Tigger - Tiger / Tomato - Tomaato
Perception is reality!! If I can't engage all my students in one form or another they are going to be bored and lose interest in the course.
So how do you teach to all the different learning styles? Practice! Just look at their eyes and you can tell if they are engaged or off in lala land. Ask questions of the students who seem to not be getting it and find out how to help them. It may be a math class that is required and some are only there for that reason but find a way to make it enjoyable.
David,
Good point and one that keeps a bit of mystery in play as the students don't know exactly what you will be doing that day in terms of delivery or activity.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
A great example for me is to keep my students guessing on daily particapation work .We may do basic 101 hands on text book work or could have them useing there minds outsde the box.
Faith,
Not really sure because I am still working at it after many years of teaching. The key is to always be on the lookout for more and different ways of delivering instruction while keeping the attention of students. For new teachers the growth between the first course taught and second will be dramatic.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
I see that instructor's ability to focus on their students while performing the task of instruction is a skill that needs to be developed by new instructors. How long does it take to get good at it?
Mark,
It is a sequence of learning steps and you are right on with your first step being getting their interest. If they don't see value to the content then learning is going to be a challenge.
Gary
Getting and retaining the students intrest is the first thing. getting then to comprehend or make the correct intrepretation has to be followed- up
I agree. Utilization of the material in ways of their health practices (NSG) will keep them interested. They aren't always motivated. But when they realize all their work can be eliminated by one mistake. And injure another, they stay focused.
David,
This is a great way to expand their knowledge of different approaches to solving the same problem. This is going to be so valuable to them once they are out in the field.
Gary
I ask my students for different ways of doing the same job then we see if we can find out good and bads of each or better or best
Speaking of reality, showing my students how the information they are learning in my class will actually affect them in the real world, always keeps their interest.
I teach general education course work so a lot of my students are only in my class because they have to be... not because they elected to take the course.
This offers a challenge, but in the end when they realize that the information they are learning is pertinent to their survival in the real world- they seem to straighten up but more importantly they engage.
Traci,
I agree with implementing different ways to introduce content. We all have different ways of learning. So when you provide various methods of teaching, you are allowing students of different learning styles the same exposure to the materials.
I agree with you! You need to realize and accept that your students will all have different learning styles and intelligence strengths so you will need to present information in different manners so you reach everyone.
I try to implement as many different ways to input material as possible. For instance if we are learning about the shapes of teeth, I use powerpoints to help visualize the two-dimensional aspects of the tooth and written descriptions of the shapes of the teeth and we pick up and feel and examine the teeth themselves to explore the characteristics of each individual tooth. Hopefully utilizing hearing, visual, and tactile approaches helps to achieve successful learning.
To get them interested I normaly show how important the task is then show more than one way to get the answers they need. Then display the process and watch. The student will deside the best way they feel comfortable with ,Thats when I come over and ask was this easyer for you and add to the process that they chose.
