Learning about learning

Children learn in many different ways. Each child has a unique style of learning based on their intelligence and psychological factors. Some children learn by hearing what the teacher is telling them and then giving feedback. Some students like to think about what they've learned and they make sense of it on their own and other kids need to experience things with outside factors to learn.

I feel the best way to assess your students learning styles is by utilizing the online assessments that are available regarding learning styles. Through these personal quizzes you can assess and address each child's learning style and find ways to reach the majority of your students while teaching the group. If most of your kids learn best with hands on experience then you are not maximizing your lecture time by simply telling them information.

I am very hands on in my learning. I like to show the student what I'm doing step by step while explaining it at my pace. Then I hand over what I'm doing to the student and let them try to remember and figure it out with mistakes until they get it right. If they really need help I'll give them hints along the way. I feel this method helps students from all walks of foundations because I am verbalizing, getting feedback, and implementing a hands on approach.

Virtual Insanity

I would say I am not a digital generation kid, although I do attend college online and do a lot to mimic their generation. Computers and cell phones weren't common until I was in my teens. I still remember riding my bike to the neighboring town and knocking on my friends' doors to see if they could come out and play. The closest thing we had to a computer was our Atari and we watched movies on Beta, not our laptops.

When I was a kid I used to make videos with my cousins and we would make special effects. I went on to be a projectionist at a cinema and part of my job was splicing film. The difference between me and those kids is I actually edited the literal film. They are editing images on a computer. The children I know their age always have a smart phone in one hand and an Ipod or an Ipad in the other. It blows my mind. When I was young I wanted to look at everything around me and climb trees and make friends. Kids now are socially autistic with earbuds in and their noses in their phones.

Something the leaders of my church realized is that you can't reach kids when they think you're out of touch. The entire Quorum of the Seventy got Ipads and downloaded their scriptures on them and use them to write their talks so that kids will see them using them and realize they aren't just old men out of touch with the new generation. I think the same thing applies when teaching. If the kids see you understanding and keeping up with current technology they will respect you more. You can find ways to put it to good use, also. I remember lugging around huge heavy books in my backpack and now kids at my very high school are using Ipads with all of their material downloaded onto it.