Learning...
I always tell my students, "you don't know my story" or "you don't know your patient's story" so you have to address all learning styles. A patient or a student can be nodding in affirmation and still not understand what you are saying. As educators we have to be diverse in our approach.
Kristen,
Thank you for making this point. In our culture most individuals have developed "attending" behavior which means they may nod or agree when in fact they are not really grasping what is being said. (Just returned from a Doctors visit with my 91 year old dad). The reason I was there of course was to listen because my dad did the nodding without really understanding what was being said. After the visit I was able to explain to him what was being said in relation to medicine, etc.. He is very sharp for his age but still doesn't understand all that is being said but sure does a good job of letting everyone think he does. This is the case for many of our students so we need to have checks for understanding built into our instructional delivery.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I like to use analogies to help me comunicate a learning process. The student can then pair it with something that they understand better.
Bryan,
These types of teaching tools are great ways to get students to see the relevancy of what is being taught. Also, analogies really capture the attention of students.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I like to engage the students and see if they can give me an analogy to what I am explaining.
Tania,
Good way to check for understanding. By knowing this information you can move the course to the next step in the learning process.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I like to use hands on demonstrations as often as I can to let the student go through the process themselves. By do this they get to experience the task and will be able to retain the information that goes along with the task.
Robert,
This is how I like to teach as well because of the reasons you cite. This helps them to see the relevancy and application of the course content.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Because students have different learning styles and abilities , the instructor must be able to touch each and everyone of them by designing his instructional approach using variety and fun to it. The instructor must know his student's individual characteristics and make each one of them feel that he belongs and is an important member of the class. This will encourage teamwork and class participation, a great way to learn quickly .
Juanito,
Good points about the need for knowing as much about your students as you can. With this information you can customize your instruction to touch upon their different learning preferences. This will increase the retention factor in terms of them acquiring the needed content.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Sometimes I find it hard to learn individual characteristics when they pack our classes to the limit... any opinions on how I can adapt to this.
Manuel,
This may be difficult to do but I have found with my larger classes if I spend a few minutes before and after classes chatting with students I can learn a lot about their characteristics and I can use this information in my instructional planning.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Teaching the Partical part of Cosmetology,I use hands on and demonstrations a lot. Students learn and retain by hands on.
Beverly,
Students as you have experienced really like hands on learning because it shows them the relevancy of the content being offered and how it can be applied to their career developed. This is why it is good to use all of the activities you can to make the course come alive.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
This will encourage teamwork and class participation, a great way to learn quickly .
I have experienced that. Its almost as if that are afraid to say they don't understand; this is only hurting them in the long run
Claudia,
It is sad when students feel this way but it is common among students as we all know. By working at helping them feel comfortable in the class setting and then generating comments from them you can start to see what they don't understand and then provide them with the missing information.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
