Welcome, everyone! This month, we're exploring learning styles and how to best support our children's unique ways of learning. As a founder of Time to Shine Teaching and an educator with over 20 years of experience, I understand the challenges that can come with trying to reach all our learners. But it is possible. We can teach in a way that works for all kids regardless of their learning style and strengths.
Let's start with the four main types of learning styles: visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and tactile. Visual learners prefer to see information, auditory learners prefer to hear information, and kinesthetic, tactile learners prefer hands-on learning experiences. Understanding learning styles is a crucial component of supporting your child's education.
Visual learners often benefit from using visual aids such as graphic organizers and videos to help them understand concepts better. Here are a few tips for supporting visual learners:
Encourage note-taking: Visual learners often benefit from taking notes to help them remember information.
Use color coding: Color coding can help visual learners organize information and make it easier to remember.
Encourage them to create visual representations of information they have learned, such as drawing a picture to illustrate a concept.
Use technology: There are some really great tools and resources available that can help visual learners succeed, such as educational apps, digital flashcards, and interactive learning tools.
Auditory learners prefer to hear information, so there are a few things you can do to help them be more successful:
Encourage them to record themselves reading or speaking aloud to help them practice and reinforce their learning.
Encourage repetition and recitation, which can aid memorization.
Listening activities such as podcasts, audiobooks, or radio plays can also be effective.
Kinesthetic learners prefer hands-on learning experiences, so try these tips:
Incorporate activities such as experiments or projects into their learning.
Encourage movement during learning, such as pacing while reading or taking stretch breaks between tasks.
Use 3D items and/or manipulatives whenever possible.
Encourage speaking aloud and printing as they use their hands and mouths as muscles.
Some children may have a dominant learning style, while others may be more flexible and can adapt to different learning modalities depending on the situation. By being aware of the different ways kids can learn, parents and teachers can provide more effective support for their child's academic success.
Ultimately, the most effective way to teach and capture every learning style is to do so in a multi-sensory way that incorporates all these learning styles. This way, you are teaching to a child’s strengths while strengthening their weaker learning modalities.
Teaching in a multi-sensory way so that you capture all your learners is the number one cornerstone to my teaching practice. It’s important to teach children about how they learn, so they can optimize their learning and take responsibility for their own learning process. To help you understand more about multi-sensory teaching, I've created a downloadable lesson plan for you to use with your kids or students. When a child understands how they learn, they can become more successful and confident in their academic pursuits.
Here's the link! https://subscribepage.io/sOpo7i
Happy teaching!
Norma Jean
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