At this time of remote or part time learning, we are all concerned about how much our grandchildren are going to retain. I hope the two blog posts on learning theory that I have found helpful hopefully helps us grandparents help our precious grandchildren.
“PART ONE of Learning Tips to Pass On and Incorporate With Your Grandchildren During Remote or Part Time Learning and Any Time,” concentrated on two learning theories on how to optimize time to learn, how to memorize and retain information with less effort: five experiences and SQR4 method.
The topic for this Part Two concentrates on the part our senses play in how we learn, and knowing how we learn can make better learners, with tips on how to accomplish this.
With regard to these tips too, I have been repeatedly told that the tips I gave my students of elementary, middle, and law school, made a difference. Having self-awareness about how we learn and skills to apply are powerful tools.
I hope the tips I give you grandparents are those you will find useful to pass along to your grandchildren. I have not presented the following in one sitting to my children and my grandchildren. Our grandchildren are not law students. I have done it in pieces as appropriate, in tidbits. Fortunately, we have FaceTime, and when our grandchildren mention something about school, in our discussion, we can share how we want to make their school lives easier, and help put these skills to practice. After all, we grandparents always want to make our grandchildren’s lives better.
I will give hints as to when and how we grandparents can be helpful. Please pass this post along to the parents of your grandchildren. I would not be surprised if they know that each of us learn in different ways and do much of what the tips say, but do not know why.
KNOWING HOW WE LEARN CAN MAKE US A BETTER LEARNER
We each have a different learning style. If we play to our strength(s), we maximize our learning capacity. As a student majoring in education, I learned that teaching requires us to address all the different ways a child might learn, hoping that in a large classroom we are reaching all our students. Learning theory details seven different learning styles, but there are three that I concentrate on: visual learner, auditory or oral learner, and kinesthetic learner. Remember in Part One that teachers teach to all three learners. However, I have found that all children have a preferable learning method they utilize, but utilize at least one secondary learning method, if not all three, to learn.
The first tip for grandparents is to read to and with your grandchild. With the youngest, you are reading to them. As they get older, you are going to take turns in their first chapter books. Then, they will want you to continue reading to and with them even as the chapters get longer. Read aloud to them! Even as our grandchildren hit middle school and high school, I try to read the same books they are reading so that I can discuss it with them. I have to admit that having been a middle school teacher who taught language arts, I have read many of the books before. A great tip for grandparents (not to tell their grandchildren) is that the internet is a great resource not only for book summaries and information summaries on every topic (try Wikipedia). If you are not interested in a book or topic, you can still learn everything about it on the internet. Remember, we used Cliff Notes in school. Cliff Notes are now on line for over 300 titles. There are You Tube instructional videos on every topic, or videos of information or movies of books. You can seem like a grandparent expert on any subject. Yes, you can share these videos and movies.
The following highlights each learning method, how to identify it with your grandchild, and how to help your grandchild optimize the learning method. Open their eyes to the ways they learn and how to maximize learning by knowing how they learn.
We always want to emphasize and play to our strengths. Yes, the strength is seeing as the best way visual learners learn best. When we read picture books to our youngest grandchildren, we direct our attention to the pictures. We discuss the pictures with them when we first read the picture book, emphasizing what the child sees. We grandparents are then asked to read the picture book again, and again, and again. I have counted up to fifteen times in a row that my grandchildren have asked me to read the picture book to them. And, I do. Why? As grandparents we have the ultimate time to spend and want to spend with our grandchildren, so we can. And we grandparents never want to say no. What does this eventually do? The grandchild begins to “read’ the book to us, as he or she has memorized the pages based on the pictures. Visual learning is a great way to memorize by the very young. Some will retain this visual learning as their best learning method, and if they do, we grandparents can help them use this skill to its maximum.
VISUAL LEARNER
Visual learners learn best when they use their sense of sight.
How can you identify visual learners? Visual learners want you to show them how to do something and then can remember it. Visual learners love owning books, lots of books. Visual learners are readers, and have good comprehension skills. Visual learners love art supplies, which also make great gifts, and love drawing. They like to see movies and videos.
Visual learners want to sit in the front of the classroom and love when the teacher writes on the board, or they are reading the material they need to learn. Most material is presented visually in the classroom, and visual learners excel in reading assignments, charts and visual arts.
To put this to use in remote learning, if you can tape the lesson, a visual learner will want to see it again. Visual learners want to take notes and draw diagrams, so make sure you have lots of colored pencils and markers, a white board, lots of different kinds of paper, even graft paper and colored paper. Visual learners do well with color coding the information they learn, so have different colors of pencils and highlighters and different colors of folders for each subject area. Visual learners do well with flash cards. There are flash cards for math and vocabulary which will serve a visual learner well.
