The 3 Learning Styles and What They Should Mean to You

Have you ever sat in a meeting, lecture, or class, and think to yourself, "I have NO idea what anyone is talking about, or what I'm reading about"? We've probably all been there at least once in your life. The worst part about that is how stupid we feel in that situation. You can't help but think "everyone is getting this but me." It's a horrible feeling, no doubt about it. But what if it's not all you?

The truth is everyone has a learning style. Recognizing that learning style is also critical to your professional success as well as how you function as an individual. There is no "right" or "wrong" learning style, nor does one mean you are smarter over the other. It's just how you learn. The different types of learners include visual, auditory, and tactical. What kind of learner are you?

Visual Learners. Visual learners rely on visual aids, such as charts, graphs, concept maps, or even prefer reading material at their own pace in order to learn and intake information. So the team members in a meeting, training presentation, or class that may seem like they aren’t paying attention, probably really are, but will most likely read up on meeting notes, review the presentation slides or hand outs, or study on their own time and at their own pace.

Auditory Learners. Auditory learners prefer listening and participating in lectures, class discussions, meetings, and other group projects by asking questions as opposed to reading material. Some leaders or lecturers may find that the “talkers” in the group are often the people that wait until a minute before the close of a meeting to ask 100 questions. Be patient…those are just the auditory learners that are speaking up and feeding their own learning style and habits.

Tactical Learners. Tactical learners, also known as kinesthetic learners, are doers. They are the fidgety, hands-on, “I need to just DO this” kind of people. These are the individuals that might doodle or fidget in meetings or class that others might find annoying or distracting. They are in fact listening and taking in the information, but they prefer to do it and get their hands on it rather than listen to it.

By recognizingand understanding each learning style, we just learned a whole lot more about ourselves, and maybe even our class mates or coworkers, didn't we? Now that we understand each learning style a little bit better, how does this knowledge make us better students, employees, leaders, entrepreneurs, or even parents? It allows us to tailor how we teach, speak to, or support another, be it a class mate, a friend, a child, a coworker, or a team member.

For example, you are a manager and one of your team members is Joe. Joe is a visual learner. He visits your office or calls you up and asks a question that may require some training or in-depth explanation, how do you show Joe what to do? If Joe is standing in your office or is on the phone, you can verbally explain to him what to do, and then you might follow up with an email with those same instructions after your conversation. You can also email him charts or slides from a training presentation for his review. This way, Joe, who may not have taken in every single word you said when you spoke to him, but that doesn't necessarily mean he didn’t listen, but now he has an email from you to read on his own once he tackles his task.

Those of you who are managers or entrepreneurs who might be reading this might think this is borderline micromanagement. It isn’t. It’s not about doing team members’ jobs for them, or breathing down their necks to get it done, it’s rather about recognizing individual learning styles. Just like any manager would recognize a team member’s strengths and weaknesses, this is taking it one step further and reaching a team member in the way that they learn best.

So let's go back to the meeting or class and the moment you realize you feel stupid. What was it about that environment or how the content was presented that you feel like really didn't do it for you? Maybe it was too boring to sit and listen to someone blab? Or maybe the presentation itself was too hard to see from where you were sitting. Or maybe the subject material itself just doesn't hold your interest. Regardless of the reason, just because you don't understand something or having a hard time following doesn't necessarily mean it's a reflection on your intelligence or intellectual level. It's just your learning style.

Image credit: © iQoncept - Fotolia.com

Written content: © 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2012 J. H. Language Solutions 

How to Improve Your English and Grammar

When writing you are always improving your grammar and writing skills. This will benefit you both personally and professionally. There are many different ways to improve your writing and grammar, but the simplest way is by adjusting your current writing habits.

The best way to hit the ground running is to research an adult grammar workbook. This will give you basic guidelines to help you construct your grammar skills. You may advance the workbooks based on your level of experience in writing. You will also be able to quiz yourself, and gauge how you are progressing. You can find any writing and grammar book online or at a local bookstore.

Write, write, and write. Practice makes perfect, right? This is a guaranteed way to work on and improve your skills. Like exercise, the more you write, the stronger you will become. Many people become dependent on automatic spell check. In order to master spelling and grammar on your own, try writing by hand.

Outlining will help you write your best essay. Outlining will help you organize your thoughts and arguments. It will also give your final draft structure and flow. The order of the outline should be the order of the paragraphs that you want to write. Review your outline before you start.

A writing class is also a good idea to strengthen your writing and grammar skills. You will be able to find classes at most colleges that take place at many different hours which can be convenient for you and your schedule. You will have the benefit of being able to discuss writing with a trained professor and as well as in a group.

