives them control over their own learning objectives and helps them map out a plan for the new year.
It also allows us to reflect on the students and their personalities. We do this by using the attached questionnaire below. When I first started this study of the students, I saw a trend very quickly that the disorganised, unstructured and unfocused students didn't fit neatly into one category of learnign style. They ticked one box in each section with no clear direction of thought. Many of these students simply didn't know where their strengths lie or how they learn best. This allowed us as a team to focus on key skills we felt that needed to be improved or to help the students develop more structure in certain areas and so on throughout the second term in preparation for the exams at the end of term three.
This is now our 3rd year of this study and I now see an even bigger significance than I did initially. As the student intact has expanded in the ages (from 5 to 20+) and learning difficulties of the students of this period, I now see a new more important trend.
