Learning Styles of My 8th Grade Group

 

Analyzing My Learning Survey

Learning surveys serve as an effective means of gathering information pertaining to students' physical, cognitive, social, emotional, and linguistic development. According to Cherry (2020), it is possible to investigate the qualities, actions, or perspectives of a group of individuals through the use of a survey. After analyzing my eighth-grade class, I've determined that forty percent of them may require social and emotional support due to their high anxiety level score on the survey. This is crucial because math anxiety can hinder their ability to acquire new mathematical concepts, causing them to withdraw from more difficult problems.

Because 60% of the sample reported learning math in a global approach, it is critical that I combine and communicate the core idea of the learning early in my teaching sequence. According to Khowsare (2012), before they can digest the facts and associated information, global learners require a major idea or overall picture of the subject. This would impact the manner in which I deliver my daily lesson by providing a synopsis of the material that I intend to instruct and the knowledge that the class will acquire. Planning for lessons entails the incorporation of humorous elements and the application of knowledge to practical situations. This instructional approach will ease the concerns of my students who are anxious and assist my global learners in comprehending the overarching concepts of the material being covered. As an additional instructional strategy, I would utilize the following for my visual/verbal learners: I would devise a plan for placing posters and charts throughout the classroom, which would serve as resources, and I would ensure that I referred to these models daily while instructing. Since all of my the students in the group are reflective learners, it is important that pace my lessons to ensure that I allow them the “think time” process the lesson before moving onto more engaging activities like “turn and talk”. Reflective students would rather first consider things in quiet. (University of Arkansas, n.d,) This is may mean more reflective activities in a math journal.

Along with monitoring their verbal responses, providing opportunity to reflect and reading their reflective journals to determine their levels of knowledge of newly learned concepts may be included in the evaluation of growth in this set of students. Second, during my guided sessions, I will need to spend more time presenting visuals and telling anecdotes about how the math ideas relate as a whole, and remain mindful of my tone and delivery of the lessons;  they should be presented and an enjoyable and somewhat amusing manner whenever possible. Since every member of the group identified as "factual" learners, it will be crucial for me to teach this group a few logical problem-solving techniques and gradually introduce them to many approaches to the same problem rather than giving them multiple solutions to a single problem. Too many problem-solving approaches that I model might deter my factual learners.

All five of the eighth graders in this small group will succeed if their individual learning styles are taken into consideration. Allowing the group to complete a student-paced assessment, like Nearpod—a digital slide lesson and assessment tool that meets the demands of my visual/verbal, global, factual, and a wide range of anxious types of learners—is one method to meet their needs. Determining what students learned each day can also be aided by evaluating their reflections or using exit slips as formative evaluations. Incorporating reflective questions into the final evaluations would allow the group to "think" about how they were thinking.          

 

 

References

Cherry, K. (2020). How surveys are used in psychology to collect data. Verywell Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-a-survey-2795787

Khowsare. (2012). Khowsare. Learning Style Study Tips. https://learningstylestudytips.com/how-to-teach-global-learners/

Nearpod. (n.d.). https://nearpod.com/login?referer=%2Flibrary%2F

 

University of Arkansas. (n.d.). Learning styles & strategies. Learning Styles & Strategies | Student Success | University of Arkansas. https://success.uark.edu/get-help/student-resources/learning-styles.php