Sunday, January 13, 2013
Week 7 Assignment #1 (due Jan 24)
Chapter 4 in our text discussed learning styles and learning style inventories. Find a learning style inventory of your choice and complete it. Post a paragraph about your findings and consider the following: Do you think the results are accurate? Why/why not? Do you think your learning style is influenced by culture? Do you think you tend to teach using your preferred learning style? What learning style do you guess most of your students are? Would you or have you ever given your students a learning style inventory? Would you recommend it? or Would you be willing to try it?
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I used a Memletics learning style questionaire to find out my learning style. It has questions from visual, social, physical, Aural, Verbal, solitary, and logical styles. The scores are out of 20 for each style. A score of 20 indicated the style is used often. I scored high in solitary 17 out of 20, which meant that I prefer to work alone and use self-study as to doing a group work. I think the reuslts are accurate because I prefer to work alone, and I only do group work if it is required by the instructor. This style is influenced by my cultural acceptations where in school a teacher delivered the lecture, and after the lecture students were supposed to do their work, without talking. When I moved to this country, I had to change my leanring style a little from solitary to social. Therefore, I do not use the solitary style in my teaching, but I use a visual, social, and logical styles with my students. Most of students are visual learners; I use this frequently. I would recommend this learning style survey to other teachers because it helps me to understand my students, and their prefered style will help me to design my daily instructions.
ReplyDeleteI took the Silver Strong & Associates Learning Style Inventory for Adults. Like most theories of learning styles, this survey focuses on personality and motivation of the individual. It was a rather lengthy survey, and at the end, you totaled up your score to see which learning style was your dominate learning style. The four learning groups were self-expressive, mastery, understanding, and interpersonal. My dominate style was interpersonal, which does not surprise me at all. Interpersonal learners are sensitive to people’s feelings; they prefer to learn about things that directly affect people’s lives. I think this survey was spot on. I really enjoy working with others, learning through stories, and becoming emotionally involved when learning. I don’t think my culture has much to do with my learning style because there are many people with my same culture who are mastery, understanding, or self-expressive learners. I do think my learning style influences the way I teach. I am aware of the other learning styles, and I try to implement activities in my classroom that reach multiple learning styles. However, I tend to do more things that allow my students to think out loud, share ideas, and work cooperatively.
ReplyDeleteI have given a learning style inventory in the past. I teach fourth grade, so I usually give a simple, kids-friendly learning style inventory. I think this is VERY beneficial because it allows you to gain insight into the ways that your students best learn. Having said that, I just did give my students one this year after reading Chapter Four. I didn’t make time for it in the beginning of the year. Next school year, I definitely plan to give it at the beginning so that I can meet the needs of all my learners!
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ReplyDeleteI went to http://www.acceleratedlearning.com/method/test_why2.html and completed a free online personal learning inventory from Accelerated Learning. There are 8 types of learning styles. Mine are as follow, listed from strongest to weakest, along with the definitions of each from Accelerated Learning:
ReplyDelete“1st Musical — well developed in people who are good at music and rhyme, and who have natural rhythm.
2nd Linguistic – well developed in people who are good with words, who like to write and read a lot.
3rd Mathematical/Logical — well developed in people who are good with numbers and appreciate step-by-step, logical explanations.
4th Inter-personal — well developed in people who are good at persuading and selling or at teaching others and who can read other people's moods well.
5th Intra-Personal or Reflective — well developed in people who are good at self-analysis and reflection, drawing conclusions from their own experience (and mistakes!), setting goals and making plans.
6th Visual/Spatial — well developed in people who are good at art, visualizing, navigating.
7th Bodily/Physical — well developed in people who are good at sport, dance, and handicrafts.
8th Naturalistic – well developed in people who like and respect nature and are interested in subjects like astronomy, evolution and the environment.”
I do believe these results are accurate for the most part. I definitely equate everything to music. I even have music playing almost constantly in my classroom. I love all sorts of music and even chant a few lines while teaching a lesson. I love to read, hence the linguistic. There isn’t an evening where I am not reading something before bed. Math is my favorite subject as I understand it, break it down, and teach it daily. Inter-personal is a definite as I am a teacher. Intra-personal comes from my desire to always better myself and never stop learning. Visual/Spatial is definitely a nightmare for me as I get lost in malls and parking lots on a regular basis. Bodily, never have the time but do enjoy it when I do and I have a black thumb-NOT a Naturalist.
I do not believe this is cultural. This is purely a brain based determination. I am left handed meaning I am definitely a right brain thinker.
