Learning Styles

Before I came to this University, I had attended a college prep school in another state since pre-Kindergarten. Starting in fifth grade, the school provided tutoring and support services for those who needed extra help. I was one of those kids. They realized that I needed extra time to take tests as well as additional explanation and visualization when it came to my learning. The support teachers would break down writing and math and whatever else they felt I needed a little bit of extra help in.

After Grade 9, I no longer needed these support services. Although the teachers remained always willing to help me, I became more independent when it came to my writing and my work. I still saw an outside tutor for math; since I planned to continue it in college and I knew it was a subject that I didn’t do very well in, I felt there was no use struggling with it from the start.

I only had a graduating class in high school of about 60 so we got plenty of individual attention if we needed it. I think it can be like that in college too, despite the large difference in numbers. My friend is dyslexic and gets a note that allows him to have extra help, extra time on exams at the professor’s discretion, separate rooms with booths to take tests in so it’s not as distracting. He finds most profs open to that kind of thing. If you are struggling, go talk to your profs about getting some help. The effort that you make in itself can help you tremendously because you are showing them that you care, that you are there to learn.

The first year at college is full of large lectures and required classes that you need to get out of the way before you can truly pursue your major. Most of these classes involve attending the lectures as well as meeting with a handful of teachers’ assistants once a week. I know that plenty of my friends do not go to lectures because the attendance is often not taken; they tell me that it’s not necessary to go because the notes and slides are posted online so all you miss is the voice. One friend can’t understand his calculus prof ; he gets distracted and ends up spending his time trying to translate what the prof is saying while at the same time trying to teach himself calculus. He said he’s better off skipping the class, sleeping in and reading the stuff later as it’s less frustrating for him.

My best friend is at a really small university which is completely different than this big one because hardly anything is online. He tells me that some of the profs are completely illiterate when it comes to posting stuff online, that most of them want you to be there and sometimes, they take personal offence if you miss a class. They think you are rejecting them when you don’t come to class. Others have a rule: you miss three and you’re out. So it’s quite rare for students at that university to miss any classes at all.

But even though I am at a large university with big classes and profs who won’t have a clue if I am there or not, I do not feel as though I can do as well by skipping the lectures and only going to the discussion classes weekly. The readings would be too boring for me to do without attending the lectures as well. Even if I did the readings, many of the classes make much more sense when the profs explain their view in lectures; you get to know how their mind works by the way they teach and speak. By seeing what the prof focuses on, I have a better understanding of what I should be focusing on for the test. And often the lectures can be engaging and interesting and I can get a lot out of being there.

I also want to go. Why else did I come here if not to learn? Yes I’m here to meet people and have fun but I’m not just here to sleep in. I want to learn and I want to get the most out of the education that I have available to me. Attending class makes me feel that I am making the best of it.

Going to college for me is not just to get good grades. Going to college for me is not just to get a good job. College is for me to learn, expand my horizons, and become an educated and worldly person. I think many college students need to understand and grasp that concept. Yes this school will help me get a job, but that is not my sole purpose here. I want to do well, but I also want to learn, and sometimes to learn you need help, and that’s ok. If there is help available and people who want to help you, take advantage of it. Time will always be an issue but all you can do is get as much done as well as you can so you are able to express your understanding of the material to those who have taught you.