I’m on my soapbox about education, styles of learning/teaching, and labeling students THAT DON’T FALL WITHIN WHAT WE CONSIDER “NORMAL PERIMETERS.”
Our entire lives are spent learning. I believe when you stop learning, life as we know it is basically over. I feel that any day that you learn something, is a great day. Our lives have been defined and influenced by “how and what we learn” in both our personal and professional lives. We’ve always heard, that “If you don’t use it, you’ll lose it.” I absolutely believe this is true in the learning arena. It’s so very important to use your brain—to keep it sharp.
I have to agree with Victor Hugo when he says, “When an instructor's style matches a student’s learning style, that student typically experiences greater satisfaction and a more positive attitude toward the course. However, there is considerable disagreement as to what degree learning styles actually affect a student's ability to do well.” I find that when I’m doing well in a learning environment and the instructor and I “click,” I am much more satisfied and more open to the learning atmosphere. I seem to learn more!! When my style and the instructor’s style is complete opposite, I tend to find myself less open to learning. I’m sure it’s the same with most of us. There needs to be a commonality between the learner and student.
I don’t, however, agree when he compares learning styles with learning personalities. To me, I don’t see much of a difference or don’t care if there is a difference. To me, how do I learn? What makes it easier for me? Does it matter if it’s a “style” or “personality?” Not to me, it doesn’t!
I had a wonderful woman, Debra, working for me one time and her son, “William” went to a public school in the town that I live in. William is dyslexic…which is a very common learning disability throughout the world. He’s a wonderful, talented, and bright young man. Cindy told me that the school had placed him in “Special Education” classes in his school. They actually labeled him “mentally retarded” because of this. When I found this out I was furious. I told her, “How dare they label him as retarded…a stigma and label he would carry with him his whole life.” I really was angry about that. She went to the school and demanded that they classify him correctly. They eventually did. Students can be “labeled” good or bad. Either way, these labels can be truly disruptive to one’s life.
Speaking of learning disabilities, such as dyslexia, there have been many people, such as the CEO of Cisco Systems (John Chambers) who have been affected by this learning disability. My sister used to be on his staff. He had to find out what worked for him. Instead of doing emails to his senior staff, he preferred to hold face-to-face meetings. It was easier for him. Face it---that’s the same for all of us. We ALL have to learn what works best for us, and go for it, don’t we?!
If you tell a child or an adult that they are stupid or dumb…and they hear it over and over, they will believe it. If you tell a child/adult that they are brilliant, bright, etc…they will usually work hard to live up to this. Sometimes it’s difficult to live up to this label, too! If you live in an encouraging environment, you usually can flourish.
In conclusion, the bottom-line is that if you can figure out what helps you learn, you can implement some of the steps/remove the distractors, you will also learn much. The “world is your oyster” and the possibilities are really endless when you figure out how YOU learn. You can have all the knowledge in the world, but if you can figure out how to apply the learning, it doesn’t do you a bit of good. Call it a theory or personality…who cares?! Just take time and learn—that’s all that matters.
REFERENCES:
http://victorhugor.blogspot.com/2009/05/learning-styles-theory-at-controversy.html
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