Hi Crystal! I loved that you used a prezi for your blog post this week, they're so fun to create! I have been a believer in 'learning styles' as well for a long time, ever since I took a test that told me I was a visual learner. I would have sworn that I couldn't learn information in any other way than to see it with my own eyes. However, my sophomore year of college, this was completely proved to be untrue. I had a professor who was straight lecture, and I just knew I was going to do poorly in the class because I was not an auditory learner. To my surprise I wound up with an A in the class. This just goes to show that just because information is presented in a different way, doesn't mean that one cannot learn it. I agree with you that research is very important for teachers to be aware of. Personally though, I don't think that it should be the main focus for teachers when providing instruction because what works for some classrooms may not work as well in your own. I think teachers should pay attention to research and new strategies found, and incorporate in their classrooms where they see necessary. I agreed with the statement from the article as well, I think that providing students with differentiated instruction allows them to learn in a variety of ways, and not get set on one way of receiving information, because that's what they're most comfortable with.
Hi Crystal... I'm beginning to think I am the only person on here that believes learning styles exist. I don't feel it is for the majority of people and agree with everyone else on that. However, I still believe it exists and through differentiation, it is completed. I think we do best when we read and/view the research and think for ourselves. Just like I try to believe that evidence based/researched based practices should be utilized when they can be. That the research was large and varied. That is is known to work. However, we all do well to remember everyone has some bias. We all need to make decision for what is best for our own students and our own classrooms. Like I told Morgan, nothing is a one size fits all for everyone...especially in education. Every class is different. Every student is different.
I love your Prezi. You did a great job and were thorough in your responses. Great Job!
Hey Crystal, I loved your prezi. I agree with you that focusing on learning styles is a waste of time. Many times it does not make the lessons any better because the teacher is trying to teach the class based on what the perceived learning styles are. It means that as a way of teaching it is very ineffective to constantly focus on these learning styles. I also think that it is strange that we as people spend most of our lives hearing and telling others that they are special and their own person; yet we spend so much time saying that everyone learns in three different ways. This makes it so that we are not different because we all have one of the three learning styles. I believe that trying the new methods that come out to try to teach may be better. It may not make much of a difference but it gives us as teachers an idea of how students learn using this method. It also gives us a solid foundation in this area of research based practices. We have tested them ourselves to see how well they work and it is important that we use what we have found to find what works for each new class that we have. Michaela
Hi Michaela and Katrina, Thank you both for replying to my posts. I appreciate your feedback. Michaela, yes I definitely agreed that learning styles are not really differentiated instruction but the opposite when you are putting all students into 1 of 3 groups. Katrina, I agree that every student and class is different and that researched theories are useful when they have already been proven to have worked for others. Thank you for providing an opposing viewpoint in your presentation. Crystal Martinez
Hi Crystal!
ReplyDeleteI loved that you used a prezi for your blog post this week, they're so fun to create! I have been a believer in 'learning styles' as well for a long time, ever since I took a test that told me I was a visual learner. I would have sworn that I couldn't learn information in any other way than to see it with my own eyes. However, my sophomore year of college, this was completely proved to be untrue. I had a professor who was straight lecture, and I just knew I was going to do poorly in the class because I was not an auditory learner. To my surprise I wound up with an A in the class. This just goes to show that just because information is presented in a different way, doesn't mean that one cannot learn it. I agree with you that research is very important for teachers to be aware of. Personally though, I don't think that it should be the main focus for teachers when providing instruction because what works for some classrooms may not work as well in your own. I think teachers should pay attention to research and new strategies found, and incorporate in their classrooms where they see necessary. I agreed with the statement from the article as well, I think that providing students with differentiated instruction allows them to learn in a variety of ways, and not get set on one way of receiving information, because that's what they're most comfortable with.
Hi Crystal...
ReplyDeleteI'm beginning to think I am the only person on here that believes learning styles exist. I don't feel it is for the majority of people and agree with everyone else on that. However, I still believe it exists and through differentiation, it is completed. I think we do best when we read and/view the research and think for ourselves. Just like I try to believe that evidence based/researched based practices should be utilized when they can be. That the research was large and varied. That is is known to work. However, we all do well to remember everyone has some bias. We all need to make decision for what is best for our own students and our own classrooms. Like I told Morgan, nothing is a one size fits all for everyone...especially in education. Every class is different. Every student is different.
I love your Prezi. You did a great job and were thorough in your responses. Great Job!
Until next time,
Trina
Hey Crystal,
ReplyDeleteI loved your prezi. I agree with you that focusing on learning styles is a waste of time. Many times it does not make the lessons any better because the teacher is trying to teach the class based on what the perceived learning styles are. It means that as a way of teaching it is very ineffective to constantly focus on these learning styles. I also think that it is strange that we as people spend most of our lives hearing and telling others that they are special and their own person; yet we spend so much time saying that everyone learns in three different ways. This makes it so that we are not different because we all have one of the three learning styles. I believe that trying the new methods that come out to try to teach may be better. It may not make much of a difference but it gives us as teachers an idea of how students learn using this method. It also gives us a solid foundation in this area of research based practices. We have tested them ourselves to see how well they work and it is important that we use what we have found to find what works for each new class that we have.
Michaela
Hi Michaela and Katrina,
ReplyDeleteThank you both for replying to my posts. I appreciate your feedback. Michaela, yes I definitely agreed that learning styles are not really differentiated instruction but the opposite when you are putting all students into 1 of 3 groups. Katrina, I agree that every student and class is different and that researched theories are useful when they have already been proven to have worked for others. Thank you for providing an opposing viewpoint in your presentation.
Crystal Martinez