By Poornima Vijayashanker
On a normal school day, I’d just be ignored by the other kids, and sometimes even slighted by teachers for being the only Indian kid in the school. But on math competition day, none of that mattered! It was just me and a 100 math problems to solve in a matter of minutes. I reveled in the rush!
Apparently, winning every competition wasn’t enough, my parents, really wanted me to get to the next level by sending me to Kumon math.
I hated EVERYTHING about Kumon math.
I hated the teacher and I hated being forced into doing hours of math, which cut into my afternoon bike riding time!
Because I hated it so much, I ended up breaking the law…
One day I forged a letter from my mom to my Kumon teacher, telling her to give me half the amount of work, because it was cutting into my other activities. My teacher believed it (I had excellent handwriting).
I also lied to my parents…
I told them that my Kumon teacher thought I was SO advanced that she was running out of work to give me.
I of course did eventually learn a valuable lesson, to not lie to my parents, and break the law. However, they also learned to stop sending me to Kumon math.
I’m sure Kumon is a great program, but it wasn’t the program with the right learning style for me. It didn’t help me get to the next level, it actually caused me to lose my passion for math. It wasn’t until years later that I’d rediscover it.
I’m sure that growing up you also learned best when you were having fun! However, as adults we seem to have forgotten to include an element of fun to our learning process. We just accept what’s given to us; sitting through lengthy lectures, reading books, or watching tutorials. But are all these strategies really helping?
Last week I talked about how one important step to staying committed to learning a new skill is to find the method that is right for you. Otherwise we just give up, because the learning curve is just too steep.
While we can try to watch countless TED talks to stay motivated and inspire ourselves, it just might not be enough!
Even as adults we have to understand what is and isn’t going to work for our individual learning style. Ask yourself the following questions:
- “Do I need to learn in a group setting from peers?’
- “Do I learn better when an instructor is present, so I can interact with them, and directly ask questions the moment I’m stuck?”
- “Do I prefer learning in solitude? Maybe I’d like watching videos so I can avoid distractions?
A one-sized approach doesn’t fit all! If you’re like me, then you’re learning style has probably also changed over the years, and a lot of it has to do with how the brain matures, and of course the other things that take up our attention and time.
At Femgineer, we’re considerate about how adults learn. We provide the following in each course we teach:
- Brief live lectures where students can ask instructors questions directly.
- Recordings of lectures for students who are on-the-go.
- Self-paced assignments, so students don’t feel anxious or rushed.
- Office hours where students have time to ask instructors questions related to assignments.
- A forum for students to give presentations, receive feedback from their peers, and have online discussions.
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