What’s your learning style? Do
you prefer learning in a group and in an interactive setting? Or one-on-one? Do
you retain information best through lectures, or visuals, or simply by reading
books?
The short answer: Group OR one-on-one, interactive, visuals, reading,
and discussing print. Honestly, I learn best though multiple learning styles.
Each different style reinforces the material and helps it “sink in,” so to
speak. J I
love the idea that we don’t all learn the same way. I know it sounds a bit odd, but that’s what
made me fall in love with teaching, trying to figure out how to help someone
else learn. I realized early on that not everyone would be able to learn the
material simply by reading or studying it independently as an assignment. I
started to research ways to present the information in multiple different
fashions including visuals, various multi-media, and even partner or small
group work. I enjoy the excitement that
comes when a student who has been struggling with a particular subject or
concept is able to “get it” simply because the material was presented in a new
or different way! I could go to school to discuss concepts and ideas my whole
life and never wish for any other profession. Unfortunately (or I should say fortunately),
life took me down a slightly varied path from this “college professor” dream of
mine. Instead, it brought me to looking after “little ones” and their teachers
and mentors. So, now I clap with
children as they pull up for the first time or scoop them up to hug them when
they experience fear about their new found independence. I make up new counting
games for them simply because counting makes them happy, and I dance with them
to their favorite songs. I laugh with
the teachers as they relay their daily stories about the funny things the
students in their care said to them, and I rejoice with them as they get
excited over the newest accomplishment the toddler in their classroom has
achieved that very minute. Most of all, I learn from my students, my
colleagues, the children’s teachers, and the children themselves more than
through any other method. So, what’s my learning style?? I learn by teaching! J
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