Why Should We Care?

It’s best you don’t try to teach me anything. Just tell me what you want and let me figure out how to do it myself. I’ll ask questions if I need help. Well, this didn’t go over very well a hundred years ago when I was in elementary and high school. It still doesn’t go over very well, even today, in a lot of educational circles. That’s why this week’s issue is such an eye opener.

In this week’s essay, “Learning Styles: Why Should We Care?” Mariaemma Pelullo shakes our traditional learning trees to bring reality into focus with the way we learn.

First of all, I never heard anyone refer to someone’s learning styles – plural. I thought we were only allotted one style per person. Sure, I realized I used more than one, depending on the situation, but I thought I was weird. Turns out there’s many types and we each learn in many different ways.

Second of all, it’s nice to find out I don’t have to be a One-Size-Fits-All kind of girl!

Sheryle Cooper,
Editor

“Where all think alike no-one thinks much.” ~ Walter Lipman

We do not leave our learning styles behind the minute we have a diploma in hand; they affect every age level and every part of our lives – until our last breath.

Our learning styles make up who we are. They include our interests, our personality, the way our brains process information, and all of our natural gifts and abilities.

Using the appropriate Learning Styles enables us to coach our children to discover who they are as unique creations. When we honor our children’s learning styles we acknowledge the way they are made.

How else can our children grow up with confidence in their abilities? Will they become confident, happy adults if they are constantly learning that they are not good enough? That they aren’t measuring up? That they are not working to potential?

Millions of children are learning, at this very moment in classrooms around the country, that they are not smart, not serious, not motivated, not capable, and have nothing to contribute. How can that be? Aren’t these the same kids that were so smart when they were 2, 3 and 4 years old?

Despite all the rhetoric about each child being an individual, our classrooms continue the one-size-fits-all model of education.

• The kids who need to move around are labeled hyperactive or ADHD.
• Those who need time to reflect and ponder are labeled ADD.
• Those who need to verbalize and ask lots of questions are labeled impulsive.
• Those who need to discuss or have conversations in order to learn are labeled disruptive.
• Students who are not ready to read or write at 4 or 5 or 6 years of age are forced to do so, then labeled dyslexic.
• Kids who are tortured by workbooks and desks and book reports are labeled lazy or slow or unmotivated or disrespectful, or all of these.

Did you know that the majority of people in the population are hands-on, experiential learners? Only a few are print learners: read-the textbook-and-answer-the-questions types of learners. So why are classrooms set up to only shine the spotlight on those lucky three to five students who have the “magic” learning style combination for school?

Those hands-on, experiential learners are our potential inventors, scientists, entrepreneurs, musicians, poets, philosophers, artists of all kinds, missionaries, and creative people. They share the same learning styles as Einstein and similar brilliant people we admire.

They are the students who are often labeled with a learning disability, who experience failure almost daily in school, and who don’t realize how smart they are and that they have unlimited possibilities.

What a tragedy!

Each child’s special learning styles need to be acknowledged and encouraged if each child is to grow up to be the person he/she is meant to be. I believe that parents have an obligation to protect their children from damaging school experiences that hinder their growth and stunt their creativity. And teachers also have an obligation to bring out the star in every child by nurturing their learning styles.

This is my challenge to all parents, teachers, and schools this year:

• Can we transform the education of our youth?
• Can we truly prepare our students for success in life?

It will only happen if we honor the differences in each child; if we look at their learning styles and meet their individual learning needs

CHECK IT OUT!

It’s time to take charge of your child’s education.

Change hair-pulling study sessions

into fun adventures. Discard those

nasty labels!

• www.learningstyleprofile.com – find out your child’s learning style today.
• www.solimaracademy.com – we customize learning programs to meet individual student needs. Join our newsletter list and get your free downloadable gift: our ebook, “Midlife Crisis Begins in Kindergarten!”

LearningSuccess^(TM) Institute
A Division of Reflective Educational Perspectives, LLC
353 Sanjon Road, Ventura, CA 93001
805-648-1739
http://learningsuccessinstitute.com

To read more about this author click here.

Copyright 2012 by Mariaemma Pelullo-Willis, M.S., Reflective Educational Perspectives LLC