What's My Learning Style?

Last night I was playing catch up on my blog reading when I came across this post from Lorine over at Olive Tree Genealogy Blog.  This post from Midge over at the Granite In My Blood blog discusses Project-based learning versus Problem-based learning, and was the inspiration for Lorine to discover her learning style.

Incidentally, reading Lorine's post made me realize that for whatever reason I was not subscribed to Midge's blog - a problem that was immediately remedied. (Sorry, Midge!)

Well, thanks to Midge and Lorine, I had to find out for myself.  So I went and took this quiz.  Turns out, my learning style is pretty much all over the place.  Note the glaring absence of any Body-Kinesthetic learning.

Sadly, my research style is no different.  All. Over. The. Place. (but always in a chair!)

So what exactly are my strongest learning styles?  Linguistic tops the list at 67%.  What does this mean?  I learn best from written or spoken words.  Okay.  I can see that.  

The next strongest category is Logical-Mathematical.  Essentially, this means I "ask questions, find solutions, and reflect on the problem-solving process."  I guess.  I'm not really sure I spend time reflecting on the process ... I'm more likely to say "okay, solved that one. Next!"

What surprised me was the 56% in the Interpersonal category.  I never considered myself "in tune with the people around me and their motives, emotions, perspectives, and moods."  Never.  I mean, I've gotten pretty good at telling when my boss is ticked off, but that's mainly so I can just steer clear.

Midge also discusses "concrete sequential" and "abstract random" learning styles.  I'm not sure which of these I am, but I'm going to guess that it's concrete sequential - or maybe that's just what I'd like it to be - but it's probably like everything else: a mix of both.

In any case, thank you Midge and Lorine for guiding me toward this insight.  I hope to put this information to good use in helping me study the way my brain wants to, so I can finish my Home Study Course!

Incidentally, this topic goes hand-in-hand with DearMYRTLE's recent blog post about collaborative learning.  Conference planners and speakers may want to start taking a fresh look at their setups with the mindset that everyone learns differently - and plan accordingly.  

On a side note - the first thing on MY agenda would be tables in every conference room ... but maybe that's just me (I have a hard time taking notes on my iPad on my lap in a chair squished between two other people who are also trying to take notes).  What?  It's still about the learning, right?

Do we share any ancestors? 

Please email me at lostancestors [at] gmail [dot] com

My 2013 Genealogy Goals

2012 turned out to be quite a year!  I attended my first national genealogy conference (FGS) in August, which in turn motivated me to start working toward my certification.  I made several new friends and reconnected with many old friends at the conference too.  

I made it through the first 5 lessons of the NGS Home Study Course, so that's about 30% done.  I gave a presentation on social media to my genealogical society, and wrote two articles for the quarterly.  I was also tricked waterboarded elected as Secretary of my genealogical society for 2013.  Most importantly, I learned a LOT (genealogically speaking) about research, new resources, and citations.

Obviously, there is still much to learn, which brings me to my goals for 2013:

Learn
1. Complete the NGS Home Study Course by June.  This is by far my most important goal for this year.
2. Attend IGHR in June. I want to finish the NGS-HSC before I do this.
3. Attend FGS in Ft. Wayne in August.
4. Get into a ProGen Study Group by July.

Research
5. Perform a census survey/census search for each direct-line individual on my tree through my 2nd great grandparents.  (See this post for explanation)
6. Obtain DNA tests for my maternal uncle, my maternal grandmother, and my father.
7. Double-check source citations in RootsMagic for accuracy.  I'd like to get through my 2nd great grandparents on this one too.

Write
8. Blog at least twice per week.  I've really fallen off on this and I want to get back on track.
9. Add 5 new ancestor biographies to my website and update WikiTree accordingly.
10. Contribute at least two articles to society quarterly.

Other
11. Transfer website and blog to new host.  This will involve a complete redesign of my website, relinking of all my toolbox links, and transferring my blog to WordPress.
12. Join APG - probably the Second Life chapter.
13. Continue my indexing efforts for FamilySearch.  I'd like to index a minimum of 100 records per month.  (I know this seems low, but in light of goals #1-4, I'd like to actually be able to meet this!)

There.  Those are my 13 goals for 2013.  What goals do you hope to reach this year?

Do we share any ancestors? 

Please email me at lostancestors [at] gmail [dot] com

2012 Goals - The Moment of Truth

So here we are at the end of the year again ... and now I have to fess up as to whether I was able to accomplish the goals I set for myself in January.

1. Obtain the addresses, birth dates, and anniversary dates for all of my first cousins on both sides of my family … and names and birth dates of spouses and children. Oh and all my half siblings’ spouses and kids too.
I'm still missing 3 ... but I got the others!

2. Attend at least five (5) Scanfests (or equivalent) this year - and actually scan stuff.
I completed all my photo scanning before September, so I didn't need to attend all 5 (see #3 below).

