Know Your Learner
Most people tend to have a dominant side of their brain, and they tend to process information using their dominant side.
I am the left brain. I am a scientist. A mathematician. I love the familiar. I categorise. I am accurate. Linear. Analytical. Strategic. I am practical. Always in control. A master of words and language. Realistic. I calculate equations and play with numbers. I am order. I am logic. I know exactly who I am. | I am the right brain. I am creativity. A free spirit. I am passion. Yearning. Sensuality. I am the sound of roaring laughter. I am taste. The feeling of sand beneath bare feet. I am movement. Vivid colours. I am the urge to paint on an empty canvas. I am boundless imagination. Art. Poetry. I sense. I feel. I am everything I want to be. |
It is almost a given then that either right brain or left brain dominance will affect how a student learns best in the classroom, and even today, most classroom teaching styles use left brain strategies. I found this the case as I went through school, my classrooms were quite, organised and required a lot of individual work, with emphasis on research and writing. This was an advantage to me as I am a left brain learner, I thrive from structure, routine and independent work. However I wonder how these structured, routine classrooms helped to involve and interest those students with right brain tendencies.
I have used my first week of learning to better understand my own neurological strengths and weaknesses. On completion of Felder and Solomon’s online learning style inventory and Gardner’s multiple intelligence test I was able to determine that I am a left brain learner/user. The results of these test showed extreme abilities in areas of linguistic, logical and intrapersonal skills, however I was drastically lacking in common right brain skills such as visual/spatial, musical and interpersonal.
I have come to understand, through my reading this week, that teachers tend to better reach students who share their same neurological strengths. I am hoping that this new knowledge and understanding will help me to adapt my lessons to reach all of my students.
I believe one of the most effective ways of doing this includes varying instructional strategy to meet the needs of the different types of learners. By creating flexible groupings of students, using an array of learning and assessment activities, setting up varied learning environments, and providing opportunities for student choice, teachers can effectively differentiate instruction. This doesn’t mean teachers are creating individual lesson plans for each student. Rather, as Tomlinson (2001) puts it, “differentiated instruction offers several avenues to learning, [but] it does not assume a separate level for each learner”.
One of the clear advantages of using ICT’s in the classroom is its connection with differentiated instruction. ICT’s allow teachers to look at students learning styles, interests, and abilities and custom design instruction based on student’s needs. In a study by Dean and associates (2001), research showed that providing several online options in addition to traditional classroom lessons increased what students learned.
I believe that through a greater knowledge of our own teaching styles, our students learning styles and the incorporation of different learning theories, to compliment the stages of learning, we will be setting students up to succeed in the classroom by giving them the best opportunities to learn.
