Author: bethsilver8250

Focus in Class

Sometimes students have trouble staying focused in class. They may tend to wander away from the activity that is happening and then lose the sequence of the topic being taught. One of the easiest ways to help stay in focus is for the student to have a “job” to do during the class session.

The “job” can be to take notes. Notes can be taken in word format, picture format or diagrams and charts formats. Whether the instructor says to take notes or not makes no difference to someone who has a hard time with focus. Notes- in some format- should always be taken in every class. This requires the person taking the notes to listen carefully and create the notes for information given. This is the best way to help a person stay focused.

Learning Styles for Memory

Learning Styles are important for people to understand how to put information into memory in a way that retrieval is easy. People use a combination of learning styles. The best known ones are: auditory, visual-spatial and kinesthetic.

Auditory learners are ones who can listen to an explanation and remember it. These learners do well taking class notes or following a lecture. It is helpful for this learner to “talk” their way through reviewing their notes, vocabulary and concepts in preparing for a test. This learner should find someone to talk to and teach the other person what he/she has learned.

Visual-Spatial learners are ones who can see a diagram, chart, graph or picture and remember it. These learners do well taking class notes in picture formats and labeling the parts of the picture. This learner does well with geometry concepts in math because he/she can “see” the relationships in remembering the information.

Kinesthetic learners are ones who can touch, trace or write words. Taking lecture notes for this learner is difficult because the auditory part of the brain does not work as well as the kinesthetic. It is best for this learner to get notes ahead of a lecture. Then ideas can be added to notes. It is also possible for this learner to get notes from another student or from the teacher or professor. Tracing words for spelling is a good technique for this person.

For additional information contact Beth Silver at bethcarolsilver@gmail.com or visit her website -educationsage.net.