Blog Whisperer
My daughter and I were walking our new puppy the other day and talking about learning. I happened to say, "I'm a visual learner." To which she replied without missing a beat: "I think I learn best by listening." I stopped in my tracks. The dog looked up at us, expectantly and listening attentively when I said to my daughter that this was an amazing conversation that we were having. Amazing because I never had a conversation like this when I was her age (10) and in fact didn't even wonder what type of learner I was until the late '90s when I became aware of such consideration due to my graduate coursework on the path to getting my Masters in Education. Yet here was my ten-year-old daughter who had already identified her strongest learning style before the fifth grade. People talk about these things now. She's heard it from her teachers. She's heard it from her mother and me. She's heard it from other people. I don't think it's a topic that comes up for her simply because her father is an educator. I could be wrong, but I think it's something we hear and talk about these days.
The reason we were talking about learning styles was because of the puppy training we had been doing. Or rather: the human training we were doing for the puppy. I've become convinced that the best thing for a new puppy is to train the humans to do the correct things ---namely, to "Be the Pack Leader"--- in order to have a well-behaved dog. Together, my daughter and I had learned this by listening to Cesar Millan's audiobook ---Be the Pack Leader--- before we got the dog. We decided on the audio version of the book so that we 
both could enjoy it while driving around during our summer months when both of us had vacation time. Meanwhile, my wife (who continues to work full time during the summer) chose to learn from Cesar with the printed version.
To be honest, audiotapes can be difficult for me. My mind tends to wander when listening to them. I am much more focused learning with text and I love the added advantage of being able to underline important parts. This strikes me as rather funny since much of the professional development I do these days comes in the form of audio as I listen to podcasts and audiobooks in my car. Perhaps I'm getting stronger with this modality of learning, but I still would rather read text than listen to it being read.
However, watching is still my preferred method when learning a new method or tool. I know this is the easiest way for me to learn new software, for instance. I can watch a 2-minute video and understand immediately what to do with a program where it would take me numerous readings of written instructions to learn the same thing.
Clearly, I had learned a great deal by listening to Cesar Millan's book. But when my daughter and I rented DVDs of his Dog Whisperer show, that's when it finally all clicked for me. The moment I was able to see this professional doing the right things with dogs, a transformation happened for me. The learning was no longer in the abstract but was now absolutely internalized.
Currently, I am halfway through an amazing book that I highly recommend: Disrupting Class: How Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns by Clayton Christensen, et. al. As I'm only halfway through it, I'll hold off giving a complete reflection, but instead will focus on one of the well-crafted arguments made at the beginning of the book, best summed up by this question:
"If we agree that we learn differently and that students need customized pathways to learn, why do schools standardize the way they teach and the way they test?" (p. 29)
Christensen points out that when a teaching approach is similar to a student's strongest intelligences or aptitudes, then naturally understanding and success comes much easier. He further argues that teachers are "trapped by their own strengths." In other words, no matter how hard we try ---because we're human--- we're going to not only be drawn to teach subjects that compliment our strongest intelligences, but will also teach predominantly with those intelligences. So, math teachers will undoubtedly have a "high logical-mathematical intelligence and therefore the students who excel in their classes also tend to have this type of intelligence. Many other students are excluded."
Christensen has a solution for this dilemma and a clearly articulated argument for how learning will become truly "student-centric," but as mentioned above, I'll refrain from a complete reflection until a later time. And where will that reflection take place? Most probably here on my blog. Obviously one of the multiple intelligences that I utilize often is the Intrapersonal Intelligence. It's clearly another way that I learn: by conducting self-reflection in a forum that invites conversation.
It is a starkly exposing venture to reflect on learning in an open setting like a blog and it's taken me some time to gain the level of comfort with it that I have. That comfort level fluctuates and there are times when it still takes great courage to push the "publish" button. I always do end up pushing it because "learning is messy" and the benefits that blogging has afforded me significantly outweigh the negatives. But--- just as everyone does not want to own a dog, not everyone wants to blog and as a teacher I can't offer blogging as the only method of self-reflection for my students. Perhaps, because it is indicative of one of my own intelligences, I should heed Christensen's point and offer it last in a list of other options; options that are completely outside of my favored intelligences.
Cesar Millan is obviously strong in the Naturalist Intelligence. My daughter has already identified that she is strong with Linguistic Intelligence through her writing and listening skills. I am strongest in Spatial Intelligence as my penchant for learning by video tutorials demonstrates.
Imagine if we were all in the same classroom together. Would we each have an equal chance to learn the same material?
Do my students?
Do yours?