Learning Preferences

Journal Entry: Learning Preferences

            My mentor teacher and I have discussed a lot about different learning abilities in her classroom. If you are watching for different learning preferences you can almost tell which students might prefer which learning style. Some children are much calmer and quieter than others that need to move around and be active. Most students enjoy talking and playing with their peers but other times they like to read or work on an activity quietly. You can see which students can be more patient during a lesson by their body language. The children that are content are watching the teacher and sitting quietly while the students that are ready to work on the activity become very anxious and start blurting anything and everything out.

            Some students prefer just to listen and observe the teacher while others are trying to mimic the teacher in order to understand what she is explaining. Some students can read about a topic and understand what it is saying and other students learn better with a hands on approach. My mentor teacher tries to adjust her teaching based on the different learning styles so that all of her students can learn effectively. For math in particular the kindergarteners use worksheets as a guide to their lesson but must get up and move around the room to measure or weigh different objects then they usually return to their seats and draw what they did. You can tell which students understand by listening, which students need to visualize what they are doing with pictures, and which students learn best by moving around and actively working on an activity.