a) An example of a circumstance / situation in which I was a successful learner.
I have always liked to draw. I remember when being a child I picked up a pen, went to wallpaper and painted a large duck. The parents and brother were horrified. It was good that this figure was not in the front room, and in my room. That was a time when my artistic talent was exhausted. While several classmates went to art school, I helped my family at home. However, my inner artist was waiting for me. I admired the details in paintings by famous artists in museums and in the classroom for art history. I learned them by heart. At some point, I could not stand my hidden talent and bought the Moleskine notebook with special dense pages for sketches. I liked beautiful little things in a notebook, and I began to reflect on how it can be filled. It would be desirable to do everything beautifully and without mistakes. Thus, I bought a few books on animation and began to copy the drawings. From time to time I draw cartoon characters and enjoyed it. Then I was presented a new 2013 paper, brush, watercolor, painting books, and pencils. I looked at it a couple of times, even tried to paint with watercolors on the booklet and postponed the art for an indefinite time. At some point in the beginning of February 2015, I came across online drawing courses. It has a free introductory course somewhere for a week. I liked the description, looked through introductory remarks and decided to try it. The idea was that every day you get a task and try to do it without delay, otherwise, the next job will not be introduced. I was a good student. The first couple of lessons were about the basics: lines, colors, light and shade. The key idea is that I cannot call myself a genius artist. In order to become such person, I need a lot, a lot of work. Nowadays time seems to stop when I pick up a pencil. Probably, it is better late than never because it is very important to find such interesting hobby and become a successful learner.
2) 1-2 important insights this reading provides for helping me understand how I learn.
The essential thing is that learning is not what happens with people, it is something they do to themselves. Thus, a person cannot be forced to learn something, he should do it. The provided article emphasizes that knowing is important for the learning process. Thus, human learning consists of understanding and remembering. A person should try to make sense of a thing and see the logic or causality. But if he does not get it, then he will not understand the thing and he has not tried enough circuits in the brain (Leamnson 1). Unfortunately, most of the students do not understand this thing and stay just passive observers. However, learning cannot be achieved passively. Some students cannot fully understand what they hear or read, and they get poor grades, while their biggest problem is that they neglect to remember that is that important part of learning (Leamnson 1). Next, the article provides interesting information on the difference between information and knowledge. Modern people are sure that availability of information allows to improve learning and get more interesting information (Leamnson 10). However, it does not matter the number of websites visited unless a person does not make sense of information found there (Leamnson 10). Thus, instead of getting information from the internet, a person should have a lot of knowledge beforehand in order to make sense of the ocean of information he finds there. The key idea is that free access to information does not allow to make studying easy because the internet is just a tool and only a person decides how to use it and get benefits (Leamnson 10).
3) How will I prepare differently for exams, given what I read?
Given what I read, I will prepare differently for exams. I am going to read with a pencil in my hand and mark moments which I want or need to read once more time. Since I rarely reread what I had once read (why go back, when there are so many still unread books in the world), my l marks help me to pay attention to the most important things. For me, the best way to remember the information is to retell it. Topics of the books I read constantly retell close friends have become accustomed to my "fad": the simple question "How are you?" I can tell a 30-minute monolog dedicated to the book I read. The next thing is to read aloud. Especially if you need to memorize a poem or a definition, it helps a lot. Then the information will be remembered. I usually read a book with a certain purpose. For example, during my free time, I read books on health, sport, and nutrition. After this, I read books on financial management and control, as it became clear that the business is growing and knowledge is not enough. That is, each book is a step towards the goal. The next thing is that I do not read just because someone recommends a book it.
Works Cited
Leamnson, Robert. "Learning (Your first job)."
http://www1.udel.edu/CIS/106/iaydin/07F/misc/firstJob.pdf. Accessed 22 Jan. 2017.
