Does this frustrate you also?

[lcdc1]

jj said:

I think when you learn things about animals, trees, etc. - you learned it in a casual setting - no pressure to remember. It's a whole different learning and remembering process because often you have pictures to go along with the details of an animal or tree or whatever. Having someone rattle off dates never works for me. It is in one ear and out the other as fast as they said it. But for me I think it is just that I never have been able to learn by verbal teaching. I must have it in black and white before my eyes or do it myself before I'll remember. I don't think that will ever change. Which is why I've learned my stoic responses..."Call me or email me the details and I'll get back to you" or "Wait, I'll never remember those dates....let me write it down", etc...

Yup we are similar in our learning styles and stuff - I am not verbal at all, if I am in a situation outside my comfort level - I can outwardly appear obviously challenged in a situation.

Visual cues and hands on is what I do best with, writing things down is visual and locks it in for me sometimes - it is just a challenge I will always have to compansate for and I look forward to having a more mature response such as you do when I can retrain my brain and slow it down. It is hard now, but as I practice, I do see that I can have a response like that and as I keep practicing, I think it will be easier to respond or stop and think that way!

Learning Forestry in college was one of the best choices I have made in my life because it was all about labs and in the field to learn and I was right there doing and touching and smelling everything and was a part of it so I think it became part of me. Same for sports as a kid and in college, do it, feel it, learn it thing!

[rolypolyone]

[/quote]Learning Forestry in college was one of the best choices I have made in my life because it was all about labs and in the field to learn and I was right there doing and touching and smelling everything and was a part of it so I think it became part of me. Same for sports as a kid and in college, do it, feel it, learn it thing! [/quote]

I agree with you whole heartedly lcdc1, I too studied Forestry and found that the whole picture learning was a great thing. Dendrology was a walk through the woods, taking leaves, touching the bark, observing the color of the bark as well as the texture, observing the form of the trees, and even drawing a few things to assist in the memory process. I remember things far better that way.

I do think repetition is helpful to remember things that are thrown at you on the fly, I just don't always remember to repeat it in my head .

[lcdc1]

wow that is cool rolypoly, you know what I mean about that then! dendrology was one of my favorite courses, going out in the woods in search of different species of trees, in the bottoms was my favorite, lots of diverse species where I went to school in the south when you dropped down in the bottoms! I still have my leaf collection, twig collection and cones from back then. It is kinda fun to look at them with my kids now!

You understand maybe then, that it is tough for me, the verbal thing, it is like my brain cannot even picture what was said when I am put on the spot by a date or time or some recall of a fact that my brain was not really involved in when I was asked about it.

[rolypolyone]

lcdc1 said:

You understand maybe then, that it is tough for me, the verbal thing, it is like my brain cannot even picture what was said when I am put on the spot by a date or time or some recall of a fact that my brain was not really involved in when I was asked about it.

I forgot all about responding to this post. I just stumbled onto to it today. I definitely can relate. By the way I graduated in 1979 from ES&F, and I still have my fruit and twig collection.

[lcdc1]

I do that also, forget about threads and what I say. I still have my leaf, cone, and twig collection too! The girls like to look at them. When I look at them, good memories are there, I liked majoring in Forestry because almost every class had a lab involved where I got to be in the woods! I graduated in 1990 from stephen F Austin in east texas! Good school and thank god I got that opportunity thanks to my dad and his military benefits from dying active duty! I would have never pushed myself to do college if I hadn't felt the obligation to use the benefits he earned by dying! I wasn't the higher education type, until I did it with a lot of good people seeing my potential along the way.

[rolypolyone]

I work in human service now, but will always cherish the college days. I even got to spend a summer in the Adirondacks, 10 miles across a lake. The only way out there was by boat. I was on a Work Study program and got to live there for 12 weeks. 4 of the weeks was intensive classes in the forest learning flora and fauna, and everything about the ecosystems. One of the most incredible experiences that anyone could have.

If I didn't get married and settle in New York, my aspiration was to go West to Oregon and find work. Never happened, but I still have my education and experiences.