Learning Styles

When I think about my learning style I really feel like the results I received from the quiz ring true. I am very much an intrapersonal learner. I prefer to work alone, manage myself, and reflect on the new things I have learned. Thinking back to when I was a student in high school I remember not responding well to long lectures. I was able to control myself and sit quietly, but I would easily zone out and doodle. I learn best by a combination of styles. If I was taking notes it would be easier for me to remember a lecture. What was always the easiest for me was visual and kinesthetic. If I could see it and then put it to use, I retained information much better.

You will notice from the quiz that my lowest score was linguistic. I would agree that this is my most challenging area. I'll be the first to admit that I do not listen well at all. I can DO more than one thing at a time, but I cannot listen to two things at once. It's very difficult for me to retain information from a verbal lecture unless I write things down because I simply space out.

With all of these different learning styles, how do teachers accomodate the diversity of their students? I think it would be wise for teachers to diversify their delivery strategies. You may not be able to include every learning style in a single lesson, but you can vary the lessons accordingly so that you aren't teaching every lesson with one learning style in mind. You could deliver content in many different ways. For example, if I were teaching a lesson on a concept in Microsoft Word I may start a lesson with a video clip to spark interest, then the students and I might discuss it. Moving forward into the guided practice portion of the lesson I would ask for a volunteer. As I read the steps aloud to complete the task, the volunteer (I call my "spokesmodel") would follow along using my computer connected to the smart board; the rest of the class would be following along as well, but at the pace of the spokesmodel. Using this method allows me diversify my delivery. The students get a video clip, discussion, visual, lecture, and are working kinesthetically. It may be a little easier for me to use multiple strategies being in the computer lab, but I think other teachers could try to vary the types of strategies they use on a daily basis.