Learning How To Learn
I am fascinated with how people learn to do things. If you have any questions about Gardner's Multiple Intelligences, I'm your gal! I truly believe that there are different ways to learn things, and that we are all prone to learn best in some intelligences and not when material is presented in other ways. I know that I am a visual learner primarily - if I can see it, I can figure it out, replicate it, and remember it for always! I do not have a photographic memory, but my visual memory is close. I can tell you where on a page to look for a specific sentence. I may not be able to tell you the exact page, but I can find it pretty quickly by flipping through. I also have some strange kinesthetic learning quirks (labeled as such by my internship director many moons ago) where I can tell you about how far into the book you should start looking by remembering how far my fingers were while holding the book while reading the information you seek. It's strange, but it's me. It's just the way I learn.
I work with many students who do not learn the way I learn. My clinical work is with persons with developmental, intellectual, and psychiatric concerns, so every one of my clients has learning quirks and/or needs that differ significantly from the ways we are taught to teach children in this country. Curricula are often bent towards a combination of visual and auditory learning which often causes issues for those who learn in different manners. None of my students are in grade level work for all of their subjects. Some are ahead in certain subjects and behind in others, and most are behind in all education subject manners.
I also work with adults in their internships. My interns also learn in different ways, so I have had to learn how to teach and do therapy in different ways as well. One of my interns was a kinesthetic learner - she did not really understand a concept until she had literally moved through it - it was difficult to explain something like session contour in a kinesthetic manner, but we did it! We moved through a session and used post-it notes and a large piece of paper where she moved things around and moved around the room as I asked her questions and she figured out the answers. Others have been visual learners (hooray for me! I know how to chart out everything because that's how I think!!), others are auditory learners - they have to hear what they need to learn, either from me or from themselves. It fascinates me how we all learn.
As a therapist, and specifically, as a music therapist, I offer information and education in a manner that engages one of the intelligences (musical) and several of the learning styles (auditory, kinesthetic, visual - if the TME is set up in that manner). In addition, I know how to use my therapeutic medium (music) to engage attention, to shape responses, to cue desired behaviors, and to help clients move forward. I know how music works to activate neurological centers and physiological processes. I design therapeutic music experiences in ways that encourage me to think about multiple intelligences and learning styles to accommodate the needs of diverse clients. As an educator, I've learned many things about learning, and I strive to offer opportunities for my clients to learn in the ways that they learn best - whatever those ways may be.
I am getting ready for a day at work where I will be engaging with adolescents with significant academic challenges and the addition of significant behavior concerns. We will be engaged in making music of some sort - I'm not exactly sure how I will do this yet, but my session plans will solidify in a bit. I may not have much to offer the visual learners today, but I will have lots for the kinesthetic learners and everything will include the auditory learning style as part of the instructional/therapeutic strategy.
Something that I think we neglect in our educational process of becoming a therapist is really learning about how we learn things and about how to assess how our clients learn things. Learning how to learn is important and something that some people get and others just never understand.
I remember teachers who were able to differentiate instruction so that I understood it and my peers understood it - we may have been instructed differently, but we all knew the information at the end of the day. I remember teachers who presented the material in one way and only one way. All differentiation had to be done on an individual basis - I had to figure out how to translate what the instructor was saying into my own way of understanding - not an easy thing to do. (To be honest, the folks who were the worst at this were my music therapy professors over the years. I would ask to see if I was understanding, and I would leave offices more confused because my professors did not seem to be able to translate their requests into something that I understood, and I did not know how to get them to tell me what I needed to hear or learn. It was an unwinnable situation on both sides.)
Last fall, I submitted a presentation proposal to a far-away region for consideration. It was centered around how to write solid goals and objectives. A professor reviewer asked me a question. "My students struggle with this concept continuously. How do I know that you won't tell them something that directly contradicts what I tell them to do in class?"
That question stopped me in my tracks.
First of all, the professor admitted that students had difficulty with the concept. Something that was obvious to me (but maybe not to them) was that if students consistently struggle with a concept, then maybe the teacher should be changing how the material is taught. Secondly, I am not a student of this professor, so I have no idea what is being taught in class. My response was something along the lines of "While I am not a student in your class, I cannot guarantee that I will not tell your students something different than what you tell them. However, as writing goals and objectives for clients is a basic music therapy skill, by focusing on a different perspective, I may be able to clear up some of the confusion that your students seem to have (as per your report). I believe strongly that hearing information from a different person and from a different viewpoint and from a different approach to the topic can sometimes solidify the information presented in coursework."
