Discussion Question

My online college classes ask me to write out discussion questions, so, of course, I do. I decided that I'd share one of my answers with you here. It's got a funny little story in it that you might enjoy.

The question: How would you describe your personal style of learning (how you learn best)?

When I was young, my teachers thought I was a very difficult student. I recently shared in the Com 120 forum about my kindergarten teacher. She called a meeting with my parents because I was performing poorly in school. During the meeting, my parents found themselves sitting at a little children’s table with the teacher. My parents were, like most parents, very unconditionally loving. The words that they needed to hear would not be easy to swallow, but they didn’t hear the words they needed to hear. The teacher, prefacing with the words, “I don’t know how else to say this,” dropped a bomb on my parents when she said, quite brazenly, “Your son is stupid.” The comment hit my dad like a firecracker was under his twelve inch tall chair. He stood up in a fury so quickly that he nearly flipped the children’s table over. Now, even though I wasn’t there, I have a great picture in my mind of what went on. My parents eventually told me the story and what was said. My dad first pointed at her and told her, “You don’t know what you’re talking about!” then, pointing to the chalk board where the word “Febuary” was written, he yelled again, saying, “You don’t even know how to spell February! Don’t call my son stupid. You’re the one that’s stupid!” After his remarks, the teacher stood quite adamantly and sought out her dictionary while arguing that “Febuary” really is the correct spelling of “February.” She was ultimately proven wrong.

So, why do I tell this story? I tell it because, though that teacher would have never thought it, I wound up with the ability to learn. My parents were very involved in my schooling. They moved me to a better school. I never showed up to school without my homework. I was forced to study for tests. I was made to read and even came to enjoy it. And I emerged from being a disinterested floater to become a proactively interested learner.

I don’t remember whether it came from a tutor, a teacher, or a parent, but I do know that I picked up a great concept along the way: the only way I could learn was to make myself interested. I could have easily been slapped with ritalin as an attention deficit child. I couldn’t carry on conversation very well. I couldn’t stop moving. And I was just plain annoying. But, I eventually changed and gained an understanding of how to control and even channel my energy and attention. I took up writing and won a few awards and continue to write today. I love to read everything from fun fiction to in depth informational journals and books. I even enjoy reading and researching history and people for fun. So, I believe the question asked was how I’d say I learn best and my answer would be just as I said. Finding that point in literature that peaks my curiosity, like the tremendous amount of thought behind a sonnet; or discovering the small and intriguing elements of history, like an unscathed George Washington with bullet holes through his clothing; or the biology lessons on how simple yet complex the nature of a cell actually was; those things gave me that much needed interest and led me to a yearning to learn more. I’m glad to have figured out such a wonderful technique and I continue to use it today.