How To-79: "How to Become an Adult Self Learner"

How to Become an Adult Self Learner

from wikiHow – The How to Manual That You Can Edit

People who are truly effective generally did not get that way by sitting still, and learning doesn’t stop just because school does. Make a commitment to yourself to learn something new every day. Then, keep at it and enjoy what you discover.

Steps

1. Learn how you learn. Determine your own preferred learning style or styles. Notice what learning techniques are most effective for you and use them as much as is practical.
   • Most people learn through multiple methods but favor one or two. Use your preferences to your advantage.
2. Learn where your talents and interests lie. Try many different things.
3. Look at learning as an exploration and opportunity, not a chore. Don’t force yourself to learn things just because they’re important. Instead, learn things that you need to learn alongside things you love to learn. Follow your heart, as well as your sense of duty.
4. Read, read, read. Make friends with your local library and new and used book sellers.
   • Read all sorts of books. Just because you’re usually a mystery fan doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try nonfiction now and then. Don’t limit yourself.
   • Recognize the educational value in whatever you read. Nonfiction, of course, teaches about its subject. Fiction teaches writing, storytelling, vocabulary, and various things about human nature.
   • Newspapers, magazines, manuals, and comic books are all reading.
5. Broaden your definition of learning. Take a look at the theory of multiple intelligences if you don’t know it yet. Consider how you might fit in, and where you can improve.
   • Refine your existing skills. Are you already good at fly fishing? Computers? Teaching? Playing saxophone? Hone these skills and take them to the next level.
   • Try new things, both inside and outside your preferred skill areas.
6. Do things. As an adult, your experience may be your best teacher. Whether you work for pay or volunteer your time, focus on a project or tinker with whatever grabs your attention, try lots of things and notice the results.
7. Create. Not all learning comes from outside you. In fact, some of the most powerful learning happens when you are creating or formulating something for yourself. Try different media and methods and refine the ones you like. Creation, like intelligence, can be artistic or scientific; physical or intellectual; social or solitary.
8. Observe. Look more closely at your world, and examine both the usual and the unusual. Also, look at the world from different levels. Chances are you already respond differently to the news of a friend than to the news of a country, for example.
9. Respond to what you observe, and notice and examine your own response.
10. Take classes, both formal and informal. No matter how dedicated an autodidact you are, some subjects are best learned with the aid of a teacher. Remember that a teacher may be found in a classroom, but also in an office, a neighbor’s garage, a store, a restaurant, or a taxi cab.
11. Ask questions. Asking the right questions can be more important than having the answers. It can also turn just about anybody into a teacher. Be sure to listen closely and understand the response.
12. Evaluate and reflect on what you learn. Does it make sense? Is it true? Who said so? How was it determined? Can it be verified? Is an argument or piece of advice logical, valuable, applicable?
13. Keep a journal or notebook to record what you learn and what questions you still have. Questions can teach as much as or more than answers. A journal or notebook can also record your progress.
14. Apply what you learn. This is the best way to test it and it will help you learn it more completely and retain it longer.
15. Teach others. Teaching is a wonderful way to learn a subject better and improve your own understanding of it. If you’re not a teacher or tutor, you can write about your knowledge in a wiki or forum or simply volunteer an answer when somebody asks.

Tips

• Keep an open mind. Some of the greatest scientific, mathematical, artistic, and other advances came from questioning conventional wisdom and being open to unusual results and new, different ways of doing things.
• Leave your perfectionism behind. Experiment, make mistakes, and ask silly questions. If you wait until you know it all, you’ll be waiting a long time.
• Have fun. Fun is a very important part of learning, especially as an adult. It is a big part of your motivation to continue.
• Sleep, exercise, and eat properly. Your overall health will influence how much you can effectively learn.
• Do what works best for you.

Article provided by wikiHow, a collaborative writing project to build the world’s largest, highest quality how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Become an Adult Self Learner. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

How To-68: "How to Beat Adult Dyslexia"

How to Beat Adult Dyslexia

from wikiHow – The How to Manual That You Can Edit

People generally consider that adult dyslexia is a disease that cannot be cured. Most people think that there is no permanent treatment that is available to overcome these learning disabilities. However, such considerations are only based on assumptions and have nothing to do with the truth. You should not accept such misconceptions as the veritable truth. The modern advancements in the field of medicine and technology have given us an array of therapies, training and equipment that can be used to beat dyslexia.

Steps

1. It is very important for us to understand that every human being is different. With a little amendment in learning strategies, even a person affected with adult dyslexia can improve his or her reading and writing skills.
• Different brains are wired differently. You cannot expect everyone to be an expert in only one field. Some students are good at Mathematics while there are others who are good at literature or other subjects.
• Even if a person is affected with adult dyslexia, it can mean that they will be weak learners in just one aspect- reading or writing. It does not mean that they are dumb and worthless.
• They may be very talented in some other fields that do not involve reading and writing, such as painting etc. The amendment in learning strategies must be made on the basis of the unique talent that the person possesses.
2. Thus, the first task is to study the person and identify his or her strengths.
3. Recognize that feelings of rejection are normal with dyslexia. In general, a person with dyslexia does not get a good response from their surroundings.
• People at school, in their neighborhood, and even their immediate family, often start to taunt them or ridicule them, considering them to be dumb and stupid.
• Such behavior can have a severe impact on his or her self-confidence, causing feelings of isolation and rejection.
4. Therefore, once the problem is identified, through a dyslexia test, proper actions must be taken showing that they have the talent to achieve success. It can be difficult to win self-confidence back but that is why this is the stage that must be won before coping is possible.

