Time for a teaching rant! Things I learned in college that changed me. Not necessarily a negative rant, just an observation with a healthy dose of frustration.
So in teaching college I learned about learning styles about how important it is to incorporate all types of learning styles in your lesson. Visual, auditory, kinesthetic, etc. As a kid either they didn't know about this shit or my teachers never bothered with it. Because for so many classes I was completely disengaged and often wasn't learning except to regurgitate info at test time only to forget it when I didn't need it anymore. Because they only taught with books or lecture.
*However* when i got to college and learned about the different learning styles, I was SHOOK when I realized I was 100% a kinesthetic learner. AKA I learned by doing things hands-on. Someone shows me how to do something in front of me and then they watch me do it and correct me as I'm going if I mess up. If we can do it step by step together it's even better. This is why I was SO successful in art classes, that was their primary mode of teaching. The fact that I didn't realize I wasn't retaining or caring about information was because they weren't teaching it in a way I could grasp blew my mind. And it explained a lot of reasons why learning new tasks at work was difficult for me, because my manager at the time would tell me and give me a job aid—a packet with written instructions. When I realized I was a fully kinesthetic learner I told him that, told him what that meant, and asked if he could modify the way he teaches me things. Because he was baller he DID and just GUESS who became one of his best and most efficient managers within a couple of weeks? Yeah. Rather than constantly asking him to repeat things he's told me a million times all he had to do was give me a quick 10-20 minute hands on situation and I would know it perfectly. Sure it took more time in the moment but it paid off and saved time reteaching in the end.
Another thing is that while I LOVE learning new things, I am horrible at teaching myself new things. Classes—hands on classes—are almost a must. Learning new languages is something I love doing but I cannot teach myself very well. I need to be in a physical space with other learners in order for anything to stick. Same with a lot of other things. I can remember random interesting facts, but I cannot teach myself something completely new without being in a classroom. Idk if it’s because they completely neglected teaching kids how to be independent in learning or if it’s just how my brain is wired, but it is frustrating to say the least.
My main gripe/rant is that I fucking wish they would teach kids learning styles earlier. If I had known I needed to be hands on in everything I did I would have likely actually enjoyed school and obtained way more information. Another reason why I was also good at science because in science you do labs, which is doing stuff with your hands and observing it. If I could have told teachers in classes I struggled in that I cannot learn via lecture and worksheets alone and they actually accommodated for that I think school would have been so different for me. Not to mention how it affected my work life. If people could tell someone “hey, I learn better by doing it as you teach.” Or “I learn if you physically show me and I do it right after as you watch.” It would make a big difference. Instead so many workers just watch training videos or reading job aid packets and are expected to know pretty advanced stuff depending on the job. I feel like life in general would be better if learning styles was acknowledged in every aspect of life and taught to everyone early on, not just teachers in teaching college who learn about it and then never fucking use it in practice because it’s too much work. (Not hating on teachers here, really, it is so much work and teachers are chronically overworked and underpaid. Schools dgaf if students retain information outside of school, they only care about test scores, so teachers “teach to the test” as they call it and pray students know it well enough to score well so they don’t lose their fucking job.) I think if schools weren’t so heavily test-focused, ESPECIALLY standardized testing, things would just be better as a whole.
But things won’t change. Not even really sure why I complain at this point.
