Describe How Your Reading Style Impacts Your Learning Style. Provide an Example from Real Life That Shows Either a Positive or Negative Impact, or Both.

My reading style is indicative of my learning style. I am a visual learner; I mostly use a highlighter when I am reading a textbook or any other document or manual with information I need to know. I am also attracted to color when I read or study, so I tend to use different colored highlighters, pens, markers, and/or post-it notes. Color really helps me learn new information; it grasps my attention and focus and I can recall and reference items quickly because I can remember where that information is located and what that particular page "looks like." I have a color system I use that has helped me tremendously over the years, both in school and at work.

For example, I work in the business office at a used car company here in Virginia. When I first started there was a lot of information that I needed to learn about the company, its policies and procedures, and all the forms and documents we use when customers purchase vehicles from us. There weren't any manuals or textbooks given to new employees; all information was in PDF documents that we could either read in the system or print out. I chose the latter and gradually made my own manual with binders and tabbed inserts. Before I actually read the material I skimmed through it first to get a feel of what I was about to absorb. As I started reading, I used a yellow highlighter on title headings, a pink one on terms and definitions, and a blue one to "square out" any examples given. I used a red-inked pen to jot down notes in the white spaces of the pages and colored post-its for names and phone numbers because those can easily be swapped out if the information changes. When it came to familiarizing myself with the financial documents, I only used a yellow highlighter on key areas that helped me explain to the customer the "3 W's": what they were signing, why they were signing it, and where they needed to sign. In the six months given to new associates to learn all this information, I was able to gain that knowledge...