The Challenge

How do you learn best? As teachers, we all should know our own learning styles and modalities. If you’re not sure, then the answer may be to look at how you develop your own lessons. We’re all more comfortable using strategies which “make sense” to us. I have seen this in different venues, too, like sports. Team strengths usually reflect the strengths that the coach demonstrated as a player. This may not be a coincidence. History tells us that we prefer to work within our comfort areas.

I am an active learner with a preference for working within groups. Can you picture how I conducted my classes? My lessons involved strategies which benefited the tactile and kinesthetic learner. The auditory learner would also benefit from the group activities, but, unfortunately, I probably did not serve the visual learner well. I didn’t have many graphic organizers, media displays, charts, or posted objectives. Periodically, I would plan an activity preferred by the visual learner. This would occur once, maybe twice in a unit. This was not enough.

We need to develop lessons in which our students can best comprehend; all our students. In the coming weeks, I challenge you to extend yourselves to incorporate strategies which address all learning styles, in each lesson. You will observe an increased level of student engagement. This will translate to student performance. If you doubt me, then try it and prove me wrong.