All in all, taking the time to improve your writing skills as well as grammar will only be a benefit to you. It can improve several areas of your life and you will no longer feel self conscious about your writing ability. You will also begin to produce some of the best essays.








*This blog was written for a client of mine. Although the content was written by J.H. Language Solutions, we do not own the content nor claim it as ours. We are merely posting it as a part of the contracted agreement.

Why Music Appreciation is Important For Musicians...No Matter WHAT You Play

As a music fan, you probably have your own genre that you prefer. Your favorite band, your favorite song, or your favorite sound. Everyone that enjoys music has their own preference. However, the well-rounded musician can also appreciate other musical styles and genres.

As a musician, maybe you are thinking about pursuing a career in music. While music may seem like a small industry, or a difficult one, and in part this is true, unless you know already that you are destined to become a rock star, a popular choice is music education. You get all the benefits of becoming a teacher (salary, tenure, summers off, etc.), but you are teaching one of the greatest gifts...music.

However, as a teacher, you must teach music appreciation to your student musicians. Music teachers have very different styles in going about this. Some teachers will teach the basic characteristics of each music genre and decade. For example, Baroque, classical, jazz, Baroque, right up through 50s rock and roll, the 60s “free love” movement, and into Disco and 80s hair bands. While this is all well and good, you always have the luxury of incorporating music through, well, music. You could incorporate old rock and roll songs into choral sections, or write out famous jazz pieces for your students to play, or even let them study and write reports on their favorite musicians and why. The possibilities are endless.

There was a time when I was a diehard musician. Well, I still am, but I used to play ALLL the time. I was constantly attending rehearsals, playing and singing at gigs, competitions, concerts. It was a lot of fun. For fifteen straight years I was heavily involved with music. Now that I’m old, have a family and work full time, I don’t have the capacity to play as much anymore. Although I do attempt to keep my piano skills alive from time to time. Music was my life. When I started college in 2003, I was doing a double major in Spanish and Music. It was really tough and I’m not kidding when I tell you that I took 10 classes each semester...it was a ton of work. Unfortunately, halfway through, due to schedule and financial restraints, I had to choose one major...which was Spanish.

Anyways, my point is in all those years of taking music class after class, I think there was only one real teacher who really taught music appreciation. Don’t get me wrong, from fifth grade right through college, I had a lot of great teachers and professors, but there is only one that comes to mind that I can say I really learned a lot from... and he knows who he is. I find that music teachers like him are hard to come by. He reminded me a lot of Mr. Holland, from Mr. Holland’s Opus. He taught music we could listen to and really get into playing. I mean rock and roll, blues, and genres of the like. I mean, traditional music is great and all, but I find that SO many teachers are very “by the book” and teach traditional music and skip the rock of the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s just because it was so controversial...but you HAVE to teach it. Those decades defined modern music. You can’t ignore it.

All in all, whether you decide to become a teacher, or become a solo artist, a music therapist, or you really become a famous rock star (“because we all just wanna be big rock stars”, right?), music appreciation is key. A well-rounded and intelligent musician should be able to discuss and appreciate music of all forms. It doesn’t mean you actually have to like it, because let’s face it, a lot of music out there is, well, questionable...but you should be able to appreciate it and all its forms.

However, no matter which career you choose, it is no doubt that as a musician and artist, you will incorporate your talent and your love for music and music appreciation in your musical “Journey”.

Children and Technology: A Good Idea?

Technology has consumed our lives. You may read this and think to yourself that this is either good or bad. However, no matter if you are a huge fan of technology or you are totally against it, you have to admit that it has made our lives easier in one way or another. But what about technology and education? Our children have no choice but to succumb to our technologically driven society. But is that a good idea?

More and more schools are instituting technology in their classrooms, and out. Many classes are conducted online, in addition to online education portals where children can study, do homework, activities, and even collaborate with one another and their classroom teacher. There are also technological initiatives to provide each student with a laptop or iPad.

Now that sounds nice, right? Yeah, it’s great...but with the budget cuts nationwide, how are schools going to afford to provide EACH child with a laptop, or iPad for that matter? Schools today can barely afford teachers’ salaries and books...never mind top of the line technology. Our country has to get their shit together before we can provide these great things to our children. Steve Jobs said it best that education cannot be fixed with technology.

Even if the economy and our schools improve and suddenly we have all the money in the world (an obvious exaggeration...) to buy our kids these fancy technological gadgets...what happens to textbooks? The fundamental tool we have used for education since the invention of the printing press. We’ve always thought that we couldn’t really learn without books...so what happens if/when education goes paperless? Wold that do more harm than good?

