Learning to Learn
August 1, 2014
I guess I have always known what my Gregorc learning style was. Heck, when I was little I thought the purpose of playtime was to organize my toys, and you should see my apartment now. And now as I read down the list for concrete sequential learners, it's like a grocery list:
- works best in an orderly, quiet environment ✓
- likes to know the accepted way of doing things ✓
- likes clear and exact directions, examples and guided practice ✓
- applies ideas in a practical hands-on way ✓
- is consistent and efficient ✓
- needs and enjoys structured situations ✓
- likes things to be ordered and arranged in specific ways, is a natural organizer ✓
- is always busy, looking for constructive things to do ✓
- prefers to do things step-by-step ✓
- is a natural editor, can take anything and make it better ✓
- and the list goes on...
But let's not forget the drawbacks to being a concrete sequential learner:
- struggles with making choices ✓
- struggles with open-ended assignments and "what if" questions ✓
- struggles with taking new approaches, interpreting abstract ideas ✓
- has a fear of being wrong ✓
Concrete sequential learners are systematic, instinctual, organized, stable, productive, and perfectionist. I never knew I could be summed up in SIX WORDS so well. And then que Dev Bootcamp - a new approach for one unfamiliar with programming, people-oriented, a situation where I have constantly been wrong and had to re-work challenges, and, at times, free-flowing. Yikes, right?
However, in these first three weeks of Phase 0, I have also found Dev Bootcamp to be stuctured (time limits, step-by-step instructions, examples galore) and efficient (I can learn to program in a few months!?!). Not that I haven't struggled - sometimes the directions are not exact, sometimes there are no examples, and sometimes I just can't take being wrong for another second. But when things are right, they are so right. In the end, I think programming will lend itself to my learning style and I will learn to curb my frustrations.
And how does all this connect with growth versus fixed mindset? One can have growth mindset in some areas, and fixed mindset in others. I certainly am one of those people. I've always been a believer that intelligence can be developed and I love to learn. That said, when my frustration over reaching the wrong result creeps in like Karl the Fog, I tend to edge toward fixed mindset beliefs. Knowing this, however, will (hopefully) lead me to enlightenment, or at least expand the way I learn. I took heart in James Clear's advice: "Confidence is just displayed ability." Small wins are key. To that end, I have tried to end each day on a positive note and it seems to be working.
And have no fear. To those of you worried about working with a concrete sequential - I married a concrete random, and it was the best thing I ever did!