knowing the style of intellect in a class can help to narrow down methods of teaching. Perhaps audio and visual are more needed than book work and reading . Adult learners in some cases hae not read or studied for memorizatoin sake in quite sometime. Organized outlines help
In order to assist a varied group of students, I plan on a variety of different activities in one class period. It usually includes lecture (with a powerpoint visual aid and outlines proviede to the students), group projects (could be drawing pictures to present to the class, or a scenario where one student teaches another) and an article to read to accompany the lecture.
Something that I found useful in this class was the reinforcement that although one method might not be how a student learns, they still need to participate. When we get to certain parts of the class, I feel that some students participate more than others. For example, someone who does not learn visually will stare into space instead of reading the article. Next time when this happens, I'll make sure to pull the student to the side and speak with them on the importance of participation, even if it is not their learning style.
I think that in as much as instructors need to know the multple intelligence each and every student posses, the first thing for instructors to do is to guide each student in discovering their multiple intelligence and how to use them in their learning environment
By understanding multiple intelligences, I can develop and organize my delivery techniques to reach more of my class
Hi Homer,
Good plan. This way you will be touching on the different learning preferences that your students have and that will assist in keeping them focused on the course content.
Gary
It will make me use various media to communicate course content. I can make sure I address more than one learningstyle and thus make learning more interesting.
I teach the VAK system in my first week of instruction. I truly believe that if you can "reach" a student by their learning style, they will excel.
Understanding how different people learn, including myself, helps me realize why certain teaching methods work for some students and not others. With this knowledge I can create a variety of ways to approach teaching topics so that all students retain information.
Hi Henry,
Good plan for expanding your instructional delivery options. You are going to be able to offer your students additional learning options that will keep them engaged in the course content.
Gary
By understanding the learners intelligences allow me to tailor the information being taught so that it can be better recieved by the learner. I can add different tools to the instructional delivery to aid in learner processing. Changing styles of teaching using video and hands on the equipment will play to the learners strenghts.
Hi Lina,
Good point. The more you know about how students process information the more accurately you will be able to target your instruction.
Gary
Hi Terry,
You make a good point of how you need to be careful in forming groups. Learning groups are a great way to facilitate a class activity if they are put together with care.
Gary
Knowing that I have multiple intelligences in class, I try to incorporate exercises that will help all levels. I set students up in practice groups and throught the course I move them around.
As an instructor, my teaching methodology has changed because I utilize all available resources to assist my students in learning and understanding concepts.
By knowing my student's intelligences, I can physically group them, isntead of allowing them to formulate their groups to assist in maximizing their strengths. If the students do form their own groups, I can offer assistance if the group hits a road block.
Understanding multiple intelligences allow for choosing more effective methods of instruction. Discerning how students understand and relate to the material gives an instructor a window as to how the class can be taught better. Day-to-day adaptability to student energy, helps this process, too.
My curriculum presents opportunities to group individuals together, and to facilitate peer to peer training. By carefully forming groups, I could better enable a more productive learning environment.
I already apply my methods to the multiple intelligences. However, the lesson indicates that students should be grouped by those intelligences, whereas I would naturally try ro group them in a mix so that they could draw upon each others strengths. I'm willing to try the former method for next term's project to see if "like-minded" (so to speak) people will do as effective a job at completing the assigned projects. My prediction is that the results will be as good but that the final result will be heavily weighted in the direction of the group's strong suit. (For example, written learners may turn in the most verbose and least visually appealing project paper.)
I am realizing that students will learn very different things from the same presentations. I am adapting my teaching methods to attempt to accomodate the diversity of intelligences in my students. I will spend more time creating and using real world examples for the computer language courses that I teach. Since I am a full-time computer programmer/analyst and a part-time instructor it will be a very easy task for me to create and use these examples in my teaching.
A classroom is a collection of learning personalities. No one technique will satisfy all teaners. as learners progress to higher levels of education, they can be more easily grouped into multiple intelligence learning styles. for example, if the clas is a graduate course in mathematics, there will be certain learning styles that will be evident within that cohort.
Hi Tom,
This is a good approach and I think that you will have good learning results. The more variety you have in your delivery the greater opportunity your students will have to be engaged and focused in the learning process.
Gary