I got to present at the conference.
Learning is something very intense, very complicated, and very individual. Learning how to learn has the same characteristics. As a therapist, an educator, and a life-long learner, I encourage you to figure out how you learn the best. I encourage you to figure out how your co-workers learn best. I also beseech you to find out how your clients learn best and use those techniques to enrich their understanding of the world and how they fit within that world.
Happy Wednesday, all!
I work with many students who do not learn the way I learn. My clinical work is with persons with developmental, intellectual, and psychiatric concerns, so every one of my clients has learning quirks and/or needs that differ significantly from the ways we are taught to teach children in this country. Curricula are often bent towards a combination of visual and auditory learning which often causes issues for those who learn in different manners. None of my students are in grade level work for all of their subjects. Some are ahead in certain subjects and behind in others, and most are behind in all education subject manners.
I also work with adults in their internships. My interns also learn in different ways, so I have had to learn how to teach and do therapy in different ways as well. One of my interns was a kinesthetic learner - she did not really understand a concept until she had literally moved through it - it was difficult to explain something like session contour in a kinesthetic manner, but we did it! We moved through a session and used post-it notes and a large piece of paper where she moved things around and moved around the room as I asked her questions and she figured out the answers. Others have been visual learners (hooray for me! I know how to chart out everything because that's how I think!!), others are auditory learners - they have to hear what they need to learn, either from me or from themselves. It fascinates me how we all learn.
As a therapist, and specifically, as a music therapist, I offer information and education in a manner that engages one of the intelligences (musical) and several of the learning styles (auditory, kinesthetic, visual - if the TME is set up in that manner). In addition, I know how to use my therapeutic medium (music) to engage attention, to shape responses, to cue desired behaviors, and to help clients move forward. I know how music works to activate neurological centers and physiological processes. I design therapeutic music experiences in ways that encourage me to think about multiple intelligences and learning styles to accommodate the needs of diverse clients. As an educator, I've learned many things about learning, and I strive to offer opportunities for my clients to learn in the ways that they learn best - whatever those ways may be.
I am getting ready for a day at work where I will be engaging with adolescents with significant academic challenges and the addition of significant behavior concerns. We will be engaged in making music of some sort - I'm not exactly sure how I will do this yet, but my session plans will solidify in a bit. I may not have much to offer the visual learners today, but I will have lots for the kinesthetic learners and everything will include the auditory learning style as part of the instructional/therapeutic strategy.
Something that I think we neglect in our educational process of becoming a therapist is really learning about how we learn things and about how to assess how our clients learn things. Learning how to learn is important and something that some people get and others just never understand.
I remember teachers who were able to differentiate instruction so that I understood it and my peers understood it - we may have been instructed differently, but we all knew the information at the end of the day. I remember teachers who presented the material in one way and only one way. All differentiation had to be done on an individual basis - I had to figure out how to translate what the instructor was saying into my own way of understanding - not an easy thing to do. (To be honest, the folks who were the worst at this were my music therapy professors over the years. I would ask to see if I was understanding, and I would leave offices more confused because my professors did not seem to be able to translate their requests into something that I understood, and I did not know how to get them to tell me what I needed to hear or learn. It was an unwinnable situation on both sides.)
Last fall, I submitted a presentation proposal to a far-away region for consideration. It was centered around how to write solid goals and objectives. A professor reviewer asked me a question. "My students struggle with this concept continuously. How do I know that you won't tell them something that directly contradicts what I tell them to do in class?"
That question stopped me in my tracks.
First of all, the professor admitted that students had difficulty with the concept. Something that was obvious to me (but maybe not to them) was that if students consistently struggle with a concept, then maybe the teacher should be changing how the material is taught. Secondly, I am not a student of this professor, so I have no idea what is being taught in class. My response was something along the lines of "While I am not a student in your class, I cannot guarantee that I will not tell your students something different than what you tell them. However, as writing goals and objectives for clients is a basic music therapy skill, by focusing on a different perspective, I may be able to clear up some of the confusion that your students seem to have (as per your report). I believe strongly that hearing information from a different person and from a different viewpoint and from a different approach to the topic can sometimes solidify the information presented in coursework."
I got to present at the conference.
Learning is something very intense, very complicated, and very individual. Learning how to learn has the same characteristics. As a therapist, an educator, and a life-long learner, I encourage you to figure out how you learn the best. I encourage you to figure out how your co-workers learn best. I also beseech you to find out how your clients learn best and use those techniques to enrich their understanding of the world and how they fit within that world.
Happy Wednesday, all!
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