3. Scan and label at least 15 photos and/or negatives each week, or until they are done, whichever happens first.
This goal is complete.

4. Attend at least two (2) genealogy conferences.
I attended FGS in Birmingham in August, but wasn't able to get to the Family History Expo in Atlanta in November.  Instead, I started the NGS Home Study Course.

5. Give at least two (2) presentations to my genealogical society.
I only made one presentation, but submitted two articles for our quarterly - the first on employment records of our ancestors and the second on census records.

6. Index at least 200 records per month at FamilySearch Indexing.
My total for the year is 3,260, which is around 270 per month.  Of course, I really slacked off in the last few months.

7. Add at least five (5) individual ancestor stories to my website.
I almost managed to complete this goal!  I managed to get 5 ancestors in My Ancestor Spotlight series, but only got 4 of them on the website.  Clearly, I'll need to get the last one on there immediately.

8. Blog at least twice per week.
A grand total (not including this post) of 106 posts for the year, which comes to 2.03 posts per week.  I'll call that goal met!

9. Finish reading Greenwood's "The Researcher's Guide to American Genealogy."
I finally finished reading the book!  The SecondLife Book Club didn't have presentations for 3 months; otherwise, we would have made it all the way through the book too.  Unfortunately, we still have 2 chapters left to discuss. 

10. Add at least three (3) website links per week to my online toolbox.
I met this goal a while back, and I've been doing pretty well at keeping my "pending" folder cleaned out.

So I completed 7 out of 10 goals, and sort of completed 2 of the last 3.  Not a bad year!

I haven't decided if I want to have specific goals for the entire year in 2013 or if I want to do monthly goals.  Maybe I'll do both - break my yearly goals down into monthly goals.  I just need to stay motivated and not feel overwhelmed.  I appreciate your thoughts on different approaches.

Do we share any ancestors? 

Please email me at lostancestors [at] gmail [dot] com

Cookiepalooza 2.0

This year I decided to do things a little differently.  My sister had cookies that needed to be made, I had cookies to make ... and we both had Christmas cards to finish.  So when I heard her offer on Saturday morning to work together, I had to take it.  (Besides, her kitchen is bigger).

So a 2-hour drive later, and we were unpacking half my kitchen from my car and planning our attack.  There were several cookies that required making the dough, then chilling it before it could be worked into cookies.  Those went first.

After I got those out of the way, I started on the pizzelles.  I made these last year too.  This is the recipe that yields somewhere in the vicinity of 3000 cookies (or maybe it just seems that way).  I like to make it because it requires whiskey, but not a whole bottle.  See how that works?

In any case, the pizzelles were serving double duty this year because I was planning to make another kind of cookie using the pizzelles as a base ... but smaller.  So while the cookies were still warm and pliable, I used a round cookie cutter to turn them into 6 cookies.  Then I slathered some melted chocolate on them and sprinkled some toffee bits, creating these:

Because it was so late in the evening by the time I got to my sister's, I think those were the only cookies I finished on Saturday, but I can't even remember.  Everything's pretty much a blur.

We woke up early on Sunday, had coffee, and got started on the dough we had chilled the night before.  First up, another repeat from last year - Horseshoe Cookies (my personal favorite):

Clearly, there were more than just these - but they are fragile, and I didn't want to risk breaking any more than I had to.  What? I get to eat the broken ones!

Unfortunately, we did not anticipate the wear-and-tear on my sister's oven.  With all the opening and closing of the door, we apparently jiggled the screws on one side of the handle loose.  

We didn't let that stop us though ...

Next up was the Tea Time Toffees, one of my grandmother's recipes - and another one I made this year.  They turned out better this year - I didn't burn them.  And I made 2 batches, so I get to keep some! 

The next two cookies are also repeats from last year: peanut clusters and kiss cookies:

We stopped making cookies some time around 6 p.m. and gave ourselves 2 hours to work on our Christmas cards.  I left a little after 8 p.m. and made the 2-hour drive home.

When I woke up on Monday morning, my calves felt as if someone had given each of them a "code red*" during the night.  Do you know how hard it is to limp with BOTH legs?

Anyway, when I got home after work on Monday, I finished the last of the cookies.  These acorn cookies are some that I saw on Pinterest (courtesy of a share by Thomas MacEntee).  Unfortunately, mine don't look nearly as cute as the ones on Pinterest, but at least I finally made something I pinned!  

I think I was supposed to use mini chocolate chips on the top, but holy cow, I already looked like I rolled around in melted chocolate just using the regular sized ones.  There was chocolate on everything I was wearing, the furniture, and possibly even the cats (who were in the other room).  I will likely not be making these again.  And if I do - and I'm forced to use the tiny chips - I will be naked.  You've been warned.

I'm just glad everything turned out edible.  Merry Christmas!


*if you don't know what this means, watch the movie "A Few Good Men."

Do we share any ancestors? 

Please email me at lostancestors [at] gmail [dot] com