Incorrect Pronoun Use

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I found learning English very hard when I was little.
The following may be true for others too. I believe that learning style has something to do with it.

I've realised that my difficulties weren't because I was stupid, but that my focus was in the different place to the other kids. Hence, My focus was therefore in a different place to what the teacher's expected.

I didn't know at first that I had to chat to the other children or the teachers to learn things or that that was even required. I was oblivious to this for some time because the physical environment was so interesting.

I was fascinated with the details in surrounding environment. These details seemed to distract me from other people. These other people I was distracted from included the teachers. Hence I didn't pick up the "rules" from the teachers as easily, if at all, because I didn't focus on the people.

So in English class, I seemed to learn about the shape of the windows, the wood-grain on the desk and the patterns in the carpet. Everyone else learned about comprehension in the story by chatting to their desk neighbours or the teacher.


What if there are two kinds of learning:

-Learning from the physical environment

-Learning from other people talking to you


I seem to be very strong at the former and weak at the latter.
The former is great for independent scientific investigation and original creative writing.

However, most school learning environments, particularly for young children are set up to be "people focussed". Lone exploration and investigation are not encouraged. Kids have to find partners, work in small groups or sit in a circle to learn things. Kids are given knowledge by the teacher and other students.

I still learn best from the physical environment I'm in rather than by listening to other people. I only tend to ask other people for help as a last resort. I read books and research topics to learn things. I look up information on CD ROMs. I like to watch documentaries where the shots are focussed on nature and the people are just incidental or narrating. I like looking at lecture slides focussed in on the physical environment too.

On fieldtrips, I've often become upset because I've wanted to get into the "nitty gritty" of logging and anlaysing the physical enviroment, only to find that people are sitting around chatting or asking the group leaders:
"What do we do now sir?"

When I've known exactly what to do, planned out what I was going to do in my own head, but was unable to do so because some of the leaders like to have a social "warm-up" bonding session and insisted that everyone "group-up".

Perhaps I would have learned to read and learn grammar better, if I had been alone in a room with toy letters or had done exercises on a CD-ROM. Perhaps every so often, one adult could have come in and facilitate what I was doing and help make it fun. Perhaps even with a small group of children, not a large class-size. Perhaps we even could have had a letter treasure hunt in the playground or something each of us exploring alone.