The Personal Development Journal

For this course we will write reflective comments on an assigned basis. The structure of the comments will follow a model created by Dr. Dan Apple, and education consultant and expert on process learning. The Strength Improvement Insight (SII) Model is be applied in the following manner:

Strength – Describe the strongest learning experience(s) you had thus far and why it/they were important to you.

The strongest learning experience I have completed so far in this program is the information I have found on my own son and aide to his learning disabilities.  I have found while researching information for papers to write for class a wonderful website http://www.ldonline.org/ .  That website along with chapter 6 of this book was amazing in helping with ideas for him.  Not that anything else in class was ho-hum; my mind is swimming in all kinds of information, but for this to hit so close to home has been a real eye opener. 

Improvement – Reflect on how you could improve your learning in the future.

I could definitely improve my learning by paying closer attention to the weaker of my learning styles and helping digest more of the information being delivered.  I have a dominant learning style, just barely, I am almost in the middle of the road in all three, but I could gain more out of what is being presented to me if I widen my focus to see all that is there.  The biggest improvement would be to allow myself more time to think about the information presented before responding.

Insight – What new discoveries/understanding did you get in the learning process? How will you apply it to what you are doing in your daily professional or personal life?

I have learned that my son’s learning disability and his learning style work together hand and hand.  If I address his tactile learning style he will overcome his ADHD better.  He has always had a problem staying still in class.  He is always fidgeting in his seat and playing with something in his desk.  These are all signs of a tactile learner.  My wife and I are working on some suggestions presented in the book as well as the website mentioned before and working on a learning plan for him to address next fall with his teacher and counselor at school to see what we can implement and what they believe will help him the best.  I am so excited about this!!!!!