“An old dog Learns New Tricks”

I was a full time student in 2001/2002 and graduated that spring from UNB with a Masters Degree in Exceptional Learners. It was a wonderful year. The knowledge and experience gained that year has helped to form many of my opinions about how we effectively learn.

When I entered UNB Fredericton I had been teaching for 20 years, had my own part time business and generally been successful. Regardless of these facts I was nervous and intimidated about going back to school. This was Graduate School. Just how smart were these other people? When one of my professors said “ the average IQ of students in graduate school is 120” I thought, "what am I in for? Can I do this? Do I have the intelligence to do this?” These are the same type of questions children struggle with daily in our schools, especially children with learning disabilities.

The experience of being a student once again, at 49, caused me to reflect on how I was to become a successful student.

·   I knew I needed to revamp my learning and study skills.

·   I wanted to excel in Graduate School and I knew changes had to be made in my traditional approaches to learning.

·   I knew I needed to sign up for classes where professors used project based experiential education if I was going to retain this knowledge.

An interesting thing about my time as a student was that I could practice various “learning strategies” as I studied these techniques in my courses. I decided to put many of these study strategies to work for me. To my amazement gradually schoolwork became easier, more enjoyable. I learned and retained far more than ever before. Had my IQ risen since getting my last degree? No! Was I a better student? Yes! I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks.

This experience as a Graduate student and teacher of Special Needs Students/ Learning Disabled Students for the past 23 years has led me to the following conclusions:

·   Children can be taught effective learning strategies that work for them.

·   Children learn effectively in a variety of ways and schools must encourage many different methods of teaching.

·   All students must embrace technology and become computer literate.

·   There are no quick fixes for students with Learning Disabilities.

·   Learning Disabled Students must be prepared to work harder than their peers to achieve the same results.

·   All students must take a keen interest in exploring and discovering how they learn most effectively and efficiently.

·   Learning Disabled Students must develop their own study profile by being exposed to, and experimenting with many learning strategies.

·   Success in school is proportional to quality time on task.

·   A student’s success is proportional to their engagement with their learning.

·   Parents of Learning Disabled Students must be prepared to work extensively with and support their children’s learning.

·   All students need a well-designed study area, consistent daily study time and use proven organizational strategies (agenda, technology, etc)

I welcome your Feedback at Yerxajor@nbed.nb.ca.   Enjoy kvhigh.com