Learning Style and Back to School Organization
Child's Style of Learning Determines the Best Way to Get Organized
Aug 15, 2009
There are different learning styles for different people, which enables them to learn the best. Knowing the learning style will help develop a organizing style, so that a school and study work area that is properly organized for the child can be set-up.
The following is information to find a child's learning style to develop the child's organizing style:
Child's Learning Styles
Like adults, kids learn differently and therefore will organize differently. Some people learn best by doing, by seeing, or by hearing. Some people are more creative (usually they have a lot of different things going on at one time) and some more logical (usually they are linear and complete one thing at a time). It is important to know which way the child learns to properly help the child set-up a organizing method. Find more information on learning styles, including quizzes, to determine the correct learning style at SchoolFamily.com.
When the type of learning style is known, it can be determined how the space should be configured. In other words, it can be decided what can and what should not be in the school study work area. Most often people are visual learners – about 80% – and as a result, most organizing aids are geared towards visual learners. Here are the different ways people learn:
- Visual learners have to see it, to learn it. Visual learners will learn best by highlighting and color coding things, using pictures, creating a chart, or re-reading.
- Auditory learners have to hear it, to learn it. Auditory learners will learn by repeating or explaining learned material and by recording, re-listening to, and summarizing lectures or instructions.
- Kinesthetic learners have to do it, to learn it. Kinesthetic learners will learn best by using flash cards and doing a movement while learning, as they will remember the movement(s) when remembering what was being learned (for example bouncing a ball or playing catch while repeating material).
Perfectionism can also be a different type of issue. Often a perfectionist won't take on a task unless they believe they can complete it to "perfection". This can often be seen in procrastination. In this case, the thinking needs to be changed to "how to get the job done" instead of thinking about the end result of completing the task to perfection.
Getting Organized with the Proper Organizing Style
Once the learning style is determined, the organizing style can be developed. Here are some general points to consider when creating a method to be organized for school.
- If the child is a creative person, she usually will have a lot going on at one time and therefore needs a lot of different containers to coral the different projects. Using a timer and a list to prioritize tasks are helpful.
- If the child is visual, he will need different color highlighters, scratch paper, an no visual distractions.
- If the child is auditory, have a voice recorder available and no other auditory distractions.
- If the child is kinesthetic, have stress balls and bouncing chairs available with an uncluttered clean work surface.
- If the child is a perfectionist, she should use a to-do list that breaks projects into small tasks. Instead of the assignment being to write an essay based on a book, the to-do list can break it down to say read chapter one, chapter two......, summarize chapter one, chapter two......., write draft one, have someone proofread draft one, and do final draft. Each item on to-do list gets checked off when complete.
The child can learn in a few different ways and may need a combination of the above. For example, the child may learn visually and auditory, in which case they will need a quiet area without any visual distractions. The school work area will most likely be a work in progress until the child is completely comfortable with it. As long as the parent and child understands the learning styles and is attempting to develop the correct organizing system, school and then life will result in better success.
For more information on getting kids organized read, How to Organize Kids.
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