Different Intelligences/Learning styles
I find that it is sometimes difficult to identify the different learning styles in my classrooms. Many of the students we serve have been out of school for a long time. Therefore, coming back to school, they are sometimes unsure of how they learn best or where their intellectual strength lies. Therefore, it becomes difficult to address these differences and reach everyone. Many of them are also very independent and resistant to working with others that may share similar strengths.
Stephania,
Sounds like you have some real challenges with your student population. By offering a variety of instructional activities and deliveries you will be touching on their learning preferences at one time or another and hopefully this will be enough to keep them engaged.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
This is why I like student surveys so we as teachers can improve.
Stephen,
You are right about the value of having student surveys conducted in classes. This is how improvement is made.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
The independent students usually have some pretty difficult habits to break as well. They are usually very independent and dont seem to take to the classic learning styles very well. I use this to my advantage. I find that if I let them do things "their" way a little, it allows them to struggle a bit, this lets me study their problem solving methods. After a short time I introduce the "easy" way, allowing them to appriciate this new method by applying it quickly to solve the problem.
James,
Like your approach. You are creating a need on the part of these students to come back to you for help in learning the "easy" and effective way to do a task. By doing so you are really doing them a service because you are helping them to see that they are going to need to ask fellow workers for input once they are out in the workplace.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
The majority of the students that I work with tend to be kinesthetic learners. Those who are not, are mainly visual learners. When lecturing, I always use a various number of teaching methods that combine visual, auditory, or tactile delivery methods in order to capture most of the students' learning styles.
Davina,
I have a lot of these blended learners as well. So the more demonstrations and lab experiences I can offer them the greater the retention of content and skill development there will be. So keep up the good work of offering both venues for learning.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Most of the students that comes to the clinical areas are kinesthetic learners. As instructor first of all I let them visualize how skills done on the facility and then they do hands-on. Always emphathized that sometimes skills will be somehow different as taught on school.
Student surveys are affect and also help you learn the need of the students as well as the instructor.
