Knowing the Learners

In Differentiated Instructional Strategies the authors writes that brains differ as much fingerprints and faces do. This relates to how my students are all different form each other. Students are all unique and learn in different ways. I have experienced this in the classroom. I have students who have different learning preferences, and the text states that teachers provide a wide range of learning activities that consider and respond to each style of learning. Recently I had done this in my instruction and I found it impactful. This is best practice for teachers, as it reaches all the students in the classroom and increases engagement. I incorporated auditory, visual ,and tactile learning styles when I taught about culture. I had a powerpoint for visual learners, a turn and talk activity for auditory learners, and artifacts for students to engage with to help all my students learn.

Moving on, I administered the Elementary Reading Attitude Survey, also known as the ERAS, to my 3rd graders to learn how they feel towards reading. I am in a reading and writing classroom, so I found this survey a good fit for learning about my students and how they feel towards the subject of the class. This survey asked questions about my students’ interest so I could get to know them. From the ERAS, I also learned how my students feel towards reading and that the majority of my students enjoy reading. I also learned that some of my students do not like taking reading test. I learned which students like to read with other and work with others. I can make groups for collaborative learning based on their answers. I can adapt my instruction to fit my students’ interest with this survey. I also know what books I should recommend to students with this survey. During independent reading time, I can use information from the ERAS to go book shopping with my students. In Classrooms That Work the authors write that when teacher take into account the interest and needs of the students, the student become more interested in their own reading and writing.

I also took informal observation notes on my students to observe how they learn best. I was able to see who likes to work on computers when the class does assignments on their personal laptops. Half of the class is engaged while working on computers, while the other half got bored on the computers after 15 minutes. They started getting restless and asked what time lunch was. With this information, I can change how working on the computers is done and possibly break up the computer time into little parts instead of one big computer slot time. One study in Differentiated Instructional Strategies states that students learn only 10% of what they read and 20% of what they hear. When students teach others, they learn 95% of what they teach! From learning this I can do activities where students teach each other after they learn material. In the picture below students are teaching other students to work on new software. When students learn from each other the information become personal and it gives the child practice. By observing my students I was able to see that the class likes engaging with one another and learning from each other.

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