Visual Learning

[DaisyRose]

Is anyone a visual learner? I have a hard time learning if I don’t have visual examples. This is important when it comes to learning math. I have to have a teacher who writes out math questions step by step. If I don’t, I really struggle and tend to not get a good grasp of the subject.

I had this one teacher who would only do lectures in my math class. She would only verbally describe math problems and not show each step of the equation. It was so hard for me to learn in that class. I almost failed that class because of her method of teaching.

 

[Slime_Punk]

I'm a bit of a hands-on learner; if I can't solve something myself in various circumstances, it's not going to sink in.

Verbal descriptions are the absolute worst for me, too. I need diagrams, slides, and pretty much all the things to grasp new concepts. Even some teachers themselves just don't do it for me and I need another angle.

I will say though, after watching probably thousands of hours of youtube lectures in the past 2 years, the neurodivergent / quirky professor types usually speak to that part of my brain the most. NTs will never understand what the hell I'm talking about, lol

 

[Human Avatar]

@DaisyRose

I am a visual learner , I think in pictures . It is very hard for me to think in words it is very blurry . I had the same problem in school with math. I wish they had YouTube when I was a child learning .

 

[Outdated]

I have a hearing problem. My hearing is extremely sharp but I struggle to hear and understand human voices. The part of my brain that translates sounds in to language seems to be missing it's math coprocessor, it works but very slowly.

I have the same trouble with videos, I can't hear or understand what everyone's saying all the time and I have to keep skipping back and watching bits again and again. It takes me an hour to watch a 15 minute video.

I never had any trouble with books though, I found learning from books very easy. At the beginning of every year in school they issued you with a whole heap of books that were to go with your curriculum for the year. I sat down and read them. I was always a straight A student.

 

[Misery]

I'm generally a visual learner, yeah, but at the same time the material has to be A: actually interesting, and B: presented by someone who isnt a boring idiot.

I did TERRIBLE back in school, as every single class was about as exciting as watching a bottlecap exist. Like, really, 45 minutes per period? Did every stupid little thing have to take THAT long? These days if I'm curious about something, a 10 minute Youtube video by some incredibly energetic guy can explain a given topic better than any of my teachers ever did in a single school period (or over multiple days, in some cases). And there isnt even any homework!

Math was the worst back in school though. It was primarily a lot of yapping and while there was visuals, I often couldnt read it because I couldnt see past the boring. It ended up giving me a lasting hatred of the subject. Now, as an adult, I can do basic addition/subtraction, if you give me some time, I can do multiplication very slowly and with mistakes, and division will get you a blank stare. And if you dare mention the word "algebra" in my presence, I will throw a chair.

I will give school credit for exactly one thing though: I learned how to type. THAT was actually useful. Too bad nothing else was...

 

[Owliet]

Is anyone a visual learner? I have a hard time learning if I don’t have visual examples. This is important when it comes to learning math. I have to have a teacher who writes out math questions step by step. If I don’t, I really struggle and tend to not get a good grasp of the subject.

I had this one teacher who would only do lectures in my math class. She would only verbally describe math problems and not show each step of the equation. It was so hard for me to learn in that class. I almost failed that class because of her method of teaching.

Different people have different ways of learning. A good teacher will include all learning styles into a lesson for people to have access to. If your MATH teacher which I thought would be more visual anyway, only did verbal communication then its not really helpful. Its probably not just you who found that challenging And she should really improve her methods of teaching.

When I am teaching, I make a variety of resources for my students and include different tasks that have things like visual and kinaesthetic learning to enhance their learning abilities. It’s something that really helps me since I’m one of those who enjoy doing things. So totally understand. And I am sorry that you are struggling. Could you not ask your teacher to show the steps?

 

[Darkkin]

I'm a dysphonentic reader, so I never learned how to sound words out. In a very literal sense, I cannot do it because I am a visual processor. I see it and hear it once, I know it.

It is a weird fusion of visual and verbal. As long as I have the base pattern, I can pull out key data in written matter and tessallate that to the base pattern. If I can't write it out or read it, I don't process it accurately.

This is why I struggle profoundly with thing like names or words I don't hear properly. If I ask you to spell something, it is so I can acquire context, not because I'm being obtuse.

 

[Owliet]

I'm a dysphonentic reader, so I never learned how to sound words out. In a very literal sense, I cannot do it because I am a visual processor. I see it and hear it once, I know it.

It is a weird fusion of visual and verbal. As long as I have the base pattern, I can pull out key data in written matter and tessallate that to the base pattern. If I can't write it out or read it, I don't process it accurately.

This is why I struggle profoundly with thing like names or words I don't hear properly. If I ask you to spell something, it is so I can acquire context, not because I'm being obtuse.

this is really interesting that you have this. I am quite sure that for me this helps explain why i pronounce words wrong after reading them. When I hear it, I know that I am wrong so i correct it.

 

[Progster]

I struggled with algebra for the reasons you mention. I was good at geometry though, and that, in part, made up for not being good at algebra

 

[Aspychata]

Yes, l felt better once l understood that we all learn differently. I also didn't like the male math teacher that treated the tween girls differently then the tween boys. I felt my questions should be taken seriously. There was a bias in that class. I was lucky that other teachers acknowledge my intelligence in history, English and commercial art classes, or l would have wondered about my capabilities.

 

[Forest Cat]

I think so, it is much easier to understand and remember if someone shows me how to do something. Instead of just explaning it.

