Learning Styles

I first became aware of learning styles in my teacher education classes back about nine years ago. Ever since then, it has been very helpful to me to understand my own personal learning style so I can inform instructors, colleagues, and presenters what my needs are for learning. I am predominantly a visual learner. I need to see exactly what it is that I am learning. I jokingly tell anyone who is trying to teach me something to "draw me a map". I have to see it while it is being told to me. I cannot understand directions for making something, hooking something up, or putting something together without having pictures or diagrams to go along with each step. A few other things I have noticed about myself when it comes to digesting reading material, like textbooks, is that I do better if I can hear myself read it. Otherwise, I find I am simply reading with my eyes and not for memory.

This online class has been a bit challenging because the sound and picture for the live lessons I tune into every Tuesday evening are not in sinc with each other. I get the picture about 15 minutes behind the audio description. I then have to watch the recorded version so I can get both parts together.

After learning about learning styles, I wish it was something that educators knew about when I was in grade school as school was quite a struggle for me. I understand, now, what I need to be a successful learner and I really think it has impacted the way I teach my own students. I have noticed that because I am a visual learner, I tend to include as many visuals as I can with my lessons. However, I also have many students who are auditory learners and still others who are kinesthetic. Even though I can't teach everything in all three formats, I think it's important to have an awareness of what my students needs are and then be able to vary my teaching strategies so I meet everyone's needs for helping them be successful learners.

Every student who reaches second grade at our school is given a couple different tests/inventories to determine their learning style, personality profile, and dominance factors to assist teachers in delivering their lessons to students using the teaching strategies that work best for their particular needs. It is very helpful to know this information, especially when they show signs of struggling. We usually can always flip through their files and find information to help us with figuring out the best interventions for them.

I love knowing about learning styles and I think it is a valuable tool for teachers to have an awareness of.