Teaching to Multiple Learning Styles

Since we have talked several times in class about modifying teaching strategies to accommodate multiple learning styles, I decided to do a little research on my own.  I was able to compile a list of tips from multiple articles and blog posts to help alter teaching to connect with each student, regardless of their learning style!

·       Provide a learning style test as soon as possible!

·       Explain the meaning of the learning styles to students as well as the significance of knowing what type of learner you are! Encourage students to become familiar with what works best for them so that they can use similar strategies when studying, doing homework, or even while in other classes.

·       Group students by learning styles! This will allow students to work with peers who learn the same way as them; if they’re struggling to grasp a concept, there will be someone there who knows exactly how to explain it in their language.

·       …Group students by different learning styles! This will help students learn to play to their strengths and work with others to achieve a common goal.

·       Offer choices in the classroom! It doesn’t have to be an expansive creative project for every single assessment, but offer students multiple small choices and they will automatically choose to do what has worked best for them in the past.

·       Abandon the teacher centered approach to teaching (lecture), and incorporate a student centered approach! This teaching style puts the students and teacher on a more equal playing field where the teacher performs more of a facilitator role. The following are two variations of this style:

o   Cooperative Style: This encourages student independence and autonomy, and includes mostly hands-on activities.

o   Inquiry Based Learning: {MY PERSONAL FAVE} This style focuses on group work and social growth in the classroom. This method also encourages student independence and hands-on activities, the only difference being that students rarely work alone.

I like the idea of modifying teaching to accommodate to different learning styles, but I would like to venture one step further by possibly having students learn about and optimize their strengths by taking the StrangthsQuest test. I’d like to get some feedback on this about how I could utilize it in the classroom, and I would like to do some research to see if someone else has tried this!