Dear teachers, I'm super excited to impart some of my expertise on the teaching-learning process and how to use this knowledge to create a productive classroom. Let's talk about certain reading types, educational practices, the contrasts between teacher-led and student-led classrooms, and much more in this book.
Let's start with the diverse reading preferences of the students.
Every student has an approach for recalling abilities more efficiently when they are studying their lessons. Some of them take notes, some draw diagrams, some prefer to listen to lectures, and so on. Because of the fact that no learning style fits all students, scientists have performed studies to better understand how learners absorb new knowledge. There are many different teaching methods and styles, but they frequently involve giving lectures, leading debates, role-playing, or doing certain demonstrations pertaining to the lesson. Students may become unfocused and unproductive in class if there is a mismatch between the teaching style and the student's learning style.
A student's learning style is defined as the way they prefer to learn. It's possible for a learner to learn best through sight, hearing, activity, or reflection, to mention a few. Typically, a student's sensory modalities (such as visual, tactile, auditory, and kinesthetic) and intellectual processes (such as active, reflective, global, or analytical) are used to describe their learning styles.
Various teaching techniques, role-playing exercises, demonstrations of some science experiments, are some of the most common teaching methods teachers adopt in their classrooms. Students' inattention, lack of productivity, poor class handling sessions, all these can result from a mismatch between the teaching style and the student's learning style.
In this first session of mine, let me begin with a discussion on good classroom instruction.
A teacher teach either as an obligation to do it or out of a strong desire to do so. As you know that a teacher could approach their students in a variety of ways, some people think that teachers with more strictness is effective, and that a teacher's objective should be to teach using a rote approach and focus only on the results. Also, they argue that engaging the students while teaching is a poor tactic. Some educators believe that students need to comprehend the idea of learning and apply what they have learned. Additionally, there are also some educators who believes that having fun while learning has beneficial results.
Whatsoever, it is pertinent that to attain high levels of student accomplishment, a teacher must employ effective teaching techniques in the classroom. Let us discuss some of them.
Teaching strategies can be either student centered or teacher-centered, but ideally they should be a combination of the two.
Effective classroom management accommodates various types of learners in the classroom. While there are other learning style models, the VARK model is one of the most extensively used since it adequately accommodates learner variability and needs.
The VARK model stands for Visual, Auditory, Reading/Writing, and Kinesthetic Learners.
It is important to understand that not all students fall into the same category. When it comes to learning style, learner preferences frequently overlap, especially across topics and activities.
How can you identify visual learners in your classroom?
Visual learners in your classroom prefer to see and observe what they are learning. They like to access knowledge through photos, diagrams, and written instructions. In order to interact with and digest information, this set of learners may doodle, construct lists, or take notes.
Some more traditional teaching methods, such as whiteboards or projecting material onto a screen, benefit these visual learners. Furthermore, providing class notes for students to follow along with is an excellent approach to include visual learning. Visual learners may struggle with lectures and may require more time to digest material that they receive auditorily.
How can you identify auditory learners in your classroom?
Auditory learners are often social butterflies.
That being said, what are social butterflies?
They are someone who is very social and easy going. Meaning to say, someone who is comfortable and very active in social situations.
In the classroom these learners frequently repeat what a teacher has stated in order to grasp what the directions are.
Your class's auditory learners will learn best by listening and associating information with sound. These are the students who would rather listen to a lecture than take written notes. They might also be young children who discuss and brainstorm ideas before acting on them.
Have you organized a group discussion activity in your classroom for your students? If so, giving your class lots of time for discussion can benefit auditory learners. They want to hear what others have to say and share their own thoughts in order to receive and process information. Please invite auditory learners to repeat back to you what they have learned when you conduct a lesson in the form of a lecture. Processes like call-and-response or question-and-answer are also beneficial for auditory learners. Additionally, auditory learners like watching movies on the subject.
How can you identify Reading/Writing learners in your classroom?
When it comes to reading/writing preference learners, students who express themselves through writing might be identified. They enjoy reading articles and keeping journals or diaries. Your reading and writing students may be encyclopedias and search engine gurus. They are hungry for knowledge, which they obtain through reading.
The majority of the traditional educational system is designed for these type of students. The reading/writing learner acquires knowledge through research, book reading, and writing. While these children may not be as outspoken as auditory learners, they can communicate well through writing. Allow the reader/writer time to compose their answers and go through their views on paper.
How to identify Kinesthetic learners?
Kinesthetic learners acquire knowledge through hands-on experience. They enjoy acting out scenarios and using their bodies as learning instruments, frequently using their hands to speak.
A kinesthetic learner could seem uneasy in the classroom. As because they are skilled at using their bodies to respond to game or dance cues, students who are excellent athletes or dancers may be kinesthetic learners.
Since teachers are also learners, have you ever thought what your learning preferences are?
It takes skill to engage students. The teacher might utilize his own approach to grab the attention of their students in class while limiting noise and other disruptions. Once this is accomplished, the teaching and learning process will run much more smoothly. It fosters critical thinking and a student's problem-solving ability.
Let me simplify this.
The process of deliberately conceptualizing, analyzing, and applying information gained through observation, experience, or contemplation is known as critical thinking.
Critical thinking is based on logic and reasoning. It is the ability to solve problems through evaluation, logic, and evidence.
I remember when I was teaching Physics in class 10, one of the students asked me, "If two children are traveling in a bike that moves at 400m/sec, and their teacher is standing at a distance facing the students, and as the bike approaches, and if one student says ’good morning,' will the bike reach first or the sound come first?" (While answering this, I inadvertently forgot that the speed of sound is 332 m/sec and therefore the sound should certainly come first!) However, I could clarify his doubt only after some hours!
To continue with, apart from your teaching life, have you ever found yourself mumbling a solution to a question or defining a scientific phenomenon without fully comprehending its meaning and application? It doesn’t take long for this one incident to become a habit. This may help you remember the answers, but your learning quality as an individual is actually diminishing.
Instead, if you choose to comprehend the definition, determine its application and purpose, and examine some examples, you will not only remember the answer, but you will also be learning intentionally and extending your knowledge. This is the process of critical thinking.
There is a distinction to be made between memory and learning, and that distinction is Critical Thinking.
Do students need to have critical thinking skills?
You must be able to think critically in order to understand the significance and relationship behind ideas and facts rather than simply following them. In short, everything you learn in school could be applied in your professional life.
It aids in the formation of relevant arguments, the detection of flaws in thinking, and the synthesis of problem-solving solutions. It is critical that you develop this talent early in school since, as you progress, life becomes more difficult when you start making your own decisions in life. No doubt, your decision-making will be based on your critical thinking abilities.
Now you tell me, do we need to encourage critical thinking skills among students? I hope you have found the answer!
Finally, as facilitators, we are all aware of the obstacles that prevent teachers from delivering their teachings. Let us conclude that effective classroom instruction will result in better student behavior. I’ll go through lateral thinking, teacher-centered and student-centered teaching methods in greater detail in my next sessions.
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