When I was growing up I always thought I was stupid, I did poorly on tests, I usually got lost in what the teacher was saying.
The teacher would go write something on the board or give some lecture and I would just zone out and not learn anything. Yes, there is the possibility that had some other learning issues going on but regardless, I always struggled in school.
When I was in the fifth grade I took a learning ability test as well as the fifth grade SATs. In the sixth grade I had a teacher who was a very sweet young lady (young for an elementary teacher) who also had a part time job at the grocery store right by my house. She was wonderful until the fateful day she told me I had to see the counselor after school. My teacher said she wanted to discuss my test results. This was the moment I knew I was going to be put in remedial classes because I was so stupid, and my new teacher was just too nice to say it.
However I experienced something the opposite. My school counselor said that I tested very high on the learning ability test but relatively low on the SAT test. They decided to administer some tests to me to figure out what was going on. Unfortunately I don’t think they really had access to the tests that would have helped me at that time. I was once again on my own with a little more confusion than before.
I am so grateful for that teacher, she was one of my favorite teachers of all times. As a result of what she found out, something shifted in my thinking. I went from thinking I was stupid to something was wrong with me. Being “super smart” just broken was something that I felt I could work with. If I was smart enough, I could figure out how to fix myself. I don’t know if I really got to the point where I “fixed” myself but I figured out how to learn more effectively. I would look at something that was being taught in every way I could from every angle in order to understand it. I would always create some analogy that can express an idea that the teacher was lecturing on.
At some point, I discovered the traditional way things were taught was not a way that connected with me. It wouldn’t be until I learned about the VARK assessment that there are actually categorical learning styles that make sense to me.
VARK stands for Visual, Aural, Reading/Writing, Kinesthetic. In my school experience education was most commonly ordered as follows: Aural, Reading/Writing, Visual, Kinesthetic. This is something that is highly problematic since I learned through the assessment that I am a Kinesthetic, Visual, Reading/Writing, Aural. I learn exactly the opposite of how I was taught.
All of this is to say that how you learn can dramatically affect you in many different areas. Furthermore, if you have someone who works for you and you need to train them, when they understand how they learn, you can make simple changes to the way you communicate ideas to them that will save a great deal of heartache in the long run.
Home. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://vark-learn.com/