Providence Baptist Church - Monthly Magazine

Learning With Style

How understanding someone’s learning style helps in the classroom and beyond

Almost every parent has wondered if their child will ever learn to sit still or if they’ll ever run out of energy. Some parents may also wonder why their child isn’t able to grasp certain subjects with the speed of their peers. Still others wonder if their child’s thirst for learning is being quenched or squelched.

Just by spending 10 minutes in a kindergarten class, it’s clear that every child is different. Some children thrive on learning in a quiet environment and by sitting still. But it’s much more common to find children who need variety in their learning and don’t learn well through lectures. Conventional wisdom states that every child is different. Yet, whenever a child enters a classroom, these differences are often forgotten and each child must learn under the same, predetermined conditions.

To help parents understand different learning styles and how to cultivate them, the Children’s Ministry has invited Cynthia Tobias of Applied Learning Styles (AppLe St.) to speak at a conference at Providence. Cynthia earned her Bachelor of Arts in Education from Northwest Nazarene University and her Master of Education degree from Seattle Pacific University. Her background includes more than 20 years of private practice and business ownership, eight years of teaching in public high school and six years in law enforcement.

During her professional career and through firsthand experience with her twin sons, Cynthia has built AppLe St. around the idea that each child has “natural, inborn strengths and characteristics” that help develop their learning style. Her first book, The Way They Learn, introduced the concept of learning styles and helped to explain how to work with each style.

When writing about education reform on the AppLe St. website (www.applest.com), Cynthia cites the different ways her sons learned.

“I have one son who quickly learned to read thanks to phonics,” Cynthia writes. “His twin brother, just two minutes younger, struggled with reading until he realized he could learn sight words instead of just pieces and sounds. The point is, both boys can read.”

Understanding the different learning styles of school-age children is not just for parents of elementary students. This conference is for anyone who works with children. Teachers (of “regular” schools as well as Sunday school) of all grades, grandparents and anyone who works with children are encouraged to attend.

Kevin Sweat, the associate pastor for Children’s Ministry at Providence, hopes that people of all ages and who work with children of all ages will attend the conference.

“We usually teach using our own learning style,” Kevin said. “To know that children learn in different ways will help broaden teaching styles.”

Kevin also explained that learning how your child grasps and retains information will help as they grow older. The earlier in a child’s school career a parent knows how a child learns, the more they can take advantage of this information.

In the conference’s second session, Cynthia will be discussing how to avoid conflict with a strong-willed personality and gain their voluntary cooperation. This topic will be helpful for anyone—with or without children.

Being able to work with someone who is strong willed is a skill anyone could use, at work or at home.

Cynthia’s clients include the Walt Disney Corporation, World Vision and GlaxoSmithKline. Her sense of humor has made her an engaging speaker who is sought after throughout the United States and the world.

The conference will be held April 27 at Providence. The first session will be in the fellowship hall at 9:30 a.m. The second session will be in the worship center at 6 p.m. Registration for childcare during the evening session is available at www.pray.org/sonstation. Contact Tana Poole (326-3000).

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