Naomi Onike
Chapter 4: Question 11: Should a teacher focus on students’ learning style?
Learning styles pertain to consistent patterns of behaviors and performance one uses to acquire learning. It has been broken down into different components as follows
· Physical Settings; involve amount of light, temperature, sound or design
· Social setting; whether individual like to study alone or in groups
· Learning Senses; visual (reading, watching a video)
· Auditory; listening
· Kinesthetic; practicing, role playing
· Tactile; writing, building, or constructing
· Cognitive learning style; sequential learner or analytical, left-brained and Global learner.
The reality is that individuals are not limited to just one component of learning style in their quest to acquire knowledge. Some may perform well under two or three components or even more. To restrict students just to learning style that is theirs will be a huge mistake. All the same, it is necessary for teachers to understand the learning styles of their students. This will help the teacher know how to plan lessons in order to accommodate the styles of their students.
I agree that it is a mistake to restrict students to one style of learning. It's important to know what style of learning that works best for your students, but it is equally important to challenge them by giving them opportunities to learn outside of their comfort zone. I think it is important to diversify the way we teach on a daily basis. Sticking to a routine can help students become familiar with the established protocol in the classroom, but introducing a lot of variety in your lessons allows you to reach more learners and it helps keep them engaged. It requires more work and more planning, but the variety helps learners of all types while posing challenges to students who get too comfortable in a predictable environment or in learning in one specific way. One way to effectively build more variety in the classroom is to combine strategies and learning styles. Eventually, you can build in more activities that allow for students to make effective choices on how they want to learn because students will develop a better understanding of what works for them.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that students, like us, learn through many learning styles. We must be aware of how our students learn best so we can adjust our teaching to fit their learning styles. For example, my students always have handouts and notes packets to accompany what I'm saying during instruction because many students are visual learners. I also incorporate peer discussion and group work into my lessons to help auditory learners formulate their understanding through verbalizing their ideas. Centers, versatiles and dry erase boards also help tactile and kinesthetic learners. If we are to help ALL our students learn, we must find ways to help them ALL learn by being aware of the various learning styles present in our classrooms.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ms Furtney about peer discussions during instruction. This is necessary for ESOL students to be successful.
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