While writing my previous post, I realize that I am a kinesthetic, and tactile, as well as a visual learner. I thought that I was a tactile learner only, but have been doing a bit of thinking about it and realized that I, as well as a many people, employ multiple modalities during the course of their learning (which is life long btw).
My husband loves to use the computer for everything, but the way for me is writing with a pen and paper, or having something in my hand. I also realize that I need someone to show me how to do something as opposed to just telling me.
I realized this as I was in the bar the other night with my older sister. You see we (my sisters and I) go karaoking every Friday night. And of course there is music there. Well, my sister was trying to teach me to do this particular dance called the Cha-cha (a real old school dance), and I just could not get if for anything while she was trying to tell me. However, once she showed me, I got it. It still took a few tries, but I got it. I don’t think I would have ever gotten it if I had to rely on written instructions alone.
This is one of the concepts that I introduced to my students last year that I will be re-introducing to them next week when school begins. You can read about it here and here. It is a theory posited by Harvard professor Howard Gardner. Introducing my students to this concept was very helpful last year. If you’d like to read about it, check it out here.
