My Learning style

At the school I teach at, BKB Academy, the first thing we do with our students is assess their learning styles and personality types using what we call the Discovery Process. Tests such as True Colors, VARK and others help us quickly learn about who are students are and how they learn best.

A good teacher is not only aware of their students learning styles, but also his or her own learning style. Personally, I am more of a visual learner. I enjoy collaborating with colleagues and learning through discussion. Whether I mean to or not, this affects how I teach. I tend to use a lot of visuals and encourage lots of group discussions.

In a staff meeting last week, my site leader said, "Other schools diversity instruction, we diversify to the third degree." Since we are an alternative school and many students are court appointed, we have a variety of learners who have failed in the traditional school setting. Add to that the fact that one teacher is teaching students from multiple grades all in one class. 

What I have found that works best is to expect the majority of students to have Orange as their dominant color. These students are more action oriented and tend to require more hands activities. One strategy I have found to work well is to provide students with a list of options for students to choose from based on their learning style and personal preferences. Some student choose to work individually on power points or websites, other do well working with their peers writing and acting out skits.

The material is still being covered, just in different forms according to their different learning styles. It makes it more fun than grading the same thing over and over.