Blog Three: Learning Styles

After taking the learning styles quizzes, I wasn't really surprised to find out that I am a visual and auditory learner. I'm including both because there was only a few percentages between them when it listed my top learning styles. I have always excelled in history classes, which are usually lecture based and best for auditory learners. One of the descriptions from the quizzes definitely did not fit me though. It was describing an auditory learner as one who would more likely remember a name rather than a face. This is the opposite for me. When I meet a person, I rarely remember their name, but always remember their face. My strength in visual learning was also not surprising. If I read something from the book, and go back later to do some kind of activity with the material, I can always remember the location on the page and what the page looked like. This sometimes also works when I take tests over maps and capitals. I have found that filling out a blank map over and over helps me memorize and retain the material. When I was younger I used a similar method to learn my spelling words. I would write the words over and over on a piece of paper until I could spell them correctly. For my learning styles activity, I am in the process of creating a puzzle of the U.S. If I did this activity in a real classroom I would create an outline of the U.S. and then section each state out of the outline. I would then color code each region (Midwest, East, West, ext.) and then have states on the front, and capitals on the back. Since I am only creating this as a demonstration I will choose one region to work with: the Midwest. So, I will draw the Midwest and label each state. Then I will turn the state outlines into flashcards. Finally, as a way for students to check their answers instantly, the states will be color coded on the back by region. This is pretty similar to the task cards we created. The flash card component and color coding will help visual learners. Kinesthetic learners will benefit from being able to touch the each piece and fit them together like a giant puzzle. Auditory learners can say each word and state out loud as they go through their "notecards". This is a fairly simple activity and reaches out kids with many different learning styles.