Rise Up, Oh Heart, For There is Another Battle to Win

seananmcguire:

kessuburd:

neonrubbish:

ladypoetess:

Now, see, this pisses me off.

Not everyone learns the same way.

When I was in nursing school, I didn’t take notes in class. You know what I did? I played endless games of pocket tetris. The chair of the nursing program approached me about it once, going so far as to say that she thought for a time that I must have copies of her tests, since I aced everything she tested us on, even though I never appeared to be paying attention.

Visual learners, auditory learners, hands-on learners - everyone’s heard of those types, sure. But that’s not all there is. There’s a 4th learning style that is actually best suited to splitting the focus between disparate activities to learn most effectively. For me, that was playing repetative games or doodling, coloring print outs of Sailor Moon characters or fiddling with small ‘fidget’ toys. An English Lit professor had identified this as my learning style a couple years earlier and lo and behold, I started learning better when I started catering to my actual learning style.

I was lucky; the chair of the nursing program knew about the learning style I exhibited and didn’t bother me again about the fact I sat in the back and played mindless games in her classes. The goal of class is to learn, right? What the fuck does it matter if the person learning does so via note taking or doodling or looking at puppies? To this day I most effectively form associations and recall memories of things I’ve listened to by doing something very different with my hands and eyes.

Don’t assume people are slacking off just because they’re not learning the way you expect them to be.

Wow this makes so much sense

Ayyyy this is me too. Whenever I was in class I always, ALWAYS had to be doing something with my hands or I’d never be able to focus on or remember anything. When I was younger my mom recognized this and at the beginning of every school year she made sure to talk to all of my teachers and assure them that while yes, I sat in my seat and doodle the whole time, I WAS paying attention.

Many years ago, I worked in a call center.  While working there, I drew my first comic strip, “Thank You For Calling,” which was about funny anthro people who–wait for it–worked in a call center.

We got a new manager who was upset to see me drawing through my calls, even though I had some of the best stats in the company.  He told my supervisor to take my paper away.  I started drawing on my desk (not on purpose, just as a reflex).  He took my pencils away.

My stats plummeted.

This wasn’t me being stubborn or refusing to work: I was trying, I just couldn’t do it.  I had no focus or ability to retain what I heard from customers.  Finally, my supervisor gave me back my art supplies, and everything went back to normal.

Everyone’s brain is different.

(Source: chulaspice, via academicfeminist)