KSA #5 - Learning Styles
All students can learn, albeit at different rates and in different ways. They know how (including when and how to engage others) to identify students’ different learning styles and ways students learn. They understand the need to respond to differences by creating multiple paths to learning for individuals and groups of students, including students with special learning needs |
KSA #9 - Instructional Strategies
There are many approaches to teaching and learning. They know a broad range of instructional strategies appropriate to their area of specialization and the subject discipline they teach, and know which strategies are appropriate to help different students achieve different outcomes |
"Her lessons covered objectives in interesting, fun ways due to use of the SMART Board, experiments, games that she created, and many hands-on activities" - PS3 Mentor
Relevant University Courses:
EDUC 3602 - The Education Psychology of Exceptional Learners
EDUC 4702 - Individualizing Instruction in the Regular Classroom
Every student needs to be given the opportunity to succeed, and it is the teacher's job to ensure that sufficient effort is dedicated towards trying new teaching techniques, using a variety of instructional strategies, and allowing students some flexible options within their learning environment. Teachers need to ensure that they are meeting the needs of their visual, audio, and kinesthetic learners, but also must pay attention to the students' multiple intelligences that may be utilized during a particular lesson or assignment. Personally, I as a teacher tend to use a regular combination of verbal and visual teaching styles, by having conversation-based lessons which are supplemented with SMART Board pictures and videos to illustrate the topic. I often try to allow students to choose their own working conditions by asking things such as "would you like to work alone or with a partner?" or "would you rather write me a paragraph or draw me an illustration of the main idea?" I also try to allow students a chance to use their strengths to complete a project by allowing some different options for final projects i.e. sing a song, draw a poster, create a video, make a diorama, do a write-up, make a skit, etc.
When approaching group work, I usually make the groups before hand so that I can sort groups either homogenously, heterogeneously, by productive personalities, by interests, etc. I have also found it beneficial to assign "roles" to group members with a specific job that can highlight a strength for each group member. For example, a person with good interpersonal multiple intelligences might be the group leader, whereas the kid with strong linguistic strengths might do the group readings. By giving each student a role that will lead them to success, they get the chance to feel included and valued even within potentially scary group settings. A similar feeling of student accomplishment can be achieved through a jigsaw learning approach, making it another good choice of teaching strategy to compliment diverse learners.
I also regularly do many hands-on activities to help the bodily-kinesthetic learners make their needed connections to the curriculum as well. I try to have a wide variety of student interactions as well so that students have experience learning through collaborative group work, but also through independent work as well. To determine a students' successful learning style, a teacher must constantly try new teaching techniques, then formatively assess which techniques work best for which students. Another very simple way to begin determining learning styles and preferences is to simply ask the students themselves! In my recent student inventory survey, I left it up to the students to show me how they prefer to learn, and I was actually quite surprised at some of the results. Check it out below!
EDUC 3602 - The Education Psychology of Exceptional Learners
EDUC 4702 - Individualizing Instruction in the Regular Classroom
Every student needs to be given the opportunity to succeed, and it is the teacher's job to ensure that sufficient effort is dedicated towards trying new teaching techniques, using a variety of instructional strategies, and allowing students some flexible options within their learning environment. Teachers need to ensure that they are meeting the needs of their visual, audio, and kinesthetic learners, but also must pay attention to the students' multiple intelligences that may be utilized during a particular lesson or assignment. Personally, I as a teacher tend to use a regular combination of verbal and visual teaching styles, by having conversation-based lessons which are supplemented with SMART Board pictures and videos to illustrate the topic. I often try to allow students to choose their own working conditions by asking things such as "would you like to work alone or with a partner?" or "would you rather write me a paragraph or draw me an illustration of the main idea?" I also try to allow students a chance to use their strengths to complete a project by allowing some different options for final projects i.e. sing a song, draw a poster, create a video, make a diorama, do a write-up, make a skit, etc.
When approaching group work, I usually make the groups before hand so that I can sort groups either homogenously, heterogeneously, by productive personalities, by interests, etc. I have also found it beneficial to assign "roles" to group members with a specific job that can highlight a strength for each group member. For example, a person with good interpersonal multiple intelligences might be the group leader, whereas the kid with strong linguistic strengths might do the group readings. By giving each student a role that will lead them to success, they get the chance to feel included and valued even within potentially scary group settings. A similar feeling of student accomplishment can be achieved through a jigsaw learning approach, making it another good choice of teaching strategy to compliment diverse learners.
I also regularly do many hands-on activities to help the bodily-kinesthetic learners make their needed connections to the curriculum as well. I try to have a wide variety of student interactions as well so that students have experience learning through collaborative group work, but also through independent work as well. To determine a students' successful learning style, a teacher must constantly try new teaching techniques, then formatively assess which techniques work best for which students. Another very simple way to begin determining learning styles and preferences is to simply ask the students themselves! In my recent student inventory survey, I left it up to the students to show me how they prefer to learn, and I was actually quite surprised at some of the results. Check it out below!
I am often told that I am especially talented at turning curriculum into hands-on and interactive lessons. Below are some of my favorite examples of hands-on learning in science class: making Angry Bird catapults to compare effective designs, and playing laser golf to explore the Law of Reflection. ,
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I also try to make learning relevant, memorable, and entertaining for the students by transforming curriculum into "games" to test their knowledge, or for them to practice the application of knowledge. Below are a few "games" that I have created for different subjects.
However, just as I try to give chances for kinesthetic learners to succeed in core subjects, I also believe that the other learning strategies need to be supported in the kinesthetic-based classes such as Physical Education as well. Below is an example of a dance "cheat sheet" that I drew to assist my visual and linguistic learners during a difficult coordination-based dance activity.
For more examples of my varied Instructional Strategies (for Grade 5 Math) visit my Application-Based Math Website!