My Learning Profile

Today during class, we were asked to try out a bunch of different activities which would soon help us discover out learning profile. I learned lots of new things that I never knew about my ways of learning and new ways to help me focus in class. I learned that am a gestalt learner with a "L" learning profile. After reading about what my type of learners do, I realized that its not only me who is having trouble focusing in class sometimes and that I have one or two pretty constant habits. One very interesting fact that I learned is that Gestalt learners, like me, learn best through movement with experiments and physically doing what is expected, as well as having example given which would greatly help me with what I am learning. I always do these two things and now I know that is is pretty much normal for me to do move around the class and always ask for examples when given a new piece of information or work.

I learned that when in class, I learn best when I move around and when I look at the whole picture instead of just focusing on the smaller details. When I move around, it feels like it helps me take in more information and helps me concentrate more on whats going on in class rather than just sitting down while the teacher is piling down information onto us. Also, I feel that when looking at the bigger picture, I get a better outline of what is going on and a better understanding of what we are looking at or analyzing.

When taking in information, I need to move while processing internally and when thinking of a new idea. Also, I feel that I need quite time alone sometimes, especially when I am under stress. I tend to do this a lot while doing homework and when there is a project. I sometimes find myself spontaneously getting up and moving when I need to think of a new idea and plan for something else in the future. Another thing I learned that helps me when taking in information is that I need to move my hands or quietly fiddle with things without getting distracted such as doodling. I already know I do this so I hope my teachers respect that and now understand why.

The strategies that would help me in my learning are writing and drawing with the non-dominant hand, which I already attempt to do while doodling, and also if I make a checklist of things I have to do before I start my homework so that I can see what I have completed and check off all finished work to help me make my planning more clear and concise.

Finally, I would like my teachers to know that I prefer to not follow step-by-step instructions. I tend to start by thinking about the final product rather than starting with the expected procedure and working my way up and plan as it goes on. I also tend to depend a lot on examples or demonstrations in order to thoroughly understand my work. If no examples are given to me, I will start to get a little bit lost in what we have to do and might start asking my peers for help with lots of different questions, which I think might sometimes annoy them. (:

Picture: http://adultlearnandtech.com/104139328_6a450azz0f.jpg