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I hear and I forget, February 1st marks the launch of our PET (Personal Empowerment through Type) Project. Check it out at: This project will provide tools and information to correlate our personality preferences with both learning and teaching. Our goal is to provide meaningful classroom options for both students and teachers so that individual learning styles can be supported. It is with this in mind that we focus on the theme of learning styles throughout the issue of this newsletter. Don’t forget to check Rick’s Picks to learn more about this theme and others. We are looking for you input! We are especially interested in learning about your own “Inspiring Story” related to the recognition of different learning styles in your classroom. This month we also have a special gift awaiting you and your students in the Activity section of the Mentor Center. If you have activities that you would like share with other teachers, please send them along. We'll make sure to post them immediately and to give you credit. Send your ideas to rick@vitalknowledge.com |
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Southern Middle School in Person County, North Carolina, has developed an excellent model that shows how technology can be used as a tool to create options for different learning styles. The philosophy of this school is aptly reflected by its motto, "Educating Everyone Takes Everyone". In particular, check the following links from its home page: Don't miss, "If you want to be a teacher..."! Take time to also explore Learning Styles and Multiple Intelligence. This site provides an great overview of different learning styles. It is strengthened by the fact that its creator, Liz Bogod, speaks from her personal experience of having a learning disability. Every educator should read her story and visit her site, LD Pride Online. |
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Understanding Colin “Teacher, please come quick! That new kid is hittin’ everyone he can get his hands on!” Colin had just arrived that morning and already he was making quite an impression upon our school. Five students were in the principal’s office with blood dripping from various parts of their anatomies. Many more were running or hiding, fearing the worst from this new kid who appeared to them to be totally out of control. Their best instincts were correct. He was out of control, and I soon realized that I was going to have to be the one who would control him. After all, he had been assigned to my classroom. Colin was about to become both my most challenging student and my best teacher. The first lesson that he taught me was: “Don’t be afraid to fail!” Ironically, failure was what he feared the most! He would react to just one mistake in many ways – by cursing aloud himself, his teacher and any of his classmates who would “dare” make a higher rating than he; by clearing his desk of all books, papers, and pencils with one swoop of his arm, perhaps even by flipping his desk upside down so that the contents would be removed. If he suffered a more personal failure he would puncture himself with his compass, cut his hair with his scissors, hit any classmate within reach, or, failing that, threaten to kill himself. Colin demanded perfection of himself. That is something that he taught me not to do of myself. This realization led to the second lesson: “Seek help wherever you can find it!” The first person I went to was, of course, my principal. I had with him an immediate ally because he also had to teach Colin for at least one hour a day. I also sought help from my students. They taught me Lesson #3: “Communication involves both speaking and listening.” Communication had been basically a “one-way medium" up to that point. I taught and the students were expected to listen. That changed the day that Colin was absent with a cold. I took advantage of his absence to sit down with my students to hear how they felt about Colin’s presence in our classroom. After all, I wasn’t the only one who was being jolted out of his complacency. They had had a very secure environment within which to learn until the day that Colin had arrived. It was the first time that I really sat down and listened to what my students were saying, to the concerns they were expressing, and to the suggestions they were making. It’s something I do a lot now. It was my wife who revealed to me the most important lesson. Lesson #4: “We should adapt our teaching styles to the learning styles of the students in our classrooms.” She had just returned from an intense professional development session that had dealt with the different learning styles of students. She had picked up a “Learning Analysis Assessment” which I used to help determine how Colin would best learn material that was taught. The results were most interesting because they indicated that Colin would benefit from having some control of his own learning. He and I sat down and discussed the results. We agreed to establish a unique class structure – Colin could choose to do whatever he wanted for one third of each class; we would mutually agree with what would occur for another third, and for the final third he had to do whatever I wanted. He would follow the same procedure whenever my principal came in to teach him. The results were quite amazing. All problems certainly were not solved. But they were quickly minimized! Colin settled in to do the essential elements of each lesson that I wanted him to cover. We had little difficulty agreeing on what should be done for the second third of the class. I learned much about him by observing him work during the third of the class that was given over totally to his control:
Colin had made his mark upon his new school (and many of his new classmates) the first day of his arrival. He has left his mark forever imprinted upon me. He taught me many important lessons – the most important of which was that the learning style of each of our students can have a significant impact upon our classrooms. It is something to which we should (indeed, must) pay closer attention! Rick Hayward |
