Results from a teachers’ hands-on workshop.

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?

 I learn best through visuals and hands on activities. Long before I learned about different learning styles, I knew that I needed to be shown how to do something or at least have a visual that explained the process.

Many years ago my parents invested in knitting machines to be sold in their wool and fabric store. They asked me to learn how to use the machines so that I could give demonstrations to some of their customers. They handed me a cassette tape. I just laughed. Even then I knew that I couldn’t learn how to operate this piece of machinery by simply listening to a tape. My middle sister, however, jumped at the chance and became very proficient with the machines. She was also a lot better at learning languages than I was. My friend, L, teaches children to memorize words to songs by simply making them repeat the words. I’ve tried but I need that piece of paper in front of me to help me with the process.

Over the years I’ve learned to use a variety of teaching techniques to accommodate different learning styles. What works for one child may not work for another. This week in one of my art classes, I had students come to me individually when they were ready to start a new project. I had pictures and samples in front of me and I explained the process when they arrived at my desk. After showing several students what to do I asked one student if they could see from the examples what needed to be done. He had no clue. He needed to hear the instructions. He was clearly an auditory learner.

As for me, give me a demonstration, a video tutorial or a hands-on workshop. I’ll come away inspired and ready to try something new.

Learning by doing

Rewarded by success!