Do Learning Styles Matter?

“Do learning styles matter?”  My EDU professor posed this question to the class this semester, and in doing so, he initiated a heated debate. The consensus seemed to be that learning styles do indeed matter, and that teachers should try their best to cater their lessons to the different learning styles contained within their classrooms (visual, kinesthetic, auditory, etc.) But in looking at this issue more closely, I think that what is most important in terms of learning styles and lesson planning is that educators should adjust and fit the modality to the content, rather than the different learning styles of the students.  If teachers ignore this strategy and design their lessons with their students’ preferred modalities in mind (instead of with the lesson content in mind/ best fit strategy) I think they will be selling their students short.  For example, if I were teaching a lesson on Beethoven, I would try to incorporate a strong auditory component, which would ideally make the lesson more powerful and memorable.  The more meaning the students assign to the lesson, the better chance they will have to retain the information that was presented.  If I were putting together a lesson plan on the Pyramids of Egypt, I would incorporate a strong visual component to the lesson.  In each of these examples, choosing the modality that best fits the content trumps the different preferred learning styles of the students in my opinion.  All this being said, I think it’s critically important to mention the role of learning styles when it comes to student responses to instruction.  It's this area where I believe that the students' modalities should be taken into account.  I think students should be able to demonstrate their competency in the modality of their choice, if possible.  For example, if students were studying the Civil War, visual learners might choose to summarize their learning through pictures/illustrations, kinesthetic by constructing a three-dimensional battlefield, etc.

Ability Grouping

           When I learned reading back in elementary school, we were always divided into reading groups.  Sometimes the groups were numbered, and sometimes they were named (the bluebirds, the robins, etc.)  But every student in the classroom knew just which group was which:  high, middle, low, remedial, etc.  I never gave it much thought at the time, because reading was a strength of mine.  Looking back on it though, it must have been hard on those who struggled and were always in that lowest group, irrespective of the name assigned to it.

           Today, there is a much stronger focus on whole-group instruction.  Here, no one is identified as high, middle, or low.  Instead, everyone reads the same story and participates in the same mini-lesson.  Once that lesson is over and the students begin independent work, now their stories can vary according to their reading abilities, challenging them enough so that they can learn something new, but keeping the material at their level, so they are not frustrated.  

            My personal classroom plan will be to assess each student often to best understand exactly what each one knows and what he/she needs to learn.  I will be sure that independent work is designed to meet the individual needs of each student, but that new skills are introduced and modeled to the whole class.  Then I can create small, flexible groups to address weaknesses that certain students might have in common.  In this way, no student has to be labeled as high, middle, or low. No student has to be left wishing that everyone wasn't so aware of who is and who is not in that coveted “high/advanced group.”

Classroom Management

It is sometimes thought that classroom management is synonymous with classroom discipline, but in truth, classroom management covers a wide range of factors.  First, and possibly the most important for any teacher, is to really know your students.  Today, classrooms are diverse social structures.  When teachers know their students, including their backgrounds (cultures), family structures, neighborhoods, etc., they have a better chance of reaching and connecting with them.  Once the students are in the classroom, they need to feel like they are an integral part of that group.  One way teachers can help make that happen is by establishing classroom rules and consequences with the students.  In this way, the students can be a part of the process and will have more investment in the smooth running of the class.  The rules should be posted in the classroom, visible for everyone.  The physical classroom environment should also be carefully considered, because it can be a factor when it comes to classroom management.  Educators should be well organized, making sure that all necessary materials are accessible to themselves and their students.  Everything should have a place, and when materials for a particular lesson are needed, they should be readily available.  An organized environment is extremely important to an efficient classroom.  If the teacher needs to stop or pause a lesson so he or she can look for something, this is when a classroom full of students can disengage and lose focus.  Speaking of engagement, lessons should be carefully developed to not only cover the standards that apply to the grade level, but also to be interesting and engaging to the learners.  The teacher’s enthusiasm for the material being taught is critical.  Lessons should be sequential, so that they build on the students’ prior knowledge as well as prior lessons.  Students should be active learners, interacting with the curriculum and engaging with one another in a learning community.  Finally, student work and successes should be celebrated.  The classroom should be filled with completed work as well as work in progress.  These works can be displayed conventionally on bulletin boards and counter-tops as well as creatively in mobiles or other thematic groupings.  In this way, students can celebrate their own successes and the successes of others.  The integration of all of these factors adds up to a classroom that is a well-managed environment.

Does Collaborative Learning Support Literacy?

