Psychology teacher Robin Walker remembers feeling dumb as he sat in his first grade classroom learning how to count change.

“Here is a dime,” said Walker. “It’s smaller than a nickle and it’s [worth more]. That blew me away. I thought, ‘That’s stupid. How can it be worth more and it’s smaller?’ I could not understand it. Then they immediately go to the quarter and they go, ‘This is 25,’ and I’m like okay, I’m back. It’s bigger, [so] it’s worth more.”

Walker said he has a tendency to be more right brained.

According to psychologist Carol Anderson, “Right [brained] people are said to be more visually oriented, intuitive, thoughtful, artistic and creative.”

Right brained people also tend to excel in music, art, athletics and coordinated movement.

“I don’t know if I’m more right or just seriously lack left,” said Walker. “I don’t have a lot of left brain functioning skills.”

Walker said he also understands time in a different way than most left brained people.

“[My daughter on the east coast] is not an hour ahead, nor is my brother in Colorado an hour behind me, now is now,” said Walker. “That’s really right brained thinking. Sometimes when you can’t break out of it, you can’t see it another way. That can get frustrating.”

Junior Sarah Guggemos has also felt the frustration of not understanding certain concepts often associated with the left brain, which is why she said she performs better in art, English and social studies classes, rather than math and science classes.

“I have a natural inclination towards creative things,” said Guggemos. “I like movement a lot, and when it comes to just sitting in a classroom and being very logical and looking at something in just a mathematical way, I don’t find that to be as useful in learning.”

Although being right brained can be difficult sometimes, Guggemos said there are benefits of her right brain inclinations.

“I think that you can approach things in ways that aren’t standard,” said Guggemos. “You don’t necessarily look at every project or question like you have to do it one way. You kind of have those tools and that skill set where you want to explore the different options around it.”

Walker also said he has grown to appreciate his right brain tendencies.

“It used to be a curse for me,” said Walker. “Now I see it as a blessing because I get a kick out of not seeing the world the way other people see it.”