Part I
In order to understand why some people are not achieving, it
is important to consider different learning styles.
Furthermore, if a teacher has a different style than the
learner, the results may be unsatisfactory. Following are
three important considerations that may help underachievers
and learners with mild LD.
I. REPRESENTATIONAL SYSTEMS
Of our five senses, seeing, hearing and feeling are the
primary ways in which we experience the world. While we use
all of our senses when we learn, we tend to favor one of
them. We may favor different senses in different learning
situations.
There are primarily: Visual learners, Auditory learners and
Kinesthetic learners. The first group will benefit most from
writing on a blackboard, receiving handout sheets or seeing a
demonstration. For these learners, a diagram may be worth a
million words.
Auditory learners function best hearing what they are
learning. They prefer listening to a lecture and discussing
the material. Very often, they will look away from you when
you are talking because it helps them tune in to what you are
saying. The proverbial "Look at me when I'm talking to you"
may actually disturb the Auditory learner's ability to
concentrate. If you have to diagram something for them, speak
it out as you write.
Kinesthetic learners are inclined to learn by doing. They
like personal involvement, projects, physically moving
around. They need to have a `feel' of what they are learning
in order to `grasp' it. Very often, they get emotionally
involved in their learning. If it is necessary to diagram
something for them, let them do the writing and
designing of the chart.
Visual and Auditory learners may find it distracting when the
Kinesthetic learner stands up and moves around.
Visual and Kinesthetic learners may lose interest and start
daydreaming during a lecture, and find a discussion difficult
to follow.
Auditory and Kinesthetic learners may find written handouts
and demonstrations boring and even useless as part of the
learning process.
Modern educational systems favor Visual learner, and the
other two groups may perform less successfully. This is
especially true with Kinesthetic learners. This certainly
does not mean that the other two groups are less
intelligent.
For instance, the speed at which the different groups learn
varies. Visual learners naturally store material in mental
pictures and are the fastest. Auditory learners may want to
speak things out to themselves and this takes more time.
Kinesthetic learners who have to get a `feel' of the material
and are more prone to making emotional evaluations about it
are the slowest.
One NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programmer) claims that many
Kinesthetic learners are mistaken as LD. Based on my own
teaching experience, I tend to agree with him. There are
techniques for teaching the Kinesthetic student to learn more
Visually.
BONUS TIP FOR TEACHERS: classrooms will function more
effectively when you do things that appeal to all three
learning styles.
Yeshiva learning is very accommodating to all three groups.
The chavrusa system of learning appeals to Auditory
learners as does the shiur, with its lecture and
discussion format. The freedom to stand up and move around
during study appeals to the Kinesthetic learners. I have
personally observed that many students who are below average
in classroom-style learning flourish when they go to yeshiva
and I believe that it is connected to this [Ed. Rabbi Zobin
has maintained this in the past as well.]
II. CHUNK-SIZE LEARNING
General learners prefer large chunks of information --
the big, overall picture, the causes and effects, ideas, the
general trends and patterns.
Specific learners prefer details, facts, hard data,
conclusions.
How these two are combined and sequenced is also important.
Many learners need to start with a general overview of what
is going to be learned. Without this, they do not tune in to
the specifics of the learning and can quickly find themselves
lost. Others need a general summary after the
specifics. Without it, they tend to forget what they have
learned. The summary puts it all together and cements it in.
Others need neither summary or overview.
If your learner is not `getting it,' consider these two
changes: 1) Make the chunk size either more specific or more
general. 2) Add or take away the overview or summary. These
changes can make a tremendous difference.
III. A third consideration has to do with the ability to
MATCH and MISMATCH [discussed in a previous article].
For example, a young child learns that by turning a doorknob,
he can open the door. Later, he encounters a second door with
a handle instead of a doorknob. He understands that
essentially they are the same and proceeds to apply what he
learned from the first door to open the second door. This is
matching. Then he encounters a third door that works
differently. There is no handle or doobknob at all. Here he
has to mismatch what he has learned about doors. In order to
pass through it, he will have to push it open. If he insists
on `turning the doorknob' he will be stuck.
In gemora learning, one must `match' to understand the
proof and `mismatch' to understand the question. Most of us
are fairly well balanced in using both of these processes.
Impaired learning can be a result of a deficiency in one of
these processes. But there are ways to ameliorate it. Here
are two examples:
I once worked with a boy who had trouble mismatching. This
was causing him difficulties in school. His problem was
compounded by the fact that he also became very uncomfortable
whenever people discussed how two things are different. One
technique which remedied his situation was having his parents
pleasantly ask his advice when they had to make a decision.
For example, which item to buy in a store. In order to answer
that question, he had to contemplate how the two items were
different. Since this was an indirect approach, he didn't
realize that he was mismatching and did not resist.
Associating a pleasant voice tone and the `honor' of his
parents' asking his opinion helped him become more
comfortable with seeing differences.
Another boy I worked with had the opposite problem. He could
easily see how things were different but not how they were
the same. For instance, I asked him where fruit should be
kept. He answered that fruit does not belong in the
washing machine or on the bookshelves. However, it did not
occur to him that it belongs in the refrigerator or in a bowl
on the table.
I had the boy observe people performing selected tasks, and
then report back to me on what he noticed. Then we discussed
the reasons why they were doing them in this manner. This
helped him acquire the thought processes that most people
develop naturally as they grow up.
His was a very unusual condition. It seems that from the time
he was very young, he was scolded whenever he made a mistake.
There was pain associated with doing everyday tasks. As a way
of avoiding this pain, he prevented himself from developing
the ability to make the simple associations that enable us to
perform tasks like putting away fruit. It was safer to be
ignorant about how to do simple jobs; then people would leave
him alone.
[Final part: Learning Strategies. Next week.]
Rabbi Shlomo Kory, NLP consultant: 02-5373690; 051-
985225; info@nlpjerusalem.com