Tips

• One way to improve the reading and writing skills of someone who has dyslexia, is by focusing on building the phonetic decoding skills. Since dyslexia causes slower reading, teaching to break words into their basic sounds and then rearrange these sounds to produce different words is very beneficial. Such training will gradually help the an adult dyslexia with dyslexia learn to read more accurately and at a higher speed.
• More Information
• The author writes more about adult dyslexia at [1]

Sources and Citations

1. ↑ www.the-dyslexia-center.com

Article provided by wikiHow, a collaborative writing project to build the world’s largest, highest quality how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Beat Adult Dyslexia. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

How To-63: "How to Balance School and Work as an Adult"

How to Balance School and Work as an Adult

from wikiHow – The How to Manual That You Can Edit

You’ve found a great opportunity: you’re able to work and go to school to earn a degree or take courses for personal interest. But once you’ve started, you can’t seem to find time to fit everything in. Here are some guidelines for working students who can’t seem to find enough time in a day.

Steps

1. Be organized. Keep your school materials organized and in one place. Mark upcoming deadlines on your calendar and start school projects early to allow sufficient time to complete them in case other things come up in the meantime. If you’re taking several courses at once, don’t spend all of your time on one course while other deadlines begin to loom on the horizon.
2. Create a flexible schedule. Some parts of your schedule are going to be inflexible, such as class times and work days. Fit homework and studying in when you’re either not in class or not at the office. Build a routine that you can stick to, but are able to adjust if other important things come up. As a working student, you have to be ready to adapt to new assignments, unexpected errands, and sudden work crises that need to be addressed immediately. Make enough studying time in your schedule so that if something comes up, you can shift it into another slot during the week.
3. Communicate your schedule to your employers, friends, clients and family. Make sure the people around you know where you’ll be and when. Sign up for an online calendar and send the URL to the people who depend on knowing where you are and when. Not everyone you work with will understand the demands of being a student and, similarly, not all of your classmates will understand the additional responsibilities of working while in school.
4. Manage stress. Stress is an inevitable part of being a student and a worker–combine both together and you can expect to be stressed out. As much as you may try to prevent stress, you’re going to have to learn how to relieve it as well.
• Take those much-needed breaks. Give yourself time to collect yourself when you need it the most, so you can re-approach things with a clear head.
• Be active. Stretch. Swim. Run. Lift. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle helps relieve stress and you’ll find if the more you get out and exercise, the easier work and school will seem. Exercising is commonly known to reduce stress.
• Live. Don’t forget to enjoy life. Don’t get bogged down by nuisances of the demands of your academic and professional life. Take time to experience the world around you and appreciate your relationships in life. See movies, read books, watch sports. Don’t forget to squeeze in the things that make life worth living into your schedule.
5. Be realistic. There may not be enough time for everything, so get your priorities straight and don’t beat yourself up if you don’t accomplish every single task you’ve set out to do on a given day. Stay positive and be thankful that you have the opportunity to make a living and get an education–two things many people in the world go without.
6. Remember why you’re doing it. By taking on work and studies at the same time, you’re accepting a challenge that most people don’t dare to attempt. But, you wouldn’t be doing it if you didn’t have strong reasons and motivation. Whether it’s the desire to pay your way through school and remain debt-free, or because you want to get ahead in your career (or switch to your dream career), or simply because you know that life is short and you want to make the most of it–keep your goals in mind whenever it starts to feel like too much.
7. Know that it can be done!. It may seem overwhelming at times, but remember that other people have gone through the same thing you are, and they have succeeded! You can too.

Tips

• Keep work and school separate. Don’t worry about work while you’re at school, and vice versa. Keep them separate, and focus on one thing at a time.
• Find online tools that are useful for time management, such as calendars, reminders, etc. Use portal pages to arrange easy access to both work and school related websites.
• Plan your academic path. Figure out what steps you need to make it to where you want to go and set goals for yourself. Do you need 5 courses to finish a program? Find out when they’re offered and create a multi-year schedule.
• Guilty pleasures. Everybody has them, whether it’s MTV or getting lost in idle chit-chat with your neighbor. If there’s an activity that you tend to get caught up with, but that doesn’t further your goals in life, avoid it like the plague.
• Work smarter, not harder.
• Get buy-in from friends and family. School will limit the amount of social time you have. It’s important to keep these relationships healthy while you have limited time for them. Communicate via e-mail on a regular basis.
• Create some sort of progress measurement. Cross completed classes off of a list or use a countdown clock to measure time to completion. This will help keep your eyes on the prize.

