It is great to communicate with your students. This will also inform the instructor on where the student is within the classroom setting.
Hi Kenle, Thanks for your post to the forum. You are using a good mix of delivery types. I also teach for a technical college and we have the same emphasis on kinesthetic and visual material. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Susan Polick
Hi Miyuki, Thanks for your post to the forum. Revising lesson plans to better fit the learning styles of your students is excellent! Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Susan Polick
Hi Raymond, Thanks for your post to the forum. You are doing some great things with powerpoint! Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Susan Polick
I believe that knowing the learning styles of my students is very beneficial to planning and organzing the material I'm going to present in class. Typically, I try to plan my lecture using a mix of all of the different delivery methods (Visual, auditory, kinesthetic, written) to reach all of the students. However, as an instructor at a technical college, the majority of the information is provided visually and kinesthetically, as their future careers are very hands-on and technical in nature. Some of my students are receptive to written and auditory. For the most part, kinesthetic and visual works best in my instructional approach.
Most of my students are in the art field. Visuals always help. Some students have a hard time grasping the objective of the class, thus understanding their learning styles allows me to be more effective. I notice that every term I need to tweak the class activities depending on the students.
Learning the styles of my students helps me plan the lesson effectively. Accomodating their learning styles help the students pay attention and focused.
To me the biggest benefit is to make sure that the students that are taking the class can get the most out of it. Knowing how the students learn will also help you to become a better instructor.
The instructional benefits in knowing the different learning styles are you have everyone in the classroom engaged and involved. To have everyone on the same page or close to the same page allows students to learn from each other. If I am using Power Point and it doesn't apply to my visual learners, I always have something within the Power Point (a question or thought) that will illicit a question from those that are not visual learners. Usually people with linguistic skills like to argue and explain things, so to engage them with a question when they didn't see it coming is great. Students learn from each other. Having different ways of teaching in the classroom will sometimes give the students a Ah Ha moment of clarity. I may explain the same thing in two different ways and the first time my visual learners didn't get it and then the second time they did. I like seeing the lights in students come on at different times because it helps me to know how everyone is learning and I note it for the next lecture.
Hi Roy, The best idea is to try to include activities that meet all of the learning styles often as possible. This means that you would want to lecture a bit, include some visuals ( a video clip from You Tube?) Do some questioning, add a hands on activity etc. Realistically, you will not do all of this in every lesson, but try your best as often as possible. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Susan Polick
Hi Angelia, Thanks for your post to the forum. There is an added benefit for the instructor as well - I have found that Instructors really get invigorated as they work to get new and different content into their lessons. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Susan Polick
Hi Amy, Thanks for your post to the forum. I know that for me, kinesthetic activities are the toughest - mostly because I teach general education classes like Psychology and Critical Thinking. Still, I work hard to come up with things those learners will benefit from. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Susan Polick
Hi Jim, Thanks for your post to the forum. It makes sense to use lean your delivery to the learning preferences of your students while of course mixing in delivery that accomodates all the other styles as well. Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Susan Polick
Hi Jennifer, Thanks for your post to the forum. It's interesting how working to vary our delivery really keeps teaching fresh for instructors.
Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Susan Polick
Hi Frances, Thanks for your post to the forum. Varying your delivery keeps our students and ourselves more engaged in learning! Best wishes for continued success in your teaching career. Susan
Susan Polick
I agree that changing the tempo can help to reach students who learn at a different pace.
I have so many leaning styles of students in my classes, how can hope to reach all my students ?
By understanding how each students learns will allow me to be more flexible in my teaching methods. To give each student the opportunity to share how they learn with their instructor will benefit them as well. Applying all of the learning styles in the classroom will fairly allow me to assess each student.
Knowing the learning styles of your students can help you teach in a style that best meets the needs of your students. You will be assured that your students will develop and learn the skills that you set out to teach. Ignoring a particular learning style could cause some students not to learn the required concepts in the class.
I try to adjust my teaching style to the class profile. If the class profile is mostly hands on, I come up with more classroom projects--more visual, I try to identify ways of presenting material that is more visual in nature.
