GREY SCHOOL OF WIZARDRY, LEARNING, AND ME

 When I first encountered the Grey School of Wizardry (Grey School), I found it to be a good fit for me. Since by nature, I am a generalist, the Grey School offered opportunities for me to dabble away. I wanted to learn more about magical topics. During my time at the Grey School, I have taken classes from nearly every one of the sixteen departments of study.

 

When I enrolled, I had no particular idea of what I would major in. I decided for Divination and Lore. I am a divination geek who is now studying Roman augury. The Divination major would give me a good foundation for exploring arcane divining. Since I do study a lot of Roman writings for the augury, I included Lore. I did consider Beast Mastery and Natural Philosophy because of my studies of animal and cloud augury. (Also, I am an amateur naturalist.) However, because of my traumatic brain injury (TBI), I could not fulfill the requirements for those departments.

 

My dominant learning style is reading-writing with a strong second of visual. According to Neil Fleming, educational theorist, most people have more than one dominant learning mode. The idea of the three learning styles came from the Greeks – visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. In the 1980s, Neil Fleming developed the VARK model (Note 1) – by breaking out reading and writing from the visual style. He reasoned that reading/writing differs from visual since the latter is symbolic representations of information, and the former is words and text. People who are aware of their place in space are visual learners, while people who have a reverence for words learn by reading and writing.

 

After years of thinking I was a visual learner, it turns out according to the VARK assessment (Note 2), I have a preference for reading and writing. I make lists, take notes, and read first. I write out everything to ponder the details. Reading and writing is how I learn best. For this learning mode, the Departments of Divination, Alchemy, Lore and Dark Arts fit well. Most of my classes have been in Lore and Dark Arts. They have many topics that can be easily broken down into writing out notes. Furthermore, Divination and Alchemy lend well to making lists.

 

This fits in with my personality as I have Judging dominants as explained by Myers-Brigg Type Indicator (MBTI). People with a Judging mindset “tend to seek conclusive and definite resolutions.” Learning for me involves collecting and organizing information.

 

Notes:

Note 1. Fleming says that “VARK is the part that deals with perceptual modes, which means that it is focused on the different ways that learners take in and give out or express information. Learners have different learning styles…. One preference in a learning style is the preferences for the intake and the output of ideas and information.” (Emphasis the author’s).

 

Note 2. I took two tests at different sites – first at Education Planner and the second at the VARK site. The assessment of visual learning by the Education Planner did not fit as well as the VARK’s assessment of reading and writing.

 

Works Used:

Education Planner.org, Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency, 2011. Web. http://www.educationplanner.org/students/self-assessments/learning-styles-quiz.shtml .

 

Fleming, Neil and Charles Bonwell, “How Do I Learn Best: A Learner’s Guide to Improved Learning.” Christchurch (NZ): VARK Learn, Ltd. 2019.

 

VARK, VARK Learn, Limited, 2024. Web. https://vark-learn.com/.