When Too Much Reading Is Bad For You

 

Books are good. Whether you’re reading to your child or letting them read by themselves, there is an immeasurable amount of development going on. Visualisation, imagination, vocabulary, general knowledge, thinking and debating skills – they all increase in leaps and bounds thanks to being exposed to fiction. “At least ten minutes a day,” experts tell us. What they don’t tell us is, how much is too much.

Apart from the obvious strain on the eyes, too much reading is bad for your body, turning it into a couch potato and depriving you of the opportunity to run, climb trees, swim and jump on the trampoline. Furthermore, reading is a passive activity when compared to more creative hobbies such as drawing, composing music, play-acting, sewing, computer programming and free play.

Of course, if the choice is between watching TV and reading, let them read by all means. But if an opportunity arises to play outside, walk the dog or make Christmas decorations, that’s when putting down the book is the right choice.

Is your child in danger of reading too much? It all depends on their learning style. Do they have a preference for no mobility, working alone, perseverance, visual learning? If so, they may concentrate on books so much, they miss out on other essential development steps. Find out today.

Reading To Your Child

Oxford University Press conducted a research study which concluded that "parents should continue reading to their children up to the age of nine and beyond to help boost their academic results". It is awesome to hear that our intuitive belief now has a firm basis of scientific research.

It stands to reason, of course: when parents read aloud, they will typically choose books that are above the reading level of the child. This will increase the child's vocabulary and grasp of grammar, and it'll also expand their horizons by introducing them to more complex settings, ideas and issues, particularly if the parents take the time to discuss the book in between the reading sessions.

Although children with an auditory learning style will respond best to this exercise, parents should persevere reading aloud to children who do not have a preference for auditory input, as long as the child's other learning needs (for time of day, room temperature, intake, and so on) have been met.

What are your child's learning needs?

Working Style Analysis - More Than A Personality Quiz

Are you a good problem solver? How well do you manage anger? Do stress and anxiety interfere with your life? How strong is your relationship? If you were a tree, would you be a solid oak or a weeping willow? Are your emotional highs and lows normal? Do you focus on a task or zone out? Are you pushing yourself too hard?

If you like doing personality quizzes like the ones above, you will love answering our Working Styles questionnaire. Working Style Analysis is scientifically designed to determine your optimal working mode and environment. Unlike many of the tests available elsewhere, though, this tool will give you:

• a set of well-researched and reliable guidelines
• a comprehensive report with summaries and graphs
• a thorough analysis of 48 elements of your unique Working Style
• career guidance.

 Check out your Working Style Analysis today.

Help - my working style is interfering with me exercise routine!

Say the word routine and, depending on your working style, you will experience either a sense of stifling or a wave of well-being. If you have a preference for variety, the idea of an exercise routine, any sort of routine, will be enough to make you want to run a marathon in order to avoid it. It’s no good for your personal trainer to set up an upper body schedule on Monday, leg exercises on Wednesday and abs on Friday, it’s the mere thought that every Monday you work on your biceps and triceps from 6.30 till 7 will be enough o set your teeth on edge.

So how do you stay fit if you hate routine? Make it as un-routine as possible: swim twice one week and do aerobics the next. Jog around the neighbourhood instead of going to the gym. Play squash once a week for a month, choosing a different time slot every time – include weekends in your schedule. Exercise in the morning the one week, at lunchtime the next and before dinner the third week. Go swimming at the local pool. And at the beach. You may not get as much benefit as the person who has an optimal exercise routine, but at least you’ll stay healthy.

Good luck. Do it with your Working Style!

Carrot and stick - how to motivate your students using Learning Styles

There are two types of students in the world: those who are internally motivated, and those who are motivated by external means.It all depends on their Learning Style.

It’s very easy to get an externally motivated child to behave in class or learn the new work: all you have to do is promise her a reward. The reward can be verbal (you’re such a good girl, I’m proud of you), material (a star), accrued (a star-chart with a well defined reward once the child accumulates 20 stars) or a withdrawal of privileges.

It’s even easier to get an internally motivated child to behave in class or learn the new work: you don’t need to do anything at all, because the student will do it all out of her internal sense of “I want to do this”. That’s provided she herself sees that schoolwork and school behaviour as important matters worthy of engaging her internal motivation system over. If she doesn’t see them as important, you have a problem on your hands, because no amount of carrot/stick is going to have an effect on her.

So, what do you do as a teacher? The first step is, naturally, to establish what type of motivation works on your students, and to what extend: some students may have a strong preference for external motivation, others only a slight one, they may have a non-preference for it (in which case it’s really not a good idea to offer them external rewards), or they may be flexible in this area (in other words, a combination of internal and external motivation would work well). 

Check out your students' Learning Styles. You will also get a free group profile for your class, with a summary of how many of your students are internally and externally motivated.

Sport and Your Learning Style

A big part of your school life is probably centred around sport: be it basketball, soccer, rugby, fencing, or skiing.

Just like with anything else in life, the way in which you learn sport techniques and the way in which you play the sport will depend to a large extend on your LearningStyle.

 

Some style features to consider are:

·         Motivation

·         Perseverance/Persistence

·         Responsibility

·         Teamwork or training alone

·         Time of day

·         Need for structure

·         Need for routine

·         Sequential or simultaneous learning.

A beautiful example of this is golf as Wayne Thomas, a professional golf coach near Melbourne, Australia, describes it:

“I have always recognised that there is something missing with coaching, despite the excellent results many of my students reported receiving. What concerns me most is a person’s inability to sustain new levels of performance and continually falling back into old patterns. My continued pursuit of knowledge about golf swing, human movement, mental approach to oneself, equipment and communication skills wasn’t providing the key that would open the gate to the amazing potential we all possess.

When I first met Barbara Prashnig and she put forward the notion that HOW people learn is more important than WHAT people learn, it sparked for me a new era in coaching: I immediately began changing my coaching style and the learning environment to match the students’ learning styles. This has led to astonishing improvements and sustained playing ability in my golf students.”

Do you want to know what your Learning Style is? Click here. 

Learning Truths

Truth 1:

If you find learning difficult, it’s probably because your learning style is different from the teaching style of your teachers. You can learn anything you want if you do it in your own preferred way.

Truth 2:

You have the right to learn in a way that suits you best:

·         Using regular or electronic whiteboards, Power Point presentations and typed information sheets;

·         Listening to the teacher explaining subject topics;

·         Discussing new concepts with your peers;

·         Learning through role-playing and physical games;

·        Making something in order to understand it (e.g. posters of chemical reactions, clay models of hydrogen molecules, tactile/visual learning tools).

Truth 3:

Whether you like it or not, learning will always be part of your life:

·         Computer operating systems change every few years and with them the look of your email and browser applications.

·         Mobile phones get better and more advanced - you will have to learn a new interface soon.

·         You will have to acquire new skills on the job all the time in your future career.

·         You will have to learn to live with new friends and partners in your private life.

·         You will most likely want to learn to drive a car, scuba dive, play the latest electronic game, put up a virtual store of your DVD collection or create your own website.

·         You might even want to learn to live in a new country, with a new set of rules and a new language.