             Today, my education professor posed a question to the class: does collaborative learning support literacy?  It got me wondering…exactly how does collaborative learning support literacy?  I think a good place to start is with learning theories.  Proponents of social constructivism have found that it’s motivating to have students actively engage in a lesson within a social setting.  These theorists have found that making learning a part of a collaborative effort motivates children both intrinsically and extrinsically; the internal motivation is derived from doing well and feeling good about it, and the external motivation comes from being a part of a community of learners.  So how would social learning specifically support literacy?  For starters, literacy is improved through meaningful discourse.  Students can share text-to-self connections with their peers, resulting in new perspectives.  Text-to-text connections can widen their understanding of one author’s ideas compared to another, and test-to-world connections can yield enlightened new ideologies.  Collaboration can also improve fluency as students read aloud to one another or choral read in small groups.  Students can broaden their vocabularies through their discussions, or by testing one another on new words.  Finally, collaboration can enhance comprehension skills as students share ideas and answer questions together.  Collaborative learning supports all aspects of literacy and the social aspect of it makes the entire experience enjoyable.

Reader's Workshops and Mini-Lessons

             I was reading an article recently about reader’s workshops within the elementary school setting.  The article made some great suggestions as to how a reader’s workshop should be implemented and organized to best facilitate rich literary learning experiences for the students participating in it.  Personally, I envision an effective workshop as one where students are engaged in all aspects of the reading experience.  The students should have opportunities to work with the teacher, to discourse with classmates, to practice new skills and strategies, but most important, the students should be enjoying the entire reading process and reading in a variety of texts.  I especially liked the role of the mini-lessons within the workshop.  These short, 10-15 minute lessons are a great way for educators to break down bigger concepts into smaller parts.  For example, when introducing a concept like summarizing to a class for the first time, it might be a good idea to start with a mini-lesson on identifying important events(as opposed to less relevant events).  On a subsequent day, educators could follow up that mini-lesson with one on sequencing.  A third lesson might deal with transitional words. Finally, with the skills and competencies developed through the mini-lessons, the children would be ready to put it all together and write a clear, sequential summary.  Rather than completing a series of worksheets, reader’s workshops give students opportunities to learn the skills and strategies needed to become successful readers through interactions and related activities.

The School - Home Relationship

               Today I felt compelled to post about the importance of a strong school and home relationship when it comes to learning.  When I think back on my own elementary and secondary school years, one memory in particular stands out.  In ninth grade, I recall my immediate and extended family all coming to show support for my role in the class play.  We were putting on a performance of S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders, and I had a crucial role in the play, as well as the responsibility of narrating.  I can still vividly recall, prior to the start of the show, standing backstage, behind the theater curtain, stealing glimpses of my family members walking into the school auditorium and taking their seats in the audience.  Everyone was there: my grandparents, aunts and uncles, my brothers, and even a few of my cousins.  After the show ended and the theater lights came back on, I can still picture my family members standing together and showing their support.  Afterward, my family joined the cast and me for a school sanctioned after party, where they had a chance to meet the drama teacher/director, as well as many of the school administrators.  I think the reason I remember this particular occasion so vividly is due to the importance I assigned to it.  In addition to that, it was an experience shared by my family and the school.  What can I take from this as a prospective teacher?  I think what’s most important is that when communication is good, and family and schools come together, it can be a very powerful experience for the student.  It’s these experiences that children retain for a lifetime and never forget.  I hope to really get to know my students and develop strong relationships with their families, so that we can all work together to benefit the children.  In this way, I can instill lasting memories in the minds of my students. 

The Importance of Effective Scaffolding

          As an aspiring teacher, I feel that scaffolding and differentiating will be two key areas of challenge for me.  Lately, I have found myself reflecting on the myriad of ways in which I hope to scaffold effectively in my future classroom, and I'd like to share those ideas today.  I think that observation is a good place to start.  Simply having a good eye and taking the time to observe students and listen to them can aid in the identification of students needing help.  Another way to become more aware of the students' strengths and weaknesses on a day-to-day basis would be to pretest your class in a particular unit of study.  Based on the results, we might get some insight as to who will need help and in what area.  For example, if we are pretesting for a division unit, and we find that we have several students who can not subtract accurately, scaffolding for those students might be a subtraction review before going into that division unit.  Pretesting may not give us information related to the students' learning styles, but it could help us support students with specific weaknesses.  We can also read student records from previous grade levels.  These records can be referenced, and we might be able to find out what has worked in the past with the child's previous teachers.  We can read teacher comments from past report cards in the student's file.  I believe that many schools are also keeping writing portfolios for each student with their other records.  We could (and should) read those.  Another idea is to speak to a prior teacher first hand.  I think it would also be helpful to observe a child who we suspect needs additional support in a different setting (maybe a child we are having trouble connecting to or scaffolding effectively).  We could decide to observe them in their "special" classes (art, p.e., music).  We might discover that the student has a hidden talent or an interest in one of these areas that we were unaware of, and we could then incorporate this talent or interest into the future lesson plans/scaffolding to help us better connect with that student.  One final idea that I think would also be helpful would be to incorporate surveys at the beginning of the school year, possibly one that asks about strengths, weaknesses, and interests.  We could have one for the student to fill out, and one for them to take home and have their parents fill out.  I think all these ideas could help with the challenges of differentiating and scaffolding within the classroom.