Learning Styles

I am both a visual and auditory learner. I remember sitting in lecture classes in college with my notes out in front of me and even though I had all the information in front of me,it helped me to hear the lecture as well. I would then go home and look off my notes. This is what helped me to be successful in college.

For these types of learners in my classroom, I feel what is most effective is for a teacher to display the information visually whether through information in a textbook, information projected on a screen, video clips, radio, voice thread, or tape. Then when this information is being presented or after it is presented, a teacher needs to assign a writing activity or notes that displays the information on paper for students to read at a later time.

Strategies that would not be effective would be having students read a text and take notes by themselves. Or if a teacher is assigning a activity, they will have their students independently read the directions them and complete the activity on their own.

I also feel as though I am a very hands-on tactile/kinesthetic learner. This class is a perfect example because I feel that I really learned the different programs assigned to us when I actually had to explore the websites given to us and create the task assigned.

In my classroom, I find that a lot of my students are this type of learner because of the fact that they grew up in a generation that is constantly "plugged in". Therefore, an example that I use in my classroom when teaching students new vocabulary words is that I have an interactive quiz I created that is attached to my blog to have my students practice their words. I also have my students constantly create hand gestures that describe the words to help them remember the meaning of the words better. I also have my students create skits in social studies to describe some of the events we are studying.

What would hinder the learning of the tactile/kinesthetic learner is if a classroom is set-up like most college lectures a teacher lectures all hour and a student's job is to listen and take notes.

Because teachers can't teach each lesson focusing on every learning style that we have in the classroom, a teacher should try to incorporate all learning styles into their lessons to accommodate every learner. A great way would be to utilize new technologies especially an interactive whiteboard. Another way, especially when assigning a project, a teacher should give different options to assignments that satisfies all learning styles. For example a skit or play, research project, video, paper, brochure, etc. Therefore, all students have the opportunity to learn and reach their highest potential.