I have to teach to all styles to make sure all of my students are successful. I have my students complete a learning survey at the beginning of each school year. We then analyze the data a class and create our learning groups based on our type. This activity always increases motivation for learning and allows my students to take ownership for their own learning style. I have a wide variety of learners, but most are visual/kinesthetic. I highly recommend every teacher to use a learning inventory at the beginning of the school year. My kids really loved it!
I decided to take two learning style inventories. The first one was the Paragon Learning Style Inventory. This inventory focused on four areas: introvert/extrovert, sensate/intuitive, feeler/thinker, and judger/perceiver. This inventory consisted of 48 questions and had two choices for each question. After completing the inventory and scoring the results, I found out that I am ISTJ which stands for Introvert Sensate Thinker Judger. I think the results were spot on. I am not one who will initiate conversations and tend to stay quiet in large unfamiliar groups; however, I believe I am the complete opposite in my classroom. I feel very comfortable in front of a large group of children, but feel very shy and sometimes intimidated around large groups of adults. Although I found these results helpful for my personal life, I wanted to find another inventory that would help more with my teaching life. I took an online inventory from a website called accelerated learning. This inventory focused more on Gardner's eight multiple intelligences. The results showed that I am a mathematical/logical person as well as visual/spatial. This inventory was definitly correct as I have been this way my entire life. I do believe that I gear many of my lessons towards these two intelligences. After reading chapter 4 for my last journal, I began to realize that I must include a variety of intelligences. My weakest area is naturalistic and linguistic. When thinking about my lessons and areas of weakness, writing has always been the subject that I struggle teaching my students. I mentioned in my last journal that I definitly want to give my students a learning inventory. I think it will make me more aware of which students are not getting what they need. By incorporating more of the intelligences, I may be able to help students who are struggling. If I were to guess, I would think a lot of my students are visual/spatial, musical, or bodily/physical. As far as my learning style being influenced by culture, I'm not sure. I feel like my learning style now is pretty much the same as when I was in school so I guess I would have to say that I don't think it is influenced by culture.
ReplyDeleteI found a learning style inventory at Edutopia.com. I think there were about 34 questions. My learning style was split with my highest score being Linguistic, my second highest was interpersonal and third was visual/spatial. This inventory was spot on with what I already knew about myself. I have always considered myself and auditory learner and I love to talk about ideas so both of these strengths matches up with the linguistic style.
ReplyDeleteAs to the interpersonal style, while I usually prefer to work alone. I enjoy the company of others and I love to share ideas and learn why people think what they do.
I did have an aha moment; when I realized my love for discussion really influences how I teach but that this may not be best for all my students and most certainly isn't the best way to teach my ELL students.
The Special Education Department at our school actually took the Paragon Learning Style Inventory at the beginning of the year. The assessment consist of 48 questions which results in 4 different categories. The first category determines whether you are an Introvert or Extrovert. The second category determines whether you are sensate or intuitive. The third category determines whether you are a Feeler or a Thinker. The final category determines whether you are a Judger or a Perceiver. My score was ESFJ which means I am an Extrovert Sensate Feeler Judger. This translates to being warm-hearted, talkative, popular, and conscientious, a born cooperator, and active committee members. I need harmony and may be good at creating it. I always am doing something nice for someone. I work best with encouragement and praise. My main interest is in things that directly and practically help people's lives. I do think that is pretty accurate in my personal life and in my K-2 classroom. I feel that I this is mostly accurate for my 4 & 5th grade classrooms. I tend to not be as talkative, popular and A LOT more structured and non-flexible due to the students I have. I would love to try to find out my 4th and 5th graders learning style but I would need to find the time to squeeze that test into my lesson plans. As you know time is critical especially with my Special Needs students.
ReplyDeleteAt the beginning of the year the teachers on our grade level took a learning style inventory. The purpose was to determine hat roles for collaborative planning. I personally do not believe that these inventories are accurate because at no time did I feel like I fit into any one category. I have never done an inventory on my students and perhaps I wouldn't because at the elementary level students learn best by doing anyway.
ReplyDeleteI used an inventory from Motivating Students 25 Strategies to Light Fire of Engagement by Carolyn Chapman and Nicole Vagle called “Exploring Your Smarts”. It is designed to be used with students. The students are asked to rate themselves in the following areas: verbal/linguistic, logical/mathematics; interpersonal; musical/rhythmic; intrapersonal; visual/spatial; bodly/kinesthetic and naturalistic. According to this survey, I am primarily an intrapersonal and visual/spatial learner with logical/mathematics a close second. I have taken other lengthy surveys’ and the results of this one coincided various results, so I do feel it is accurate.
