Learning Characteristics

  Teachers should familiarize themselves with the individual learning characteristics in their classroom. For starters, teachers should be knowledgeable about their students’ current working knowledge and skill level. What have they already learned in grades prior? In what areas are they struggling? Are all of the students coming from this school or are some coming from schools with fewer advantages and resources? The resources available to each child in their home, school and community greatly affects their life experiences and what they have learned from them. Teachers can glean this knowledge by assessing their students at the beginning of a new unit and then at the end. This tells the teacher several things. The teacher has an idea of what has to be covered because it hasn’t been covered before or what they can simplify in their lessons because it is already understood by the students. No two groups of students will be alike so the lesson plan for a unit that worked well a year before will still need to be adapted for the current group. The assessments also tell teachers at the end what, if anything, the students have learned. This is a great way to evaluate whether or not presenting the unit in that manner was successful. Teachers should also familiarize themselves with how their students learn best. Some students learn best through visual presentations, some through auditory lessons, and others through movement or doing it themselves. The IRIS module explains that while all students have their own, unique way of learning, lessons that incorporate more than one way of learning are the most successful. For instance, in addition to reading the lesson in the textbook, the lesson could also be presented on an audiotape for the students to take home. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the students in a particular class? It is important not to play to the same strengths every lesson. If all lessons are presented through a lecture, the students who learn best through auditory stimulation will have an advantage while students who struggle with auditory processing will struggle all year. In addition, knowing where the strengths and weaknesses lie can help the teacher to creatively present some material. For instance, if I know that math is just not a forte for some of my students and that glazed over look comes into their eyes at the very mention of “numbers” I will need to get creative! Let’s act out a story problem using props or Oreos or whatever does pique their interest. They will be doing math and it can be relatively painless! But I need to be aware of this before I make my plans for the lessons so I have the right amount of time, resources, space, etc. The teachers’ feedback to their students is incredibly important in that students cannot improve or even understand what they did wrong without a clear breakdown of their assessment scores. Through this process, teachers also have the chance to see how students respond to their feedback. Do they heed and make the necessary changes? Are they sensitive to even constructive criticism? It has become a challenge to me to figure out how to give feedback to some children. Some children really do just stare back at me like they wish I would just be quiet and others are instantly emotional and defensive. Another area to be familiar with is how students work with others. When planning lessons one needs to be aware of how they might best situate students for group work. While many teachers may shy away from placing students in groups if they are too rowdy, too timid, or too bossy, etc , I think it is important to recognize these characteristics for what they are and then USE the group work to improve upon them. The timid child may not ever become comfortable working with other students in the classroom if they are not presented with the opportunity to do so repeatedly.  For the unit to have the most effect on the students’ understanding and application of the knowledge presented, it has to be relevant. The material should either be concurrent with events in their own lives or stimulate them to want to rise to the challenges presented. It’s always surprising to find that some teachers have no real idea what their students can do outside of the classroom. I love to hear a teacher praise a child for something they were able to do on the playground because it shows that child that they are interested in more than their academic scores. We can use these outside interests, hobbies, or even dreams to create interesting material. When my son was learning his ABC’s we would play ABC Bingo with whatever small snacky food I had on hand. This was so much more effective than just me holding up flashcards. If he followed through with the game he got to eat the snack! This is my example because my family seems to hold food as dear and precious, but all students have something that is relevant to who they are and that will spur them on. Another consideration that is extremely important is whether or not our students are speaking English at home.  Their culture and their home life do not exist in a vacuum and we shouldn’t expect it to. When we invite their families into our classrooms we are really only giving ourselves more options on how to present material.