Learning Styles

Recently, learning styles have taken greater precedence in education. The foundational belief is that each student has different learning styles, and that teachers should try to tailor their lessons to engage these styles.

As for me, I’m a linguistic, kinesthetic learner. I like logical systematic ways of learning that focus on reading and logic. I study best while moving around. I love music; however, it was not listed as one of my intelligences as I’m not “good” at music.

The most effective strategies have varied based on the country in which I was teaching. Different nationalities definitely have different learning styles. For example, Middle Eastern students love talking. In contrast, Asian students like strong, clear rules.

That said, I understand that it is difficult, and indeed disruptive to the flow of a lesson, to incorporate every learning style into every lesson. Instead, I try to vary my lessons every day.
I have lessons where students
-sit the whole class
-move around the whole class
- look at pictures
- draw pictures
-watch videos
- talk
- listen
- vote on what they want to study
- have me dictate what they will study
- listen to the lecture
- give the lecture
- critique the lecture
- collaborate
- work alone
- correct another student
- and so forth and so on.

I’ve found increasingly that I need to be flexible with my lesson designs. If I’ve planned an exciting lesson, but the students are overwhelmed with work, I’ll often have them do low-key simple exercises instead. In contrast, if we’re working out of the book and students are falling asleep, I’ll switch to a game.

In short, I feel that learning styles are one tool in a teacher’s bag of tricks. While it’s important to know students’ learning styles, these “tests” are not always accurate. Instead, a good teacher should recognize that students have different learning styles, try to incorporate them into the class in different ways, and be willing to change to suit the mood of the class.