ReplyDeleteI find I try to incorporate visuals into my lessons whenever possible. I don’t know if this because I learn better with visuals or because my students often lack the background knowledge to provide the visuals independently.
As far the teaching strategies I use, I realize in the area of math I frequently become frustrated when they don’t see patterns or make the same connections I do. At the end of the lesson, I don’t understand why my students did grasp a particular concept because it makes sense to me and don’t understand why it doesn’t make sense to them! That’s where my strength in logical/mathematics is evident.
I would like to try these surveys with my students and see if I make changes to my teaching style. I do believe that some of these strategies are easier to adapt to when that is not one of your strengths versus others. For example teaching using music/rhythmically and logically/mathematically would be hard if those are not strategies you are familiar or accustom to using.
I completed a learning style inventory for adults at www.businessballs.com called the VAK Learning Style. The inventory was divided into Visual, Auditory, and Kinaesthetic. I was a combination of 15 points for Kinaesthetic and 10 points for Visual. I agree with the test. I feel my learning styles were influenced by my family's lifestyle. I grew up with parents who enjoyed physical activities for recreation and was always concerned with a healty lifestyle. Yes, I teach my learning styles. The foundation of my teaching is represented in the Chinese proverb, "You hear you forget, you see you remember, you do you understand". I use the different learning styles, but I believe learning science my the discovery hands-on method enhances the long term memory of the science concepts. I give my students a learning style inventory each year to get to know my students and have my students recognize how they learn. Every year I found many of my students think they have an auditory learning style because most of their experiences in the classroom are auditory. After the inventory many of them find they prefer kinaesthetic. As the year progresses, the hands-on experiences in science many of my student find they prefer the physical experiences of touching, feeling, holding, doing practical hands-on experiences. I feel learning styles inventories are a valuable resource. The one I used for many years has valuable questions about studying. Many of the students discover a certain time of day to study or doing homework helps them be successful. Also the different techniques for "how to study" complimenting their learning style has been extremely helpful. Many of the students realize that when their parents help them with homework their parent learning style is not their preferred style of learning.
ReplyDeleteI completed the learning style inventory at: http://www.personal.psu.edu/bxb11/LSI/LSI.htm
ReplyDeleteThere were 24 questions - my style is Visual/Tactile, which means I need to see, write, study and manipulate my learning. I believe this to be accurate, I take extensive notes and make lists for everything. I like when there is a diagram, or chart available, it helps me to organize and understand information. I am also tactile, I am just like the students I teach (6-7 yr. olds), I like to touch, make, move to make my learning meaningful. I think this is why I teach the primary grades because we teach by doing and that is exactly how they learn - by doing.
I have used student learning inventories many times over the last 10 years. I have not found one that I really like,, that is appropriate for young children. I have given them verbally and had students draw a smiley face if they agree and frowny face if they disagree. I have used ones with pictures and the students circle the ones they agree with. Not sure if either gave valuable information. But this past year I gave a learning style inventory to my parents to complete. Now that was interesting because determining where the parents are coming from helps me to understand the level of support the students will receive from home.
I took a quick learning style inventory at how to learn. My results can be accessed via the direct link: http://www.howtolearn.com/quiz-results?uid=64CF67EF-8DC5-0DE9-6016-A17071E35B39. I was not surprised that my preferred learning style is auditory although in the past my dominant learning style has been visual. I believe the shift is due in large part to my increased use of technology. As a teacher, I am very aware that student achievement is maximized when students have opportunities to learn and demonstrate their learning in their dominant learning style. Thus, during the first week of school I give all of my students a learning style inventory that I have purchased, and I have also used a quick online assessment at edmodo.com which then tallies the results and provides me with a composite view of each class. For the most part, my students are not surprised with the results but very few understand the implications of such information and so I then complete the assessment with strategies that empower them as learners. Additionally, as a teacher I use regularly all of the learning styles and multiple intelligences to design lesson plans and assessments which will engage or challenge the student in their preferred learning style. In a typical unit and almost a typical day I will use audio (video clips, audio books, or read aloud), handouts and the document camera, technology, group activities, and movement to keep students on task and to provide reinforcement of the AKS in different mediums. A student will read, write, engage in discussion, use technology including their cell phones, a computer, the Mobi interwrite pad, and the kindle and/or the nook in addition to the textbook. I admit kinesthetic learning is my least preferred teaching style because I simply don’t like transitions which require physical movement but I understand the importance of movement for my diagnosed ADD & ADHD students, and in general movement keeps all students on task. Most learners including adults simply cannot sit still or stay silent for long periods of time. I use the lecture style of teaching extremely sparingly and when I decide it is a must (being able to take notes is still an important skill), I always have a handout or a powerpoint with flash, images and audio/video to maintain student interest. The new culture of the classroom influenced by new social norms which includes social media requires a teacher to not become a dinosaur if the goal is student achievement and not simply the teacher show. We are facilitators of learning; thus, we must consider how students learn.