If you are a parent, or grandparent, or teacher, or older sibling, or have even spent a minute around children, you will see that kids today are more emphatic about technological gadgets, video games, and cell phones than reading or studying. I get that this is why schools are trying harder and harder to integrate technology into their classrooms and curriculums, in order to keep kids focused. However, children today aren’t interested in reading books. And it’s really a sad thing. Kids are already losing the ability to read and write up to graduation standards due to constant instant messaging and texting shorthand. Are our kids and our kids’ kids going to lose the ability to read and write English? What kind of world would that be?

Back in what seemed like another life for me, I was pursuing a Master’s in Education. One of the courses I took was Technology in Education. I thought it was going to be an extremely boring class...but not only was my professor interesting, but I found that the coursework was just as interesting. For my final paper, I did some research on “multiple intelligences” and on children and how their minds work. Children of what is now as today as the “Digital Age”, have actually begun to learn digitally. So it’s possible that our children and their creative minds have actually altered from the traditional learning methods that we possess, and now have the ability to not only be more creative, but have the ability to learn technology and digital methods easier than us.

So I ask you...is technology and education a good idea? Sure...I think we can all agree that there are definitely benefits involved, but there’s a lot to consider. The cost and the long term repercussions. However, today it is impossible to avoid children’s collaboration and ability to get their hands on technology.

© Xavier Gallego Morell | Dreamstime.com

Education in America - Joke

Today's public school education sucks. Period. Our kids today are doomed. The things that kids crave and enjoy most (recess, gym, the arts) are all being cut. And today's American parents and society wonder why child obesity is an issue. Wake the hell up. Kids need exercise. Hell, we ALL need exercise. But we live and are consumed by this selfish society with our complex lives and technological gadgets which keep us from staying healthy. It's our own damn fault. Stop blaming McDonald's, stop blaming school cafeteria food, and stop blaming it on video games. Bad food has been around for centuries. It's NOT the food, it's our lifestyle. Get the kids off the damn couch, out of the classroom, and get them outside. Problem solved.

Before you criticize me and ask me what do I know about education and parenting, I am a stepmother of an eight year old, and have assisted in raising her with my husband since she was three years old. For several years in my life, I wanted to be a teacher. I purchased books, took the teacher's test, and even got halfway through a Master's in education. Why didn't I finish? Two reasons. 1.) I was laid off and couldn't afford to finish school, 2.) I realized what bullshit the American education system is in public schools. I took several education related courses. The final one I took was a course dedicated to reading. I can't remember the exact course title. It was about child intelligence and teaching them how to read. It was interesting, yet maddening at the same time. I began to notice a pattern. A pattern in which I was completely against. All education was about was putting a label on a child. When a child could read, he or she was put into a category. If a child had difficult reading, another category, and so on. I understand that it is to better the child's understanding and reading development, but so what if maybe they learn slower than the other students? Why is EVERYTHING so assessment based? They are KIDS.

This blog goes out to my eight year-old stepdaughter. We just got a report from her teacher earlier this week. She is doing exceptionally well in art. She's excelling more than all the other kids and she was even chosen to HELP other children with their art assignments. The teacher couldn't say enough about her creativity and imagination. Then came the downside. The teacher claimed that she had spent a ton of time drawing, cutting out, and taping all the characters from the movie "How to Train Your Dragon". Although the teacher commended her on her efforts, she immediately expressed her concerns on how she spends a lot of time dreaming and believing that dragons and fantasies are real. My husband's reponse to that was, "So? She's EIGHT!" What eight year-old DOESN'T believe in dragons and fantasies? Is she supposed to choose a religion and write a philosophical paper on religion and life before age ten??? Cut the shit. My husband continued to sternly address that with all the bad shit in the world, let kids have their fantasies. The world sucks. Don't ruin their innocence. Let them be KIDS for chrissake. Not to mention, maybe her creativity and wild imagination the reason WHY she excels in art. Come on, you mean to tell me these educational professionals can't figure that out??? And I know there are more kids out there that are the same way as my stepdaughter. But no, God forbid they have a mind of their own or think outside the box. We might as well be Nazi Germany with the way we brainwash our kids. We should be ashamed of ourselves.

All in all, education in America sucks. The MLB and NFL make millions upon millions of dollars each year to throw and catch a fucking BALL yet our schools are piss poor. They are packing thirty plus kids to a classroom, (which is a complete fire hazard but whatever, turn the other cheek, right?) cutting foreign language, music and the arts, physical education, and recess. All the things kids enjoy. Kids are our future, people. They are going to be running this world and taking care of us one day, so we better take care of them now. Let's not brainwash them into level-headed adults before fourth grade. Let kids be kids. Let them be dreamers. Let them run around and have fun. Let them eat what they want, (within reason, of course). Let them enjoy life, because as adults, they are going to realize how much it sucks. And it's going to suck even worse for them when they are older. And the reason why it's going to suck worse is because of us and what we are doing to them now.