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In this era of life-long learning we, as teachers, have to focus not only on what students learn, but, more importantly, on how they learn. The greatest gift a teacher can impart upon a student is a love for learning. One way to do that is to empower students with an insight into their personality preferences, and to teach them how these preferences correlate with their learning styles. That is the goal of our PET Project. We want be provide meaningful tools and information for your students in your classroom that will focus on one primary goal - identifying strengths that help them learn how to learn. In particular, as this project unfolds, we will be providing you with both a Student Self-Assessment Tool and a Student Observation Tool. We will also extend Personal Empowerment to Professional Empowerment, relating our personality preferences to the following topics: Conflict Resolution; Teamwork; Problem Solving; Stress Management. In the meantime, check out our online assessment tool that will provide insight into your personality preferences. It can be found at: PET (Personal Empowerment through Type). Please also take a few minutes to provide us with your feedback by clicking on “Send Us Comments”. |
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"Learning Styles" is a philosophy, a way of looking at student strengths, not their weaknesses. There is an underlying belief that all students can learn, but not in the same way or at the same speed. I have used learning styles theory and strategies since 1991 with students from grade six through twelve. The reaction of students has been overwhelmingly positive. Problems with absenteeism and disruptive behavior show steady decline while reading scores increase (from two to five years increase in ten months). Students are happier and less stressed. I'm happier and less stressed. It's a win-win situation for everyone. Students who do well in school are usually analytic, visual and auditory learners. So are most teachers! Since the teaching style and learning style match, students are successful. Similarly, struggling students tend to fit a profile. They are usually global, not processing, or acquiring information in the same way. If the teaching style does not change to meet the learning style, learning does not take place and students are not successful. It is these students who often become frustrated, who hate school, who become disruptive and who eventually drop out. What then is their future? Currently I teach grades nine, ten, and eleven English at Nackawic High School. I try to present new material in several different formats to match my students' learning styles. Students choose activities for practice and evaluation depending on their best way of learning. All my students are familiar with their personal learning profiles. They take responsibility for their own learning, their own success. I have many success stories - stories of individual students who have made incredible gains academically, behaviorally and socially. Included is an essay written by a student in grade nine who constantly struggles to fit into the system. Her ideas are well worth considering. Along with being a classroom teacher, I'm also the New Brunswick facilitator for Learning Styles training. Please contact me if I can help in any way. Maxine Giberson |
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Youth Violence If you were interested in creating a criminal, you would have a pretty good chance if you took a young person from a seriously troubled home, and placed them into a series of foster homes, let them run away from home at a young age, or willingly allowed them to drop out of school. Your chances would even increase if somewhere in the past they had either been sexually, physically, or even emotionally abused. In those few moments that they try to turn to someone for help, you would ensure them that there was no accessible services, that they would only be seen as trouble rather than troubled. It is not surprising then that these young people would become perpetrators or victims of crime. I believe that some of the main causes of youth crime are in fact the lack of family support, trouble in school, and peer pressure. The first thing that should come to mind is how can I help, and where can I start? Youth who live in abusive homes or lack the attention of a caring adult can suffer from low self-esteem, depression and lack of self-respect. They also tend to suffer from behavioral problems. They may carry their emotional hurt into the schools where they "act out" in an aggressive manner, affecting other students as well as teachers. Some become timid and withdrawn while others begin to repeat the cycle of violence. They have no skills to solve problems without violence. Youth who have difficulties in school are at a greater risk of committing youth crimes. Young people can experience difficulty for a number of reasons, such as a lack of family support or learning disabilities. Research has shown that youth who have problems in school, or who drop out, are at higher risk of using drugs or committing crimes. Schools and parents can begin by continuing to help the youth make informed choices about their futures. Youth need support to access education and training opportunities appropriate to their needs. Young people often say that those who have the most influence on their lives are other youth. Many look to their peers for acceptance, companionship and direction. Peer influence can be positive or negative. Negative peer influence tends to have a greater impact when youth don't feel recognized or connected at home. Young people may feel particularly pressured to do things that are not good for their own healthy growth and development. This might include taking part in criminal activity, using drugs and alcohol, or fighting and having confrontations with peers and friends. Some youth may engage in anti-social behaviors because their peers exclude them because of their gender, sexual orientation, clothing, culture, race, and language. Without a caring adult to listen and offer support, many young people feel overwhelmed by the stresses of adolescence. In conclusion, I'd like to add that the best way to protect the public from youth crime is to prevent it. Research shows that there are many social conditions associated with young people who are in conflict with the law. If we reduce the impact of these risk factors, then we may reduce the likelihood of offending. Examples of risk factors include a disruptive home environment, trouble in school, as well as peer pressure. The risk factors cannot be erased over night, but communities can work together to lessen the effect on young people in their area. Jeanetta |
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10 Things Adults Learn From Kids
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