Students learn in dozens of different ways, ways that can vary
with the same student on a day to day basis. Look at the world around us,
there are dozens of ways to take it in, and all of those are different learning
styles. Some students will learn from reading something, some from
touching it, and still others must use it and get hands on in order to fully
understand a concept that you are trying to teach them. As a teacher it
is your job to ensure that you are accommodating to each student, which means
you have to teach in a way that each learning style is used. When teaching,
especially teaching younger students, you have to watch each child closely in
order to figure out what learning style works best for them. Older
students may be able to just tell you what works best for them, but the average
third grader would have a hard enough time just grasping the concept that we
all learn in different ways, let alone telling you which way is best for them.
I learn from a mixture of hands on, group work settings and
anything involving music. In my classroom I plan to have many activities
to get the students involved, be that through song or projects or role play.
I want kids to come to my class and be excited to see what the day will
bring, rather than expect the usual book work class work home work day to day
grind. There is a show on PBS Kids, Sid the Science Kid, where Sid goes
to class every day and then tells his parents each night what he learns.
It is so obvious(and yes I am aware it is a show so not every child would
do this) that the way the classroom is ran inspires the students to not only
pay attention and get involved each day, but also to take home what they
learned in class and further their education.
Technology is going to play a huge role in my classroom. To
teach a child about the solar system and then show them a moving 3D video
before turning our classroom into a giant solar system is something that
teachers of the past could never do. Courses on math can be made fun and
easy to understand with the help of visual aids. What's best about technology
is that it makes it easy for students who need or just want that little bit of
extra help to get it, including being able to lectures of the day as many times
as necessary. Personally I am not a visual learner, which is something
that as a teacher I will need to be sure not to overlook so that my students
who ARE visual learners still get that aspect in the lessons and get the most
out of their education.
