• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Advertising
  • Write for Us
  • Job Board
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
    • Consulting
    • Advertising
  • Shop
    • Books
    • Shirts

The Educators Room logo

  • Start Here
    • Impact Statements: Teacher Expertise
    • Newsletter
  • Browse Topics
    • Content Strategies
      • Literacy
      • Mathematics
      • Social Studies
      • Educational Technology
      • ELL & ESOL
      • Fine Arts
      • Special Education
      • Popular Topics
        • Teacher Self-Care
        • Instructional Coach Files
        • Common Core
        • The Traveling Teacher
        • The Unemployed Teacher
        • The New Teacher Chronicles
        • Book Review
        • Grade Levels
          • Elementary (K-5)
          • Middle (6-8)
          • Adult
          • New Teacher Bootcamp
          • Hot Button Topics
            • Menu Item
              • Principals' Corner
              • Charter Schools
              • Confessions of a Teacher
              • Interviews
              • The State of Education
              • Stellar Educator of the Week
            • Menu
              • How to Fix Education
              • Featured
              • Ask a Teacher
              • Teacher Branding
              • Current Events
  • Podcasts
  • Courses
    • Practicing Self-Care to Avoid Teacher Burnout- An 8 Week Course
    • Becoming An Educational Consultant
    • Teacher Branding 101:Teachers are The Experts
    • The Learning Academy
    • Books
    • Shirts
  • Education in Atlanta
  • Teacher Self-Care
  • The Coach's Academy
menu icon
go to homepage
subscribe
search icon
Homepage link
  • Advertising
  • Write for Us
  • Job Board
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
    • Consulting
    • Advertising
  • Shop
    • Books
    • Shirts
×

June 19, 2014 Adult Learning

Learning Styles Matter

  • About the Author
  • Latest Posts

About Jackie Parrish

I am a retired teacher who taught in middle school for 30 years. I have certifications in elementary education, reading, and math. I have spent most of my career teaching math to 7th and 8th graders in an urban setting. I have also presented staff development within my school and within my district. Although I am now retired I am still passionate about teaching math in ways that engage all students.
  • Schools Are Closed, But Educational Inequality Remains - May 8, 2020
  • Coronavirus: The Impact of School Closures - March 24, 2020
  • Standardized Testing's Negative Affect on Math Education - February 11, 2020
  • What Becoming a Math Teacher Leader Taught Me - November 14, 2019
  • Trauma in Schools – Teachers Are Asked to Handle Too Much - October 16, 2019
  • Teaching is Difficult When Administrative Support is Lacking - October 1, 2019
  • Teachers - Your Impact on Students is Greater Than You Know! - July 7, 2019
  • Columbine Shooting 20 Years Later – Our Children Are Still Dying - June 11, 2019
  • Empathy: The Key to Better Behavior in the Classroom - May 2, 2019
  • Mathematical Conversations Aid Problem Solving - April 17, 2017

60-1013tm-cart-educationAs teachers, we know that not everyone learns the same way.  Some people are auditory learners who do very well in a situation where the teacher lectures. Others are visual learners who must see something to comprehend. If you are a good reader you can succeed as a visual learner. If you are not a good reader then you might be helped by seeing pictures or having a drawing to show you a concept. Kinesthetic (tactile) learners learn actively. They do well manipulating objects and trying things for themselves. About two-thirds of today’s learners are visual or visual-kinesthetic learners. How do we best serve them?

I am going to share with you two personal experiences to explain why learning styles matter. Before I discuss those experiences I hope that those reading this realize that although your employer may not give you directions that fit your learning style, if you are aware of how you learn best, you can make adaptations in order to be successful.

Looking back at my high school experience, I can think of one class – 10th grade history -- where knowing my learning style would have allowed me to keep my A-B average for the year. Mrs. Conrad was a very traditional teacher. She gave reading assignments from our text and lectured from notes during class. She never wrote anything on the board. I had trouble taking notes in outline form as she required because I couldn’t write in outline format as fast as she lectured. I would have been fine if her tests had been based on the textbook alone. Unfortunately for me, the tests were made up of questions from both the text and her lectures questions. I carried a C average in that class for the entire year. Had I known then that I am a visual learner; I would have borrowed notes from a classmate during study hall to verify that my notes were accurate. Alas, 10th grade history marked the only time in my high school experience where I received a C.

By the time my first great niece, Ari, was born I had had a great deal of training in learning styles. I decided to see if I could determine her learning style at an early age. One holiday when Ari was four months old, I noticed that she was watching all of the adults as they were eating hors d'oeuvre. She appeared to be taking mental notes for future reference. Through her first year of life she continued to watch everything around her. One day just before her 2nd birthday I noticed that she had hooked her sunglasses onto the neckline of her top. When I wondered aloud where she had learned that, her mother’s response was – from you. I started to laugh because I was the only person that she saw often who had a habit of doing that.

Ari entered elementary school in a district that does a very good job of differentiating instruction. It was to her advantage the she had learned to read before entering first grade. She has become excellent at asking to “see” things again until she gets the concept. Ari is also very good at using computer resources to “see” things repeatedly until she grasps the idea. Ari and I have also discussed the fact that both of us remember many things in picture form. Because she knows that she needs to see things to retain them she knows how she learns even if she doesn’t know what her learning style is called. Ari is going into 4th grade in September and knowing that she needs to “see” things will make the upper elementary grades easier for her.

In conclusion, while it is true that our employers will not adapt the directions that they give us to our learning style, if we know how we learn we can adapt in a manner that suits our learning style. Differentiating instruction allows all of our students to learn in the manner that is best for them. It leads to more children being successful and also produces more useful employees who can make adaptations when they need to.

If you are curious about your learning style I highly recommend taking the tests at the links below.

This site will tell you if you are an auditory, visual, or tactile learner.
This site goes into more detail about combination learning styles like visual-tactile.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Related posts:

Default ThumbnailBuilding Self-Esteem: The Secret Ingredient to Reaching Your Learning Disability Student The Art of Storytelling Default ThumbnailWhen All Else Frustrates, We Still Have Vacation First, We Must Educate The Heart
« Preparing For Success: Helping Students Prepare For What Comes Next
How Can We Build "Cultural Capital" With Our English Language Learners? »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

The Educator's Room was launched in 2012 to amplify the voice of educators. To date, we have over 45+ writers from around the world and boast over twelve million page views. Through articles, events, and social media we will advocate for honest dialogue with teachers about how to improve public education. This mission is especially important when reporting on education in our community; therefore, we commit our readers to integrity, accuracy, and independence in education reporting. To join our mailing list, click here.

What we do

At The Educator's Room, we focus on amplifying and honoring the voice of educators as experts in education. To date, we have over 40 staff writers/teachers from around the world.

Popular Posts

  • My Union Showed Up for Me, and I'll Never Forget It
  • Your Students Deserve a Diverse Classroom Library. Here's How to Set It Up.
  • You Don't Have to Watch the Tyre Nichols Video, But Be Ready to Talk About It
  • "Let's Make This Happen": Following Student Interests to Interest-Based Mentorships

Featured On

Buy Our Books/Courses

How to Leave Your Job in Education

Practicing Self-Care to Avoid Teacher Burnout

Using Your Teacher Expertise to Become an Educational Consultant

Check out our books on teaching and learning!

The Learning Academy

Footer

↑ back to top

About

  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclaimer
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Accessibility Policy

Newsletter

  • Sign Up! for emails and updates

Contact

  • Contact
  • Services
  • Media Kit
  • FAQ

 

Copyright © 2021 The Educator's Room.