Education comes in all shapes, sizes and forms in life. Education through the American school system has been taught explicitly in one direction until the 21st century. Before this, the idea of education and school was to sit in class take notes, listen to the teacher, work with others and obtain a letter grade (based upon a percentage) that is set upon the state, then the districts academic curriculum. We now know this to be less effective than once thought, and could possibly steer students in the opposite direction of wanting to obtain more knowledge within education (Academia). Research shows that intrinsic and extrinsic motivation plays a larger role in receiving letter grades than most would think. This notion of learning in a competitive environment within school and capitalistic society causes the majority to fall within the 'normal' range on the academic scale. Thus, causing others to perform exceptionally high and others exceptionally low on the scale. Teachers like myself want to find that intrinsic motivation for kids to WANT to learn, rather than forcing them to gather information that they could honestly care less about and then spill it back out again on a test, only to lose the information within months or weeks time. A lot of students, once they reach a certain level upon the grading scale, perceive themselves to be this letter in life. They self manifest their ways of life through this letter grade. Most of these are labeled as average and so they see themselves as the average person with average potential. Spreading like a disease, it takes over the mind of an individual who has yet to discover what he/she is interested in and wants to pursue. The notion of average or less than average is ingrained within them.
The point is that we ALL learn differently. Some are visual and some are auditory, kinesthetic or tactile. It took me my entire life to figure out how I learn and obtain knowledge in any degree at my best possible coherency. It wasn't until college that I took that road on my own and figured out how I learn best and differently than most.
This comes through with EVERY single method of knowledge and education!! Muay Thai, Jiu Jitsu, fighting as a whole, baseball, football and all sports! It also applies to relationships and working with others from a social aspect. Learning is a never ending process and can be pursued in a plethora of ways. Maybe a football player learns best by watching videos and then applying what he has watched/learned on the field. Maybe he runs a bunch of plays and learns best from his numerous times on the field (epistemology) through experience. We all learn from experience but NOT all have the same experience within the same context of understanding what is being processed or done. We must first SEE how each individual learns best and proceed with the facts and move forward. Collaboration is a way to test understanding and give that understanding, or lack there of, support from others in the same boat, but NOT ALL PEOPLE LEARN THE SAME!!!My fiancé Lyly is also a teacher for secondary social studies/history. We both have agreed that helping these kids learn is our main concern and what we originally signed up to do in the first place. Whether that is through any of these learning styles.