Warnings

• Be aware of the signs of burnout and make adjustments if you feel like you’re at the end of your rope.
• Doing school and work at the same time might not be for everyone. Be realistic and prioritize. Don’t let going to school part-time jeopardize your income if you can’t handle being unemployed.
• Do not stop! Taking a semester off may seem like a fine idea, but only do so for extraordinary circumstances, such as a death in the family, etc. Rather than stopping, if you find you are tiring of school, relax your schedule and take only one class in the next semester, one that is fun or indulgent rather than tough. Otherwise, you risk losing the momentum and never returning.
• “TIME WAITS FOR NO ONE, SO DONT QUIT!”

Related wikiHows

• How to Be Calm in a Stressful Situation
• How to Be an All Around Good Student
• How to Be Organized
• How to Call in Sick When You Just Need a Day Off
• How to Make Time by Prioritizing and Scheduling
• How to Write a Statement of Purpose
• How to Balance School Homework and Fun

Article provided by wikiHow, a collaborative writing project to build the world’s largest, highest quality how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Balance School and Work as an Adult. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

How To-52: "How to Return to Learning As an Adult"

How to Return to Learning As an Adult

from wikiHow – The How to Manual That You Can Edit

Going back to study is pretty scary. You might often wonder if you have made the right decision. Everything else seems to be more important and seems to take more of your time. Other people make you feel guilty but …don’t give up. No matter what your age, it is never too late to go back to school and pursue your dreams.

Steps

1. Remind yourself that you are doing this for you in the first place. But if it also means that soon you will have a career which is satisfying and is paying the bills and your children have a new found respect for you, cherish these bonuses.
2. If you are looking to find out what you really want to do and you are already past high school or college age, review the past few years of your life. How have you spent them and what made you happy or unhappy?
3. Consider the things you did that made you unhappy and choose a career that does not include them. For example, if doing bookkeeping at your last job stressed you out you probably should not pursue an accounting degree.
4. Consider the things you did that made you happy and that you felt you had control of. If you enjoyed maintaining the company website at your last job, you may also enjoy taking some online classes in graphic design and web design.
5. Go back to your old school days. What were your favorite subjects and hobbies? What did you want to be when you grew up? Does what you do now have anything to do with those subjects, hobbies and dreams?
6. Review your favorite job activities, hobbies and subjects to figure out what type of classes you would like to take. You don’t have to decide “what you want to be when you grow up” right away.
7. Studying as an adult means you need to be organised. Set aside the time to do the homework – make yourself into a role model for the kids. Do homework together. Set up a study centre in your home or track everyone down to the local library for an afternoon of study.
8. Studying as an an adult means learning to cut corners but knowing which corners to cut. Not everything has to be done perfectly – you will give yourself ulcers. Do the best you can and learn from the feedback given to you by your teachers. Your home will survive the odd bit of dust. Teach family members how to vacuum, gain new cooking skills and become responsible for household cleanups.
9. Use every possible learning method to help you manage tests and find out which works best for you. Flashcards; audio tape information to be played while driving the car or cooking the dinner; coloured highlighters for key points; teach someone else; diagrams; lists and learn recall strategies.
10. But most of all believe in yourself. Yes, sometimes study can go awry but ask, ask and ask again for help from a range of people: your teacher, your peers, family, counsellors. Persistence is the key.
11. Celebrate like never before when you graduate!

Tips

• Set up an area at home or at work where you can do your studies quietly so you are ready for your classes.
• Find like minded study partners and share the load.
• Get involved with culture of the study institution – learn to feel at home
• Remember that ‘No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.’ Thank you Eleanor Roosevelt
• Let your friends, family and work associates know about your intention to pursue higher education so they can be understanding of your needs. Those family members who are scathing of your attempts to improve your education need attention but also need to understand that you won’t stop studying.
• Let your friends, family and work associates know about your intention to pursue higher education so they can be understanding of your needs.
• Talk to people who are working in the areas of interest you are considering. Find out what it takes to get and keep a job. Discuss the best and worst parts of the job.
• Candidly discuss your strong and weak points with friends, family and business associates to gain a better perspective of yourself.

Warnings

• Sometimes, but only in very rare cases, quitting is the only option you can have when things go really badly. However, most times quitting is a cop out. For the rest of your life, you will always think, “what if I’d finished that study?….”
• Everyone is capable of learning; the question is only how long will it take and will you put forth enough effort to learn what your studying. Some people are born with a natural ability to read well and others are born with great math skills. It is just a simple matter of how your brain was hard wired from birth to process information. Don’t take it personally if you’re not great at both as most people are not. Overcoming pride will be your biggest problem most times. Try not to focus on the grade level of the content and just that idea of accomplishing the goals.

Related wikiHows

• How to Cope With Sitting in the Back of the Classroom
• How to Be Knowledgeable
• How to Use a Chinese Abacus
• How to Study English in China

Sources and Citations

• Eleanor Roosevelt [1]

Article provided by wikiHow, a collaborative writing project to build the world’s largest, highest quality how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Return to Learning As an Adult. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.