teaching-styles

Do students like your teaching? Try this and find out


We may underestimate our students’ ability to understand their learning styles. A little experiment can help

teaching-stylesWhat if we asked our students about the type of work they would prefer to do while in class? It may reveal a lot about their personal learning styles. These days, when I meet with students across the country, I perform a little experiment.

After informing the class that they are to learn about Romeo and Juliet, and specifically how to go about interpreting the text, I present them with a choice between two teaching styles, in the form of two different teachers, who I call Teacher A and Teacher B.

I have received some fascinating answers when asking them to explain their first choice. After reading, you may want to design a series of choices (Teacher A-Z) for your own students to see for yourself. Or, even better, have your students design assignments that match their own learning styles.

The goal is to have students become the learning architects of at least some of their work, similar to that being promoted by #geniushour. It is possible we have grossly underestimated their ability to understand their own learning styles and how to take increased responsibility for becoming learning designers. As students have explained to me in the past, a change in the design of work can lead to an increase in student learning and focus.

But back to the experiment:

Next page: A Tale of Two Teachers: the experiment in action

 

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