The most effective ways for me to learn are by incorporating visual and auditory strategies. In addition, different types of groupings support social learners like me. Some examples are working with a partner, collaborating in small groups or working in a large group setting. One example is having students work in partners, such as reading buddies. Students can sit with a partner, read together and share their favorite part of the story or a text-to-self connection. If there is a word that is difficult for one of the students, then their reading buddy can help them figure out what word would make sense. Another way to promote social learning is having students work in small groups, such as centers. The students can work with each other to problem solve putting a puzzle together or use team work to build a volcano. Working in a large group is another beneficial teaching strategy to support social learners. Having whole group discussions and the opportunity to ask questions freely allows social learners to grow in their learning and feel comfortable in this atmosphere.
The teaching style that does not fit my learning style would be verbal teaching. If an educator is simply standing in front of the class and lecturing, it is hard for me to pull out the important information, write it down at the same time and continue to actively listen for more essential information that is being presented. I like to have the information that is pertinent already given to me, so when the instructor is presenting, I can make additional notes to help me understand and remember the information.
In addition, it is difficult for me to learn the tasks where you have to basically just memorize the answer. I made a prediction before I took the learning style test of what my lowest score would be in…I was right! I can confidently say I definitely am not a logical learner. I am not the most mathematically inclined person. It brings me back to elementary school when I had timed multiplication tests. I remember my heart beating fast, only thinking about the clock ticking, seeing other people finish their test when I was only in the middle- AHHH! At that age, those skills were strictly rote memorization. The test not only made me feel nervous, but sadly made me lose confidence in my math skills early on.
A teacher’s classroom is filled with students that have different backgrounds, abilities, ages and learning styles. It is impossible to teach each lesson focusing on every learning style that is the classroom. I feel that teachers have to aim for a balance of instructional methods. During a particular lesson a teacher can represent a few of the learning styles while keeping the lesson on track. For example, if the classroom is learning about insects, they can have non-fiction books about these insects to read about and/or actual insects in the classroom to observe (even hold if they want). This balance will allow the students to be taught either in the method that is best for them or one that will teach them to approach thinking and solving problems in a different manner. It is important for an educator to know how each student learns best. If you have certain children in your class that may need to take a test verbally versus written, this is something that you need to be aware of. It may not be that they do not understand the information, but just need to use a different way to express it. With all the resources that I have learned about in this class and have seen through my research, technology is certainly a way to reach out to students with various learning styles as well.
I think the biggest challenge is find a way to determine students' learning styles. With all the hoopla about understanding them I can't recall gathering the information and having it available as being something that concerned the folks in charge.
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