I strongly align with a visual and global learner.
I am both an active and reflective learner, as well as a sensing and intuitive learner.
This is in line with my previous understanding of how I learn. In my undergraduate education, I found it difficult to understand concepts that were not first described in a larger context, and visually depicted.
As a teacher, I am conscience of different learning styles and attempt to incorporate, verbal, visual context as well as activities that help describe a concept. For instance, in a recent class on earthquake zones, I used an activity to show how landforms move in relation to each other by having the students move in two rows as if they were the landforms. I also verbally described how this occurred and demonstrated with my hands. Also, in order to incorporate all learners I could have allowed time for a reflective learner to understand the concept by offering the "one minute paper."
Understanding what type of learner you are, and potentially what type of "learner/teacher biases" you may be bringing into the classroom with you is important. You've obviously thought about this and incorporated it in previous class sessions. Great. Do you think it's possible to create a set of activities that engages all learning types? Or do you think a better approach is changes things up every topic and trying to engage the majority of learning type with just 1 or 2 activities. I ask because I feel like I have a lot to cover during my 50 minutes with the student and activities can be quite time consuming. Obviously, it is easier to incorporate different learning styles in a lecture rather than in activities. I supposed having a balance between the lecture/review portion and the activities it what we should be aiming for.
ReplyDelete~Erika
What a nice subject to teach! Like you said it lends itself to a varied range of teaching techniques and it seems you have been using them to your advantage!
ReplyDeleteHave you gotten feedback from students yet? Are you planning to do a midterm evaluation of you teaching?
I think the earthquake activity sounds great. You're also probably right on about allowing some written responses to the other styles you employ in class. While students learn in different ways and think about facts or concepts differently, it is important for all students to be able to effectively communicate what they have learned. Sometimes understanding a concept is easier than explaining it or talking about it with someone else.
ReplyDeleteThanks all! I think it makes sense to alter teaching styles in each activity to accommodate multiple learning styles, rather than trying to jam in all in one activity. I think it is a great suggestion to get feedback from our students. I will look into that.
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