“Your car may have a powerful engine, but if the steering wheel is out of whack, it’s probably a mistake to simply drive faster. And putting in premium gas and removing the muffler doesn’t help much either.”
When I teach my students, I want them to study harder and to learn more but if I don’t teach them how to use the tools they have, we are all wasting our time.
It is important to know if the students have the foundational skills to move on to more complex skills.
I need to use my tools of assessment to determine what my students already know. I need to know that they have the basics down pat before I can expect them to do more difficult work. Knowing how to assess a student’s abilities is an important took in my teaching toolbox.
If a student’s learning style is more visual than auditory, we are really causing unnecessary stress by only giving the lesson orally. If I tell everyone about the content, then tell the students what to do in an activity, many of my visual learners will have difficulties. It doesn’t matter if I repeat the lesson and the instructions. I need to figure out a way to make this lesson more visual for the students who learn by seeing the information or watching how an activity is done.
If I have a student who is an auditory learner and I only give visually prompts, they may miss out on important parts of the lesson. Their reading abilities may cause them to struggle with getting all of the information or following the directions. If you give visual information, it would be better to also explain the information orally.
We need to make sure that we use all of our tools that are needed to meet our student’s needs. Ignoring those needs and insisting that a student learns according to whatever method you are using is only going to cause frustration and even anger. There even may be behavior problems or depression.
What tools do you use from your teacher toolbox? Please share.
Photo by Hunter Haley on Unsplash
1 comment:
Great post! I am currently in a technology class for my education major and one of the topics we discussed was how to use universal design for learning in classrooms. I agree that it's so important to take into consideration the learning needs of ALL the students and integrate a variety of methods of instruction. Ignoring the needs of students will not help them be successful in the classroom. I found this post to be very helpful and will definitely come in handy as a future educator!
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