How To Help Your Child Get the Most Out of School

Recently, in the high school class I teach, I provided an important lesson to my students. The subject was complicated, therefore I was concerned about getting my points across effectively. One student, Jason, seemed to be doodling with a pencil as I taught. Knowing that Jason had been faced with academic difficulties in the past, I was concerned that he was missing the lesson of today's class. Therefore, at the end of session I asked Jason if he would like to review his understanding of the subject with me. He then presented me with a page from his notebook. He had drawn a diagram on the page that at first glance made no sense to me. He then proceeded to point to different areas of his diagram, repeating back to me practically verbatim all that I had taught that day. He clearly understood the material and used his seemingly cryptic (to me) diagram as a guide.

Success! I congratulated him on his grasp of the material and pointed out to him the clever use of visual tools he had used to be successful. When I saw his bright smile in response, and the look of pride and self-esteem on his face, I knew that Jason was having an 'Ah ha!' moment: a moment of self-discovery and understanding related to his current learning and future success. And I, as his teacher, had my own ‘Ah ha!’ moment, as I realized that Jason's learning style is that of a "visual learner."

Possessing the knowledge of one's own individual learning style and the implications of that style are the first steps on the road from being a possibly floundering student to becoming a confident and successful one. Once possessing the knowledge of a student’s learning style, I as teacher, can best understand and equip the student with the appropriate learning tools and environment.
How can you, as parents, help your children make the most of their learning abilities? How can parents experience, along with their children, the 'Ah ha!' moments of understanding and discovery, and leverage that information toward academic success?

FamilyIQ's Learning Style Assessment is designed to help boost those students who are failing and floundering, assist those who need some direction and help, and enhance and improve the abilities of even the most successful students.

The self-administered, online Learning Style Assessment not only tests and issues a report for each person's individual learning style, but also fully explains the individual style and the implications for learning. The assessment results fully explain how best to use this information in the academic setting and at home for homework and retention. Therefore, the student learns how to optimize skills; and the student's parents and teachers, once presented with this information, can help optimize the teaching to best suit the learning style.

There are three basic learning styles: visual, auditory, and kinesthetic or physical. A visual learner usually enjoys art and drawing, reading maps and diagrams, and mazes and puzzles. An auditory learner enjoys being read to or being told stories and playing word games. A physical learner likes to manipulate his or her environment by touching and trying things out.

It thus follows that. for optimal learning, the teaching style should match the learning style. For instance, for a visual learner, ideas and concepts presented in a visual format such as pictures or a film would be best. An auditory learner may prefer to use a tape recorder to remember important lessons. Physical learners may need to touch and move objects to understand how things work. They like to be shown things rather than told things.

A solid learning style analysis assessment , such as the one offered by FamilyIQ, can help parents and students in several key areas. This learning style assessment will:

• Reveal each child's unique combination of learning styles
• Suggest how to rearrange the learning environment to achieve better individual and group results
• Provide guidelines for helping a child concentrate better and learn more successfully in class and at home
• Make suggestions for increasing academic achievement, improving attitudes, motivation and behavior

Benefits gained include:

• Better understanding of individual learning needs
• Self-esteem and study skills improve
• Identification of reasons for underachievement and poor academic performance
• Misunderstanding with teachers prevented
• Important self-knowledge gained
• Involves parents in learning process
  

I strongly encourage parents to help their child by administering the Learning Style Analysis and reviewing the results with their child and their child's teachers. It will pay great dividends in a child's scholastic career.

For more detailed information, please see the FamilyIQ article entitled, Discovering Your Child's Learning Style in the Articles section of www.familyiq.com.