ReplyDelete"Quiet friendly, responsible, and conscientious. Work devotedly to meet their obligations. Lend stability to any project or group. Thorough, painstaking, accurate. Their interests are usually not technical. Can be patient with necessary details. Loyal, considerate, perceptive, concerned with how other people feel."
ReplyDeleteI took the Paragon Learning Style Inventory. I have done many of these type questionnaires over the years. Above is the description of my results. I like to work alone, am an auditory learner, and love to work with my hands. I like change though I work best with a set routine. I enjoy having different tasks to do each day, and become bored easily when without variety.
This year, our counseling department completed the colors inventory with all the students at my school. It was interesting for the kids to learn more about their individual learning styles and informative for the teachers when planning lessons. The majority of the students were outgoing, enjoyed working in groups, and learned best when a variety of strategies were used to present information.
It is important to keep the different learning styles in mind when designing the learning environment. Presentation using different modalities allows students to access the learning in a multitude of ways, supporting retention and understanding of the concepts.
I took the Abiator's Online Learning Styles Inventory 1
ReplyDeleteAccording to the questions I answered, I am a visual learner. The website gave the following as some suggestions about how I can improve my learning:
=> Write things that you want to remember down; you will remember them better that way.
=> Look at the person who is speaking to you; it will help you focus.
=> Try to work in a quiet place. Wear earmuffs or earplugs if necessary. Some visual learners do, however, like soft music in the background.
=> If you miss something a teacher says or do not understand, ask politely if they could repeat or explain.
=> Most visual learners learn best alone.
=> When studying, take many notes and write down lots of details.
=> When trying to learn material by writing out notes, cover your notes then re-write. re-writing will help you remember better.
=> Use colour to highlight main ideas.
=> Before starting an assignment, set a goal and write it down. Even post in in front of you. Read it as you do your assignment.
=> Before reading a chapter or a book, preview it first by scanning the pictures, headings and so on.
=> Try to put your desk away from the door and windows and close to the front of the class.
=> Write your own flashcards. Look at them often and write out the main points, then check.
=> Where possible, use charts, maps, posters, films, videos, computer software, OHPs both to study from and to present your work (where appropriate).
I think the results are pretty accurate. I have always seen myself as a visual learning. I need to see something and actually manipulate something before I learn it. I can learn from listening but I learn better and retain more by doing and seeing graphics etc.
I think learning styles are influenced by culture. I learned my learning style from my family. My parents always taught me to use visuals to create studying guides, projects, etc. You become use to what you were exposed to.
I think a lot of students learn best visually with the use of hands-on activites. I would be interested in seeing what typle of learning styles my students prefer. I think I will try to find one that is kid friendly and see what learning style they might prefer. It would be a good teaching tool for me. I believe I tend to teach to my learning style. It just feels natural to me.
I went to www.literacyworks.org/mi/assessment/findyourstrengths.html My top three strengths are musical, nature, and spatial. I feel these results are very accurate for me. I am constantly singing to my students, playing music in the background, and clapping out rhythms. I love to take walks outside to see animals and flowers. I take my students outside as often as I can. I am also a visual learner where once I see something done or the way it looks I can recreate it. This is how I draw and can find my way out directionally. I always model things for my students so they can watch it being done.
ReplyDeleteI feel that using music and visuals have been very beneficial to my young learners. I have never given them a multiple intelligence quiz since they have not learned enough about themselves to accurately answer the questions. I can ask simple questions (and do every year) such as "Do you like to sing?" or "Do you like to do puzzles?" This can help me pinpoint how to teach these students. I did find a multiple intelligences questionnaire at www.teachervision.fen.com that I can give to the parents getting information about their child. I am working on getting it translated to Spanish for my ELL students as well.
I took the learning style test on learninstyles.com. My dominate styles are interactive, aural, haptic, and lastly kinesthetic. I was very surprised that the visual learning style didn’t appear in my results. I believe the results are pretty close to how I learn.
