It is generally accepted in educational research that people are either visual, auditory or tactile/kinesthetic learners. Some students exhibit balanced combinations of two or even all three of the learning styles; others are heavily “weighted” to one style.
Schools often ask teachers to differentiate between these learning styles when teaching and assessing in their classes. If you really think about it or have tried it – is an absolutely ridiculous thing to ask a teacher to do. It’s a nice idea, but we have enough on our plates!
And yet, ironically, when we have discussed these learning styles, we immediately can tell any administrator that we have indeed “differentiated” our instruction. We can also tell the administrator that we have at the same time built a stronger classroom community during the discussion about our students’ learning styles.
You may want to consider using learning styles inventories in your classroom. They build community, you get to know your students better as individual people, and they impart confidence once you know how to talk to your classes about them.
