Learning Modalities: What is your learning style? What is your teaching style?

Ceicei

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I saw this post in a different thread and I have seen this discussed a bit in other threads. However, I would like to examine this further and see what we can do to improve training.
tradrockrat said:
There is a WHOLE LOT of research and theories about learning modalities out there for an instructor to educate him or herself with.

A good teacher wil use all modalities in his / her lesson plans - and BTW, if your instructor doesn't have lessons planned in advance, they are wasting your time - literally, as they come up with off the cuff activities and repetitive exercises that don't build on previous training.

A brilliant man named Gardner listed and defined several learning modalities that we as educators need to account for in our teaching style.
They are:
linguistic
logical
musical
spatial
kinesthetic
interpersonal
intrapersonal
naturalist
visual

If you are an instructor, and don't know the definition of these learning modalities and cannot recognize them in your students, I challenge you to educate yourself on them. You will find that they greatly help in your every day teaching.

I am familiar with some of these modalities, but not all. I added one more category, "visual", on the list which I highlighted in blue. Some might argue that spatial is the same as visual. I think there is a difference. There might be other modalities not listed. How can these be used within martial arts training? What do you do? Let's share ideas.


- Ceicei
 
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Ceicei

Ceicei

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For me, I am a visual/kinesthetic learner. A lot of this is because I am deaf. I have to see first what it is, but to truly understand it, I must feel it. This gives me a whole new sensation when I can feel my instructor's strikes, blocks, and checks. I find the checks very helpful because these tell me that there are reactions from other parts of the body to be aware. These checks are not always noticeable visually.

- Ceicei
 

Kembudo-Kai Kempoka

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V/K. I can get an idea by seeing something, but unitl I DO it, it'll never stick. Once I actually have it from doing, I can visually recognie subtleties, even if they go by quickly...it won't look like it should when it feels right.

Regards,

Dave

PS -- I may be wrong, but wasn't Gardner originally referring to multiple forms of intelligence?
 
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Ceicei

Ceicei

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Kembudo-Kai Kempoka said:
PS -- I may be wrong, but wasn't Gardner originally referring to multiple forms of intelligence?

Yes, that was the original premise of Gardner's. It looked like tradrockrat wanted to extend that to how people teach and learn and to apply these ideas to the martial arts setting.

Tradrockrat's post in the original thread was encouraging the MA instructors to consider diifferent learning modalities of their students. I thought his post intriguing and worthy of being its own thread. ( http://www.martialtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?p=484870&highlight=modalities#post484870 )

Perhaps the instructors can share experiences they've noted from their teaching.

- Ceicei
 

stickarts

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I learn in as many ways as possible although I can see something and pick it up pretty fast.
As an instructor, I watch a student closely and determine how they best learn right from day one. Then i know how to best teach them. Most students I have taught learn well by seeing and hearing although some also have required actually placing them in the correct positions.
 

MJS

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For me, its always been a help to see something first and then actually perform it. As far as teaching goes, I have had the chance to work with a few different methods. Some would only have to see something once, and they have the basic idea of the movements, others I've had to actually position their hand/foot/body in the correct position, and others I've had to stand IFO them and have them mirror my movements.

Mike
 

Tarot

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I'm a total visual learner. I need to see something done slowly a couple of times before I can pick it up. Then I walk through the move slowly just to make sure I have it down, then I'm good to go. Sometimes if the move seems a little awkward with hand placement or something, I will need someone to walk me through it more.

I added one more category, "visual", on the list which I highlighted in blue. Some might argue that spatial is the same as visual. I think there is a difference.

I agree with this. To me there is a huge difference. I learn by watching and closely observing. Now my spatial reasoning really stinks. There is no way I could consider them one in the same.
 

karatekid1975

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I am visual learner. Like Tarot, I have to see someone do a form, for example, slowly a few times. Then do the form with them slowly while still watching. Then once I get it down, I work on technique, what the moves are for, ect.

My boyfriend drives me nuts when he shows me a form. Because he learns by "doing" first (like jumping right into what the move is for). He tries to teach me that way first. I actually have to tell him over and over, "I'm a visual learner, remember!" After telling him a few hundred times, he shuts up and shows me visually.
 

Last Fearner

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As for the term "style" of learning and/or teaching, I do not use that word in this context. Nor do I use "style" to describe the various systems of Martial Art training. I believe "style" is in performance, individual display of skills - the end product.

Teaching is a process by which we transfer information so that others might share the same (or similar) knowledge, and/or skill. It has been said that "experience is the best teacher." I believe that experience is the only teacher. It is either your own personal experience that you learn from, or someone else's.

I'm not sure about the term "modalities," but I would say that there are "pathways" to receiving lessons, and techniques for understanding, as well as retaining the lessons. Learning is about discovering that of which you are not mentally aware. We learn through stimulus to our senses. We have five known, or common senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch). I believe we also learn throught the spirit, which is a like a sixth sense. Stimuli that reaches these senses informs us about our environement, and our exprience in that environment.

The more of these senses that you involve in each lesson, the better for retaining the information. The brain changes physically as we learn and store information. Each person's brain operates slightly different, and has a "comfort zone" for learning. These preferences for using sight, sound, or touch, etc., for learning can change over time, naturally, or with proper training.

Comprehension (understanding), retention of information, and the ability to recall it upon demand are a completely different aspect of the learning process. There is a difference between those who process information in the right hemisphere of the brain as opposed to the left. Communicating to these two areas of the brain requires different methods. A teacher must learn to identify how a student best relates to his or her environment, and how they process, understand, and retain that information. A good teacher can identify this early, and be able to teach a room full of students with different approaches to learning.

In time, the Martial Art method should help every student to improve their ability to learn in both the left and right hemispheres of the brain, and be able to communicate information back and forth between the two hemispheres.

As a student, I learn whatever way gets the lesson understood best. I try to improve my abilities to learn through mulitiple "pathways" and understand from various perspectives using each side of the brain, including the emotional features (within control)
:flammad: :tantrum: :banghead::wah: :uhyeah: :D :lol: :rofl: :lfao: :)

When I teach, I use every tool available . . . so there is not a "style" for me . . . it's just a matter of getting the point across in whatever way that works.

CM D. J. Eisenhart
 

Kembudo-Kai Kempoka

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I have a tendency to be left-hemisphere damaged. I can pick up a form I've never seen before in an hour, and do it lioke someone who has been doing it for years. But, like, 20 minutes after changing back into civilian clothes, it's completely gone from memory. Kinda sucks.

Was that way in school, too. Would avoid studying for a subject AT ALL until about 1-2 hours before the test, speed read through the tex or notes, ace the test, then not remember a single thing a couple hours later.

Regards,

Dave
 

Kacey

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Last Fearner said:
When I teach, I use every tool available . . . so there is not a "style" for me . . . it's just a matter of getting the point across in whatever way that works.

I agree with everything in Last Fearner's post - but most especially the line quoted above. As a special education teacher, my professional life revolves around finding mutliple modalities to use in teaching my students so that they can be successful in school; it seems natural to me to extend that to instructing TKD.
 

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