Salad Time!
I was pumped to break into my salad for one reason…
'Joe Topped Salad
I loved the inclusion of the leftover sloppy joe meat in my salad. The vinegary flavor of the ‘joes really kicked the flavor up a notch.
Along with the sloppy joe meat, my salad included butter lettuce, leftover roasted broccoli, carrots and Italian dressing.
Learning Styles
As I briefly mentioned this morning, at work today I’ve been training a new writer and working to get her assimilated into our office environment.
As I was preparing notes on everything I wanted to be sure to teach our new employee, I started thinking about different learning styles and the best way to train her and help her learn the ins and outs of her new job.
For me, I learn best by doing. I’m definitely a kinesthetic learner.
Just Let Me Do It!
In college, I would study for tests by making myself multi-page study guides full of what I thought was the important information. In the end, I didn’t review the study guides all that much. It was the process of creating the study guides that helped me most.
In my current job, I’ve learned the most by diving into projects and writing website content. Doing research and regurgitating that information into understandable content really helps me digest the information and learn it for myself.
I know others learn best in different ways. There are visual learners who learn best by seeing and auditory learners who learn best by hearing, among many learning styles.
So, what about you?
What is your learning style? Visual? Auditory? Kinesthetic/Do-er? Something totally different?
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I think I’m combo between visual and kinesthetic – I like to watch someone else do the task and then do it myself! 🙂
I honestly have no idea what my learning style is, but I have a pretty photographic memory, which means that I’m great at memorizing facts but sucky at understanding concepts- exactly why math has never been my forte. I’m good at processing information and analyzing things I read, but anything that’s complicated and sciency is just way over my head!
that sounds visual to me! did you ever read the cam jansen books when you were little? she had a photographic memory and i thought it was the COOLEST thing!
Yes I did! And I never realized I had one until I got older and started remembering minute details and dates of stuff from my infancy (like ages 3-4) that even my parents forget…
Definitely an auditory learner myself, but since I’m a teacher I know how hard it can be to work with people who learn differently than you do! Nice to see you incorporating multiple intelligences into your training 🙂
Also definitely making myself some sloppy joes this week, that salad looks satisfying and deeelish!
I’m a mix of visual and kinesthetic. I like to watch people do things so I know what I’m doing, but I also have to do it myself. I also really like diagrams and visual representations. Real life applications are the best for me!
Totallly agree! I love things like maps but it only clickes once I do it myself.w
Oh my gosh I literally JUST had to do an essay on this and handed it in today!!hahaha. I’m a kinaesthetic learner too, which is good in ways, but means that I always just wanna sleep in class cos I can’t pay attention when they’re only talking…
I’m a mix between visual and kinesthetic! forget about auditory though! I can never keep up when the teachers are talking.
I am a combo of visual and kinesthetic. I do like auditory for me as well…. 🙂
I LOVE doing it the most though<—that helps me a lot. Looks like a great lunch, Julie!
I would definitely be both a visual and kinesthetic learner. I have to see, then do, to really be able to grasp a project or subject.
I am a mix of visual and kinesthetic. I have to write something down or see it in writing to really process it. However, until I try to actually do it or until I work with the information in some way, I will not retain it.
I was a big note-taker in HS and college and also believed in highlighting and then going back and jotting down notes in the margins of my books. I am similar to you in that I didn’t even really go back and review the info after all of my highlighting and note-taking. It was the act of doing that that made it convert to memory.
I like watching it done and then figuring it out for myself on my own terms!
im kinesthetic and visual!! i took a test in healthy actually! it was sO cool to see what I was!! its also why ive always been so good at sports and can pick them up easily!
I am definitely a do-er, but I like to have direction too. I had a geometry teacher in highschool that put notes up on the board for us to read, made us read them outloud, and write them down. She said it was 3 ways of learning: speaking, reading and writing. I had the highest average in the class. lol. So maybe I am all 3 put together!
I definitely like the hands on approach. I learn best when I’m doing as opposed to observing. Lately, my job has turned into a lot of independent research…which, unless the research is about healthy food, healthy living, or running, I’m just not that interested in. Thus, I have been moving extremely sllllooow at work hehe.
This is totally off-topic, but what kind of storage/tupperware do you use for your lunches? I use plastic stuff, and I hate using it because of all the chemicals, plus it’s just ugly! It looks like you use glass and I’ve been thinking about picking up a few pieces for myself…
the brand is anchor! i got it as a christmas present from my mom. i think she got the set at marshalls? i believe pyrex also makes some great glass storage containers.
I’m a combination of all those things — like you I would make those study guides but never actually study them. The act of reading and writing info out really helped me remember things. In college I was a huge note taker and I had to be in class because the combination of the professor talking + reading on my own + notes was the perfect way for me to learn.
I think I learn best by doing and by ‘working through it’, so to speak.
In college, I liked having group study sessions, where we’d have to teach each other. I always learned and understood best by having to teach someone else.
I’m very kinesthetic. But I can “teach” by applying any of the methods. Hopefully that makes me versatile 😉
AH HA no one else said they’re a combination of visual and auditory! I learn best with both; I need to hear what is being said and but not only do I like when they are speaking but also then they write their lesson on the board. That’s at school of course. At work I write notes and listen, but I tend to I lose my notes & have to remember by trying to physically going back to the moment they were talking (seeing their mouths move & me writing it down). Maybe that sounds confusing? Either way I learn best with both visual and auditory. BTW I love that question!
I’m definitely visual and kinesthetic–seems to be the trend amongst PBF readers ;). To study in college I also used to make study guides like you mentioned and I, too, rarely looked at them after putting it all together.
