Okay, teacher. Take this 24 questions quiz and find out what your preferred learning style is. Remember, as a teacher, you probably have 2 or 3 different learning styles because through all of your educational experiences, you have learned to adapt your style. After you take the quiz, do some thinking:
- What is the ideal learning environment for me?
- What would I be interested in learning more about if nobody were prodding me or putting pressure on me?
- Who were my favorite teachers in school? Why? (Did it have anything to do with how they taught?)
By the way, not surprisingly, I was a Verbal-Linguistic and Interpersonal learner.
Huh. No wonder I love blogs as a way to learn.
July 16, 2009 at 9:21 am
My results were the same as yours, Jarrod. I think the way we learn definitely impacts what we choose to do and teach, and how we teach.
I’ve been out of the regular classroom since 2006 now. I’m reading a YA novel called Little Brother, and it’s making me want to get back into my junior Am. Lit. classroom so badly. It ties in perfectly with a big thematic unit I used to teach, which I found was a perfect match for kids that age. It’s interesting, because I’ve tried teaching that unit at other ages (with appropriate changes made to take age into consideration) and it just doesn’t work as well for older or younger kids. I think that content can be just as dependent on age/culture as it is on learning styles too.
I think that once teachers are aware of how they learn and how they teach, they are willing to step outside that box a bit. They just have to be aware first — I know a lot of times we *think* we are doing things in the classroom, but in turns out that we really aren’t. We are blind to some of the things going on — and I think our teaching styles are part of that. The issue becomes one of finding time, doesn’t it? You know you need a variety of assessments, you need a variety of activities — and now, in addition to finding time to work them all in, you need to make sure that you are representing as many learning styles as possible too. It can be overwhelming, no?
That’s why I’ve always like performance-based assessments. It gives me a way to present a variety of activities to my students — they get to pick and choose (or even create their own) and I know I’ve created some authentic assessments at the same time.
July 16, 2009 at 8:15 pm
Well, Audry. You took the words right out of my blog. Make sure you read tomorrow’s post — Teaching Economically. Not a whole lot of practical suggestions about how to do that, but maybe I raise a few questions for us to think about as school systems and teachers.
Thanks for contributing!
July 16, 2009 at 10:28 am
1. Verbal-Linguistic 2.Interpersonal 3. Intrapersonal.
July 16, 2009 at 8:12 pm
You and I are the same, Nate. Obviously we need to keep blogging!
July 16, 2009 at 11:26 am
Um…I wasn’t sure how to send you my results so I was…
83% Naturalistic
75% Bodily-Inesthetic
100% Musical
88% Interpersonal
75% Intrapersonal
25% Visual-Spatial
31% Logical-Mathematical
83% Verbal-Linguistic
I don’t really know what all those mean BUT here are the answers to your questions anyway
1. Ideal for me is something that changes pace and activity frequently, has high energy(tells lots of stories or incorporates intersting tidbits) to keep me engaged and allows me to interact freely with others while still maintaining structure (too much freedom is VERY BAD for me, I’ll never get anything done!)
2. Um…I find learning about how people work to be beyond fascinating…I love to read psychology books and learn about why people are the way they are.
3. Dr. Rae! He was my history professor which I love history because it’s all stories but the WAY he taught totally contributed. He made history come alive with tons of technically insignificant but terribly interesting stories and he was very animated verbally and physically. We once marched through the halls of Southeastern Illinois College yelling, “We are the bourgeoisie! And we want freedom!” (we were learning about the french revolution
) But I remember his class better than anyone else.
July 16, 2009 at 12:16 pm
I found another learning style quiz online and it said I was a TACTILE learner! Reading the description it was very accurate
I don’t know how that ties in with the different styles the one you posted but it was interesting none the less!
July 16, 2009 at 8:11 pm
Tactile and Bodily-Kinesthetic are basically the same thing. I would have guessed interpersonal, but I can also see how you would prefer to learn by doing something. You like being directly in contact with the material, rather than just hearing about it.
If you remember, give me the URL of that other quiz.
July 17, 2009 at 8:57 am
Here it is, it’s free too!
http://www.petersons.com/education_planner/discovering_article.asp?sponsor=2859&articleName=Learning_Styles_Quiz
I think I have a high interpersonal learning as well but the more I thought about it the more the tactile diagnosis made sense. I’m always moving around and wiggling my foot, when I’m on the phone talking I pace back and forth. Matt and I met with Jared E. for a conference call and as you know me and meetings don’t like each other much but I think I now know why!
During the conference call I got to move around and doodle on the board, pace, throw a ball around etc. and I thought the meeting was great! Which triggered me to think about how really the reason I hate meetings is because I can’t move around hence think and it drives me nuts so…yeah the tactile/bodily-kinestic totally clicked for me there
And then the music side (which wasn’t an option on the other quiz) also totally clicks because I HATE silence! I always have music playing while I study or read or if Matt would let me play it during a meeting I totally would!
It was really funny though because during the conference call as I’m pacing and all over the place Matt was going nuts thinking I was distracted and disengaged! He kept motioning for me to sit down
So he must NOT be a tactile learner! LOL! He’s whatever it is where you like quite and zero distractions…probably something with mathmatical or logical. But after the meeting we talked about it and it clicked for HIM that I must learn different than him and he realized that all this time that I’m doodling or pacing or whatever, that shows that I really AM engaged not the opposite! It was really cool!
Anyway…THANKS for making me more aware!
July 17, 2009 at 8:59 am
Last paragraph talking about Matt should have been “quiet” not “quite”
OOPS!