February 10: Writing Prompt #41-Teachable Moment

You have to learn a new skill. Do you prefer to read about it, watch someone else do it, hear someone describe it, or try it yourself?

Honestly, I can’t pick just one of these ways because I learn best through using multiple learning styles.  I prefer to teach this way too.  So, if I have to learn a new skill, I like to read about it first (to take it all in), then watch someone do it (catching the things I missed when reading), then try it myself (to discover what I still need to go back and focus on learning better).  The only one I think is NOT as helpful to me (at least by itself) is hearing someone else describe it.  I can learn OK this way, but I will have to ask you to explain it more than once because if there’s not something visual (the actual words, pictures, or watching someone do something), I may zone in and out and not catch everything you are saying, especially if you are long-winded like me.  If you just zoned out, I understand. J  OR, maybe more accurately, I will starting thinking about the first steps of what you said, trying to remember them, and then miss the next part, which leads to how it can work for me combined with other ways of learning…

Take yoga, for example, I love how the best of yoga instructors, like Rodney Yee, walk you though the positions both verbally and visually.  Putting those learning styles together reinforces that I am doing things correctly.  Then, if I can read about the positions along with drawings or photographs of the positions described, that’s even better. I’ll be an expert before you know it.  Well, close….J 

Bottom line, whether I’m teaching English to adults or life skills to kindergarteners, the more I am able to incorporate the 3 main cognitive learning styles (visual, auditory, and kinesthetic) into my techniques, the more likely my “students” will have success.  This means presenting new material or ideas in multiple ways, i.e. talking about it, writing about it, providing a hands-on activity, etc.... It also means offering opportunities to learn individually, in small groups of 2-3, and in larger groups.  The best teachers I have ever known and learned the most from are the ones who tailor their teaching to the various learning styles of students in their classes.  I think we have certain learning styles that are stronger, but we all learn in more than one way, so I don’t think you can answer this with just one of the 4 choices from the prompt…What do you think? How do you learn best?