Week 9

Prompt) Reflect on what you have observed about the students’ learning styles/multiple intelligences.

If I know anything about my students thus far pertaining to their learning styles/preferences (referred to by class) is that they are all vastly different. I have a class that contains a majority of visual learners while another consists mainly of auditory learners, and other classes possess a unique mix, specifically defined by the variety of learning styles that are found within each

One way I have been trying to accommodate the basic, predominant, visual and auditory learning styles/ preferences of the students, is to establish learning individual and social learning environments that accommodate all groups of diverse learners. An example of this occurs when the students are designed a text to read. I take a group of students (whichever group has the least amount of students) out into the hallway and divide the students into visual and auditory learning groups. The auditory group usually takes turns reading the text aloud, while the visual learners are separated (away from noise and distractions) to read independently themselves. This method also adheres to accommodating individual and social learning preferences that these student possess; the students who usually are the auditory learners, also expressed (via the C.I.T.E Inventory, or student feedback) are also social expressive learners, therefore this method of simply covering a text adheres to multiple learning styles/preferences.

Sometimes, for instance in the event of a lengthy text, co-taught classes necessitate different methods of reading and comprehending the text. On occasion, we take turns reading aloud, other times we play the voice recording of the story from the Literature textbook CD, while students follow along in their books. By differentiating the curriculum/instruction to accommodate these students, I have not only witnessed an increase in learning susceptibility, but also a boost in student engagement. By accommodating learning styles with oral/visual aides (PowerPoint, audio/video clips, etc.) we are also engaging students in their own learning. Through observation (of students) and discussion (with other teachers) I have come to the realization that I am, and will from here on out, be teaching to a technologically stimulated mass of students; because of this, plain paper and pen does not stimulate, or even intrigue, them (which could be potentially devastating for an English curriculum) and so now I am challenged with discovering methods for making the stories on that plain old paper and handwriting (papers, responses, etc. as opposed to word processor generated material) appealing to students; after I have discovered how to do this successfully, I can then learn how to transition traditional curriculum to apply to modern instruction.