Cases
A real case · you decide
Rafe and the history final
Rafe — a 16-year-old who knows the history cold but runs out of time on long written tests
Rafe’s history final is in three weeks. On the last test he knew every answer he reached, and never reached the last four questions.
He could email his teacher tonight, talk to the counsellor next week, or wait and see how the final goes.
What should Rafe do?
Rafe did not need to know more history. He needed the time to show what he knew.
A real case · you decide
Dessa asks her chemistry teacher
Dessa — a 15-year-old who follows chemistry in class but loses the thread copying notes off the board
Dessa spends every chemistry lesson copying slides and misses what the teacher says while she writes.
She has decided to ask for help after class. She is working out what to actually say.
Which ask is most likely to work?
Dessa did not ask for less work. She asked for one specific thing that let her do the work.
A real case · you decide
Kenji’s first job
Kenji — an 18-year-old starting a warehouse job with a long written safety manual
Kenji has a week to read a 40-page safety manual before he can work on the floor.
His manager handed it over without a word about how long it usually takes.
How should Kenji raise it?
Kenji asked for a different way in, not an easier job.
A real case · you decide
June and Oren read the same hard page
June & Oren — a reader who listens while she reads, and a friend who breaks long words into their parts
A biology page is full of words like “photosynthesis” and “decomposition.” June and Oren have one period to understand it.
June plays the page aloud with the words lit up. She follows the ideas, but “decomposition” still slides past her.
Oren writes it out: de + compos + ition. “Compose means put together. De undoes it. So it means coming apart.”
What should June do the next time a long word stops her?
June brought the listening. Oren brought the word parts. The page made sense.
A real case · you decide
Ezra and Callie try the dimmed page
Ezra & Callie — a reader who tests every tool on himself and keeps only what helps, and a friend whose crowded pages settle when one line is lit
A history reading runs three dense columns. Callie says it swims. Ezra has a line-focus tool he dropped last month, and a spare twenty minutes.
Callie turns on the line focus: one line bright, everything else dimmed. The page stops moving. She reads a whole column without losing her place.
Ezra tries the same tool and finds it slows him down; the voice-over is what works for him. He writes both results in his notes: same page, same minutes, what each of them could answer after.
Callie read better with the line focus. Ezra read worse. What should each of them do with it?
Callie kept the line focus. Ezra kept the voice. They tested the same tool and made different choices, and both were right.