I let my mind wander around at night in my elementary school years. I’d think myself into two or three possible choices; A, B, and C. I’d choose all three. I’d run down scenario A until I came to a choice. I’d create two or three specific decisions then return to B and follow it to a set of specific choices, then return to C, and repeat the process. Then I’d return to A’s three branches and run scenarios off each one of those.
This kind of thinking was not conducive to math word problems. They’d set up the scenario with information such things as; a man walks south INside a train traveling north etc. I could see the guy ballet leaping, facing south, but in actuality landing behind himself. If the train was driving in small circles and the man inside was twirling, would he twice as dizzy? If the first leaping man landed in a heap would he be twice as hurt? Or, if in mid leap he grabbed the dangling light fixture would he feel like he was floating? Or if the man began walking north and loudly recited a poem as the train ran north, would the recitation sound so fast to a woman outside the train that she couldn’t understand it? Or could the woman understand fast talking but maybe not men.
This organized thinking helped in art school where I completed two to five drawings for every one assignment. I learned two to five times as much. But one teacher got angry with my exuberance and after a while when I wouldn’t stop he insisted I pick only one picture to pass in for his feedback and grade. I picked the worse one in order to learn the most. He didn’t like this either but I wasn’t afraid of him. I didn’t care what grade I got just as long as I was learning. He insisted I just wasn’t playing right. He got a little nasty, so I just kept drawing and imagined him on a train.nancymauerman.com