 

[DaisyRose]

Different people have different ways of learning. A good teacher will include all learning styles into a lesson for people to have access to. If your MATH teacher which I thought would be more visual anyway, only did verbal communication then its not really helpful. Its probably not just you who found that challenging And she should really improve her methods of teaching.

When I am teaching, I make a variety of resources for my students and include different tasks that have things like visual and kinaesthetic learning to enhance their learning abilities. It’s something that really helps me since I’m one of those who enjoy doing things. So totally understand. And I am sorry that you are struggling. Could you not ask your teacher to show the steps?

I did try and ask, but she said she couldn’t be bothered. I was upset by this because I have an IEP in school and I felt as if she didn’t take her job seriously. I feel like some people are born to be teachers while others should not even go near that area. It was funny that she only taught one semester before she left because she “was too good for the position” is what she said.

 

[Owliet]

I did try and ask, but she said she couldn’t be bothered. I was upset by this because I have an IEP in school and I felt as if she didn’t take her job seriously. I feel like some people are born to be teachers while others should not even go near that area. It was funny that she only taught one semester before she left because she “was too good for the position” is what she said.

That’s ridiculous — you have an IEP /ILP, she should be trying to include the requirements into her lessons to accommodate you to help you learn successfully. Sorry, really hate teachers who can’t or won’t support their students by doing the extra mile. It’s more work , sure but it’s worth it. Ha, “too good for the position” and only lasting for one semester, so not the whole academic year = usually means fired. =)

 

[Outdated]

Maths was my favourite subject, simply because it was so easy. I’d answer every question accurately every time, as the teacher wrote equations up on the board I wrote answers down, I always finished seconds after they did. I always scored 100% in exams.

There was very little or no thought in this, it was like an automatic function that my brain did by itself. I looked at an equation and I knew the answer. So my 45 minute lesson was completed in about 3 minutes and I’d spend the rest of the lesson with a novel in my lap and read.

My year 10 maths teacher took objection to this. He declared to the whole class how unfair it was that I could sit there having a bludge while the rest of the class had to work. Then he said that he was no longer going to grade me for answers, he wanted to see my working out down on paper. I tried to explain that I don’t work things out the way that they are taught, but when he asked to explain how I did work things out I was unable to describe it.

This developed in to a huge argument which ended with me yelling at him “You have the gall to pick on me for something like this when the rest of these useless Cs are still counting on their fingers and can’t tell you their 6 times tables. Your wasting my time and theirs!”. And I walked out. I didn’t bother going to maths lessons after that.

At the end of that year I scored 100% in my exams yet I got D for maths.

 

[DaisyRose]

Maths was my favourite subject, simply because it was so easy. I’d answer every question accurately every time, as the teacher wrote equations up on the board I wrote answers down, I always finished seconds after they did. I always scored 100% in exams.

There was very little or no thought in this, it was like an automatic function that my brain did by itself. I looked at an equation and I knew the answer. So my 45 minute lesson was completed in about 3 minutes and I’d spend the rest of the lesson with a novel in my lap and read.

My year 10 maths teacher took objection to this. He declared to the whole class how unfair it was that I could sit there having a bludge while the rest of the class had to work. Then he said that he was no longer going to grade me for answers, he wanted to see my working out down on paper. I tried to explain that I don’t work things out the way that they are taught, but when he asked to explain how I did work things out I was unable to describe it.

This developed in to a huge argument which ended with me yelling at him “You have the gall to pick on me for something like this when the rest of these useless Cs are still counting on their fingers and can’t tell you their 6 times tables. Your wasting my time and theirs!”. And I walked out. I didn’t bother going to maths lessons after that.

At the end of that year I scored 100% in my exams yet I got D for maths.

Math was my favorite subject too. I loved the complicated formulas and all the steps you had to take to get the answer. I had a similar experience with finding the answer a different way than what was taught. Every answer has a different way of solving.

I don’t get why teachers complain when they should be happy we understand the information. We might have a different method of getting there, but we mange to get there. That’s all that matters. When situations like these would happen I’m happy I had my parents. They would step in and give there two cents.

 

[Human Avatar]

@Outdated

I did the same thing in history and social studies .It was all natural for me to excel with the information given to me , I was very interested in it .In the beginning of the school year I received the yearly text books. Within the first week of school I would read the whole book and do all the work required in the books. I would hand the book back to the teacher at the end of the week with all my work. I explained to them there is nothing more I can learn from this book. Unless you are going to be going over information that is not within the book ,I am going to be bored.I really like non-fiction ,I have great difficulty reading fiction. My parents would let me spend much of my youth in the library. All the pictures and information of my particular interest at the moment could be satisfied.

My grandparents had 3 different sets of encyclopedias . One from 1900s , 1950s and 1980s. These are what I read for pleasure .

So I was already familiar with the information within the school books. I also would make notes of the misinformation pertaining to the school books and hand a reference paper for the teacher. In America there is lots of narrative and lots of factual data missing in school history books. I don’t know if it is still like this now .

Some teachers got very offended, and made my life hell for the rest of the year. Some teachers would not be offended and nurture my need for more challenge, the kind teachers would let me go to the library and read if I was bored in class. And I am so grateful there are some teachers who are kind and realize some children learn at a different pace . But the teachers who enforce the conformity this was always a problem for me .

The schools were very perplexed by me . Some areas I was beyond my years in capability. In others I had deficit.Once I became a teenager school got much more complicated. All the social expectations become so confusing and complicated. I started to hate school very much at that point. And I always felt school was so loud in the hall ways Hundreds of voices bouncing off the metal lockers and floors , and fluorescent lighting everywhere. I could not focus on anything