Learning Models

Which isn't about getting familiar with leggy blonds strutting down the runway, intriguing though that image is. Saw an article the other day about a guy whose job it is to give massages to models in the middle of long photo shoots. Looked like fun, but I'd bet it wasn't.

What I'm thinking about, though, is a model of how people learn, which is something I know very little about, and even that, superficially. I know that people learn in different styles, and that, not consistently; I know that what works for one may not work for another, and even when a viable style is found, it might not always work, or not work as one had hoped. This frustrates me, because I like to think that all things are knowable; it's just a matter of finding the right information. I'm not quite as likely to believe that it's just a matter of finding the right book or the right web site or the right article as I used to be, but I'm still more likely than not to think that's the case. I still think that it must be possible to talk about these things in a way that doesn't require a Ph. d to understand -- and as it happens, I may have found proof.

I've mentioned on occasion that I work as a mentor at the local middle school. My style is significantly different than the other mentors, all of whom seem to focus on studying and the completion of projects. I'm not particularly comfortable with pushing, even gently, so I mostly just talk with the kid (whom I think of as 'my mento', though not to his face), about whatever comes up. I try to drop in pieces of stray information from time to time, as when he mentioned how he'd really like to shout as loud as he could in the marble-like entry area of the school, just to see how long the echoes would last; I told him about reading an article years ago concerning the people who did the acoustic rebuilding of Carnegie Hall, what some of the concepts were (as I remembered them), and why it wasn't just a matter of science when it came to whether a hall had a 'good sound' or not. He enjoys it, but it doesn't seem to do much for his educational prospects.

When I think about it, I feel that I'm being somewhat of a fraud, because what I think I'm supposed to be doing is helping him study, anything from learning specifically how to do math problems to writing about the Spanish Inquisition (which, as we all know, is never expected), or sketching the interior of a chipmunk. The thing is, though I can do those things with my daughter, I feel that I have the right to push her in the direction of learning; I can challenge her and move her. I don't feel that I have that right with the mento; I am not, in fact, exactly sure what my rights are, or even what the school's expectations might be. I feel that they're exceedingly fuzzy in that regard; if they wrote on the back of the little white plastic ID card that says MENTOR the phrase 'Think Good Thoughts', it would be a firmer set of guidance than what they've given thus far. I've looked on occasion through the web to see just what the heck it is that a mentor is supposed to do, but their definitions are all over the place, and pretty fuzzy in their own right.

I was therefore delighted to come across A Parent's Guide To Tutors and Tutoring, by James Mendelsohn, Ph.d He talks about what works, and how to think about learning. It's quite good. How good?

I may buy a copy for myself.