ReplyDeleteA group of students were discussing during class the results of their learning style test from their Social Studies class. This inspired me to give learning style test today. I was also inspired by two principals from the Classroom Management workshop this passed weekend. I believe the learning style test is beneficial because you are able to see what works best for each student. Although, I know it may be time consuming for a lesson, but you can combine a lot of the learning styles together. For example, during a review students use their vocabulary cards to play BINGO. First, the students would place sixteen to twenty vocabulary cards face down of the unit you would like to review. The teacher would read the definition as the students find the correct word. Finally, the student who has BINGO would stand up and read the definition for the win. In the review game you are able to use Kinesthetic, Visual, Aural, Print, & Interactive learning styles. I would suggest to teachers to give their students learning styles test. I think it would be beneficial for me as a teacher. The test also gives the students and parents an extra tool to use when completing an assignment at home. I also believe in one of my classes there are a combination of kinesthetic, interactive, and visual. I observed in one my academics that one student liked to lean on the science counter to complete their class work. I was concerned at first but I noticed he completed his work and the rest of class stayed on task. I believe that during our journey as educators we may pick up various learning styles without accessing and then make the right adjustment to the lesson. I try not to teach to my preferred learning style. My aim is to incorporate these four learning styles: Visual, Kinesthetic, Aural, & Interactive in the class, but there is always room for growth.
I completed the VAT Learning Style Inventory at . The total scores showed that my stronger preference was Visual. Close behind was Tactile. The results definitely describe the Learning Styles I am most comfortable with. I believe my styles were developed in sixth grade when my teacher encouraged us to build projects and visuals for extra credit. I loved creating and building and found I learned a whole lot more too. At the time I didn't identify that as my "learning preferences", but when Learning Styles were introduced into the educational arena and I did an inventory that showed the same results as above, I immediately reflected back to my 6th grade experiences with Miss Barry and knew then why I had loved her class and learned so much. The experience of seeing how a learning style can increase learning while making it fun had a major impact on my teaching approach. I began to incorporate all the styles into my lessons whenever possible. I administered the inventory to all my students so they could learn what their preferred learning style was. I taught them how to use this knowledge to identify their most effective studying methods. But I was not alone - the concept of teaching to learning styles grew in popularity and teachers were at first "encouraged" to incorporate all three styles throughout the lessons. Then came the time when teachers were required to write lesson plans that described "how" they would include each style in lessons. I found that most of my middle school and elementary school students were visual learners. The creative students also tended to be tactile. This was true for the years I taught using learning styles. It was an approach to teaching that stuck with me and I continued to use it long after it lost its popularity and was replaced by other approaches.
ReplyDeleteI also took the Accelerated Learning inventory that Amy took. I tested the highest in Interpersonal, Musical, and Linguistic forms of intelligence. Physical and Naturalistic were the forms of intelligence in which I tested the lowest. I feel that these test results are accurate because I definitely enjoy communicating with others and social interaction. I especially agree with the Musical intelligence. I like to listen to music and vary the harmonies when I sing along with the song. I sing without realizing that I am singing, and I wrote four songs for our school's musical two years ago. I think that my learning style is definitely influenced by my culture, because I experienced so much social interaction in my community growing up, and music has always been a part of my life. I do teach based upon my strongest intelligences. We often do group work in my classes, and I like to include music in some of the assignments. I believe that most of my students are the Interpersonal learning style because it seems that they learn from each other much faster than they learn from me!I have never given my students a learning style inventory, but that is something that I would definitely be willing to try.
ReplyDeleteI took two different learning style inventories: http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/learningstyles/ilsweb.html and http://www.howtolearn.com/learning-styles-quiz. I don't feel confident to judge if the results are accurate, because I have never felt uncomfortable or uncomprehending in any schools I have attended. I think I would be able to answer the accuracy question if I had more pronounced learning style preferences. I do think my learning style is influenced by my culture? Having spent first twenty five years of educational life in white middle class New Jersey, I imagine that the schools reflected the culture and so my learning habits and the learning contexts I find familiar will reflect that culture. My strong preference for visual over verbal has me gesticulating a lot, and my passion for giving the ELL students concrete connections moderates my strong preference for global over sequential learning. I don't think most of my students have had a chance to explore their learning styles. They have been taught to imitate and regurgitate. Never having given my students a learning style inventory, I can nevertheless see a lot of value in it: teaching tolerance, teaching point-of-view, and teaching meta-cognitive habits.
ReplyDeleteI also took the What's Your Learning Style at http://www.acceleratedlearning.com/method/test_why2.html. I was surprised by my results. I didn't expect what I got. My first was inter-personal, then visual/spatial and the third style was mathatical/logical. I have never done one of these with my students before. A teaming teacher did last year and she said it helped her understand the mistakes her students were making consistently. I think I would have my students participate and I think it would help us gear the learning to them.
ReplyDelete