I’m definitely an auditory learner–if I hear it, I remember it! But I’m also like you in the sense that I learn well when I am doing and experiencing something. I love this clear, simple explanation of Multiple Intelligences on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_multiple_intelligences.
Hmmm….I think I’m a combination of visual and kinesthetic. I really need to see something like a piece of paper or email with directions and then I just need to try it out for myself. I really learn from my mistakes better than constantly listening to someone explain how to do something to me.
I have no idea what my learning style is! I can play things on the piano by ear. I learn in class by writing things down, but I am NOT visual!!
I used to do the same thing with study guides!! I’d spend so much time getting all the details, almost using them as an initial quiz as I filled them out. Then, they’d barely be looked at again. I always said I was a visual learner, but I think there is a combo with kinesthetic in there, too. I just never knew the name for it.
I most definitely am an auditory learner. I was a huge note-taker in high school and still continue to take hand-written notes in college. Helps that I write abnormally fast and with some crazy (or so I’ve been told…), slanted handwriting (cursive-print hybrid? Not really sure on that one…). I have to write things out to memorize them, but I understand information better if it is presented to me orally, which is why I love lectures. I’m also directionally-challenged – I can’t follow/read a map to save my life. Thank goodness my GPS will talk me through unknown routes!
I definitely learn things through trial and error, and repetition…
I definitely do the same thing when studying for my finals. I spend hours making a studyguide, and then do very little studying of it. My friends always think its so funny, but whatever works:)
I’m the same for studying as you. I write study sheets (usually in pen and on paper because I find that more effective than typing) and thats pretty much my studying. I’ll review it a bit, but I usually don’t go crazy after the study sheet has been written.
I always thought that I learned the best by just listening and taking notes. I always got to distracted when I had to work with things with my hands.
That salad looks AWESOME! Makes me want to go and make some yummy sloppy joes.
I’m the same as you, I have to do it to learn it! I give a lot of presentations for my job so when a topic is new I find myself writing out everything I want to say about a slide on paper. I don’t ever end up using it or reading off of it, the process of writing it helps me learn though.
Good luck with the new employee.
In one of my classes during grad school, we had to take an assessment to determine our learning style. Most people were clearly one type and some scored evenly in 2 areas. I was the only person who had an even score for all 3 learning types. My professor called me out for this and then proceeded to tell me that this was not “ideal.” I don’t really remember her reasoning, but apparently I am not a very good learner 😉 I prefer to say I’m adaptable to all learning environments.
I’m a combination of Visual and Kinesthetic. The only time I can really listen to someone explain something to me is when I’m taking notes (like school) but even then I dont process, I just write! I tune things out when peoples explanations take too long!
I’m definitely a kinesthetic/do-er like you! I was recently hired as a 2nd grade teacher for next school year and one of my interview questions was how would I learn about a new assessment program that I would be using, & my answer: by doing the assessment of course! 🙂
I am totally a kinesthetic learner. I’ve always made study guides just to put my hands on the information. And the easiest part about nursing school was always labs where I was actually DOing and teaching what I had learned, not just idly listening to a lecture
I am the same as you. I make study guides, rewrite them, and them rewrite them again. It’s tediious, but it works.
I deal with learning styles al of the time as a teacher. I am a combination of everything… with auditory being last. I like visuals and activity. While listening can sometimes help.. I have some serious issues focusing on what people are saying. Good thing I do a lot of the talking in my classroom!
Oh I definitely have to do something to remember it long term. Having someone read it to me or watching somone else do it doesn’t work nearly as well.
Hmm, it might depend on what to learn. But I am definitely visual and auditory — totally taught myself cooking by watching endless FoodTV 😉
I’m such kinesthetic learner; I can’t just read things off a paper, I have to go out and put it into action for it to stick.
I’m more of hands on person. I have to actually do it in order to retain it. When I first start my job, I took lots of notes and approached it head on.
I’m definitely a kinesthetic/visual learner. I always did the same thing as you with study guides…didn’t study from them much, but the act of writing it helped a lot. I also always need a visual…often times, I’ll remember something by “seeing” it on the textbook page (or whatever it may be) that it was on.
I am definitely a visual learner. I don’t “get” what is being taught if I hear it or do it myself, but once I sit down and read I’m A-OK!
I’m definitely an auditory learner!!!!! When I was in a regular school, I would remember what the teachers would talk about without taking notes and sometimes even quote them on a test without realizing it!!!! hahahaha
I am absolutely a visual learner. I struggled in one of my classes this past semester just because the teacher only spoke to the class, when he could have shown us how to do everything as well. Agh!
You are such an inspiration for someone trying to get back on the health track! Thank you! Love your blog!
Your job sounds very similar to mine (I’m an instructional designer) and like you I am very much a kinesthetic learner.
I hate being in training where you just have to sit there, listen, and read. Give me something to DO! The irony is that most of the training I develop is web-based content that the learners are just reading. I really feel for them!
I’m totally a kinesthetic learner. I just took a developmental psychology class where my professor told us there was no such thing as learning styles.
I don’t believe him though. I have to actually do it myself to learn it.
Im a very logical kind of learner when it comes to anything work related. I need rules, and I need to know why. If I know why something is done a certain way, you can guarantee I’ll remember. Diving in and just doing it helps too, but its the “why” that really helps things stick for me.
I’m a visual and a do-er! I like to be able to experience things for myself!
I am loving the work-focused post theme! You’re one of the few bloggers that also works a full-time office job, which makes you so much more relatable. I’d love to hear more about your job (general management tips; professional tips; etc.)
I definitely a kinesthetic learner. You tell me something and I’m already zoning out… make me DO something and I’ll remember it the day I die.