From Part One, remind your visual learner that the table of contents is the author’s outline of the subject matter. Every time they are about to read an assignment, it is helpful to have a printout of the table of contents and read it first, to see where the chapter fits into the entire book, what comes before and what comes after. Then go to the chapter. Look at all the headings and pictures first, read the first paragraph and the last, and then read the entire chapter. The SQR4 method works wonders with the visual learner. After they have read their assignment, ask them questions to answer, and to read again (5 experiences so have a different purpose to read again. Remember just reading over and over again is one experience).
You Tube is wonderful for visual learners. As the grandparent, find a video on the subject matter your visual learner is learning in school. There are videos of every length, but remember your grandchild’s age. Three minute videos are perfect for preschoolers and early elementary school age children. Yes, you can do this on FaceTime with the grandchild.
AUDITORY OR ORAL LEARNER
Hearing and listening is the best way auditory or oral learners learn.
How to identify an auditory learner? They learn best when they hear the information as the teacher presents it. An auditory learner will usually have ear buds in their ears. Auditory or oral learners want you to tell them how to do something and then can remember it. They like hearing things out loud, so they like having you read books aloud to them, even at ages that you think they are beyond this. They learn songs that they hear quickly. Some say oral learners learn great with background music or sounds.
To put this to use in remote learning, if you can tape the lesson, an oral learner will want to hear it again. If a child has something to learn, Grandparents can tape the information for them and have them listen to it. Then, ask them questions to answer, and to listen again (5 experiences so have a different purpose to listen again. Remember just listening over and over again is one experience). Books on tape are great for auditory learners. Repeating out loud is a great way for oral learners to learn. You can find many books on You Tube where they are read aloud. As a grandparent, you can tape picture books for them and send it with the picture book. You can ask the child to read along as they hear you read the book. Have them repeat their school work out loud to you. Group review is something oral learners love. They can hear what everyone says and retain better. In remote learning, group review is something you can suggest to the parents they set up on Zoom for after school homework and studying. You, as the grandparent, can help your oral learner excel just by talking to them about what they are learning. Or consider singing the information and making up silly songs about the material to sing with them!
KINESTHETIC LEARNER
Writing, movement, touch are the signs of a kinesthetic learner. He or she wants to touch, move it and feel to learn.
How to identify a kinesthetic learner? The child wants to hold it and puts his or her hand out to do so to actually see it. This child likes to take notes and more notes in class, and consolidate the notes again to charts to learn. This grandchild loves building blocks. There are many learning tactile methods, and these work best with grandchildren. Buy this grandchild an abacus. They want to move things around. This grandchild likes collections of items, so sea shell collections, rock collections, and such and books about these are things to buy this grandchild. Art supplies such as play dough and slime are favori
To put this to use in remote learning, use fidget items for the child to hold, as they are listening or watching. Although chewing gum is not allowed in school, they can chew gum at home. Give them concrete tools, such as math blocks and alphabet letters. They like to cut and paste, so workbooks in subjects that allow for that are welcome. This child will do well with a standing desk or an ergonomic ball chair for movement. Repetition for memorization is best when action accompanies it, writing notes, writing outlines, drawing, clapping for letters for numbers.
TOOLS FOR ALL LEARNERS WE GRANDPARENTS CAN GET
Bintiva Ball Chair for Children. Check out on Amazon
Any iPad, with the right apps, will allow a student to take pictures of worksheets and do them on the screen. The iPad PRO is the only one that works with the Apple Pencil, and the pair means completing assignments practically the same as using pen and paper, but with the added bonus of never losing assignments. Check out apps:
An organizing app is iStudiez.
For all types of learners, two great note taking apps, NotesPlus and Upad 3 apps allow you to write on your iPad like you were taking notes on a piece of paper and offer a variety of additional features to help you organize, store and share your notes. UPAD3 allows you to organize class papers in folders by class. You can also record audio while you take notes.
One of the best features, included with the app is the ability to translate your handwriting
into recognizable typed text. You can mark up PDFs, draw shapes and add various pen colors to help capture your thoughts.
For any child with reading difficulties check out Bookshare.
Not only are we grandparents caring and smart, we are most willing to give our grandchildren tools to succeed. Awareness of learning and how we learn is a powerful tool to pass along to our grandchildren. Share this post with the parents of our grandchildren too.
Joy,
Mema
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