What do you know about yourself as a learner?

As a learner I tend to rely heavily on visuals to help me understand something and have a

 hard time with just listening for long periods of time. After a certain amount of time my 

mind will start drifting onto other topics that are unrelated. Time management and 

organization is something I have always struggled with, but trying to improve on.

 

What has impacted your life as a learner?

One of the people that really impacted my life as a learner was my 3rd and 4th grade

 teacher. At the time she was getting her endorsement in special education and was 

really able to understand how students' minds work and their thought process. She 

noticed behaviors and things in my work and that was when I was diagnosed with 

ADD. As a kid one of things I wished my parents had done was to get different tests

 done for me. They went a more traditional way by going to the doctor and doing 

medication. It wasn’t until more recently when I went to a behaviorist to have testing

 done, I truly learned more about myself. From the tests I was finally able to understand 

why I struggled with certain things and potential ways to help. This has been something

 that has always impacted me as a learner and still does because my visual memory is

 above average, but my memory is very low percentage. Over the years I learned to work

 with the brain by using a lot of self-reflecting when using new strategies.

 

How will you overcome the challenges that you face as a learner?

Some ways I found to help myself as a learner is create my own structure and routine. If I 

didn’t use planners or plan out my day, then I would procrastinate and get nothing done

 causing myself anxiety later. I find that if I gradually do a task, I get better results. When 

working on an assignment I’ll spend about an hour then take a break away from the 

computer to walk around and get some energy. Sometimes walking around helps me get 

ideas or inspiration, so I will have a notebook for notes and jot them in when I have them. 

Reading was a task I struggled with for awhile because I could read the words on the pages

 easily, but when it came to remembering what I had just read I couldn’t. Some of the ways

 I help with my comprehension is taking notes of my readings, using guiding questions to

 help me pay attention to the main ideas, rereading paragraphs if I find myself confused, 

and by taking my time to process the words without rushing.