Words as "pictures"

I was looking at my previous blog posts and I was disappointed at how
they all seem a little "impersonal"...For this post,
I'd like to attempt to rely on my own ideas on teaching..sans cut-and paste..

Not long ago I was working an individual who seemed to have a sub-benchmark level 3 understanding of the English language. He was discouraged that his friends, in the same program, were excelling at a faster rate than he was. Compounding this, I sensed he felt that this was effecting his confidence.

When I was younger, I was sometimes plagued by a feeling of low self-esteem with regard to various academic endeavors.. I tended to set artificial limits on what I was capable of learning. Moving beyond these barriers was, I feel, an important part of my growth as an individual..

My instinct, working with this student, was to go beyond the lesson at-hand and attempt to instill some confidence because this seemed to be the dominant limiting factor in his learning.

As we proceeded though his exercises, I took every opportunity I could to genuinely encourage him and complimented any progress made (even if small). When not able to pronounce a given word, I asked that he repeat the proper pronunciation after me, then returning to the text.
Once he was able to properly say a given word, whenever this word was encountered again, in his reading, I reminded him that he already "knew" how to say it. This "method" definitively seemed to raise his spirits, and improve his progress.

When we see the word "apple"...do we read it? letter-by-letter? I think once a person "knows" a word, the thought of it seems virtually connected to the idea of it--and its pronunciation. When I see the word "apple" it seems an actual apple is triggered in my thoughts. I certainly don't "read" the individual letters phonetically because I "know" it..

The idea of seeing a word "as a picture"...resonated strongly with me as a teaching "tool"..

I suppose one could characterize this as just that--another "tool" in a teacher's "bag of tricks", yet I genuinely feel it was more significant, in that the idea dawned from the fact I "cared" about this individuals state-of-mind..

In the past I have known the "low" feeling of thinking I am not capable and have this effect my own learning progress. Utilizing empathy and breaking these "negative" beliefs, I therefor conclude, is a central role of any good teacher..