Adapting for Different Student Learning Styles in the Classroom

In a society with the No Child Left Behind Initiative (NCLB), teachers are required to teach many different learners, with many different styles and with many different abilities all in the same classroom. Due to this initiative, teachers are expected to adapt and overcome the abilities, while at the same time maintaining balance. Teachers are expected to juggle the never ending list of national, state and local standards and still incorporating their own goals, objectives and expectations. Choosing lessons that will be able to incorporate all the different learners, styles and abilities while still teaching the standards that are required, can prove extremely difficult for even the most seasoned of educators.

Instructional Levels

In the typical classroom, the students are usually of the same age group, or so one would hope. Even though we look at the same average age per grade level, we have to also take into account the varied levels of the student's instructional ability. The varied styles and abilities of students can lead to the difficult task of writing lesson plans that would benefit all of them. The district, state and national standards are set and are unwavering in the material that needs to be taught, but free (to an extent) in the manner in which it is taught. Therefore, the teacher can present the material in several methods that can encompass all styles and learners.

For instance, if we use the Virginia Social Studies SOL VS.2b: The student will demonstrate knowledge of the geography and early inhabitants of Virginia by locating and describing Virginia's Coastal Plain (Tidewater), Piedmont, Blue Ridge Mountains, Valley and Ridge, and Appalachian Plateau. The teacher must begin the unit by introducing the five (5) regions of Virginia. The ideal method of introduction would be discussing and addressing the regions verbally for the auditory learners, the use of colored overheads for the visual learners are used for reference during the discussion and a blank copy of the overhead is distributed to the students for them to color in and write notes and important facts throughout the discussion, thus benefiting the kinesthetic learners. An added bonus would be the use of a foldable to reinforce the information on the various regions.

Developmental Levels

No child grows at the same rate and no child learns at the same pace, but one thing for sure is that the curriculums never change. That means that teachers have to learn to overcome, adapt and most of all adjust the material that the students are required, mandated, to master. What comes easily for one student may not be as easy for the next, but another may not be able to grasp at all. This holds true for the educational and social aspects of a student's life.

Some students are just better able to understand the process that it takes to accomplish certain tasks, in or out of the classroom. For instance, a book report can be given with optional methods of completion. One student may feel comfortable and at ease with a written report while another may feel that a poster may be their best method to convey their thoughts and opinions. The student that chooses the written report has a higher level of confidence, perhaps due to positive past writing experience, that makes it easier to express them self in this more detailed manner of communication. However, students who have in the past not had good experiences with writing may look up this type of assignment begrudgingly and resent being forced to write. Giving those with students another option, allowing them to feel they have a choice in their presentation, will give them the confidence that they need to complete the assignment and take pride in what they did.

Disabilities

With the growing population of inclusion students in mainstream classrooms, curriculums are truly twisted and manipulated in a variety of ways that every student is able to understand and learn the materials that are being presented. This includes changing and adapting them to accommodate all of our students that have different and varying degrees of disabilities as well. Teachers today are provided with a variety of resources and tools to assist them in aiding and guiding students through their lessons. Classroom teachers need to maintain an open level of communication with the special education department because they are the best resource for information and support for a mainstream teacher.

In some cases, the students that are being mainstreamed in an inclusion classroom are provided with an aide or assistant that accompanies them to their classes. The assistant and is there to not only assist the student that is in need of their services, but to assist the teacher in the direct instruction of the lessons and assignments. This proves beneficial to both the student and the teacher in that the student is provided the one-on-one attention that they need to ensure that they are getting the information and comprehending the material, while the teacher is not in the position of focusing their attention primarily on one student, but is able to spread their time among the entire class.

Reading Level

All students read at the same pace and with the same abilities, right? Wrong. STAR testing from Renaissance Learning used for diagnostics, which is just one of many reading tests available to schools, show that students are not on the same level of reading, many are not even on grade level for their reading abilities. This proves to be yet another factor that teachers need to take into account for when they create their lessons and activities, many times proving to be a rather difficult task. How can a teacher balance a reading activity that can accommodate all the readers in a classroom, on a level where none feel inadequate and none are bored at the same time? It appears to be impossible and sometimes it just is, but adjust and overcome and it can be managed.

It is best to begin a lesson on grade level and then develop from there. Starting off with higher level reading activities may be too much for some students and using a lower level can cause boredom and restlessness in others contributing to behavior problems within the classroom. The best answer on how to tackle this difficult subject is through the use of cooperative level groups. Here, based on the overall groups reading abilities, the students will be able to have reading selections, outside of the required material, for them to use as additional reading support that is tuned in for their levels and abilities. This can allow the teacher the opportunities to work with a leveled group together and be more available to the students that require additional support. Since the higher groups will usually require less focus, it can be hoped that they will be able to work on a higher, more independent level that requires less intervention from the teacher when it comes to outside reading. Yet, these higher groups can a valuable resource for the teacher as well. These students can be partnered up with medium to lower leveled readers as a guide to assist in focusing on the reading and comprehension aspects of various lessons. This can also lend a hand in subjects other than just language arts. Another valuable tool that some schools have adopted into their motivational system for reading progression is the Accelerated Reader Program. This is a highly motivational program that allows students of all levels to read books within their determined levels, take a short quiz, and earn points to earn prizes, but most of all, a sense of pride and accomplishment.

Curricular Goals

With the current national education plan of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), most states have adopted a mandatory, and sometimes rigorous, educational plan that requires certain standards of learning. One rung down on that ladder are the states that have added their goals to those standards and some objectives that will accommodate the necessary information for their individual states, Social Studies is one subject for instance where that occurs. Those amended state requirements are then passed down another rung in the ladder to the cities. Once again, the cities will sometimes add to those standards, goals and objectives. When it is all said and done, sometimes skills and goals are spelled out for the teachers in such way that they have little to no wiggle room on what, or even how, the necessary skills are taught and what is used to teach them, but sometimes there is that freedom.

A teacher knows their class better than anyone else. They know the strengths and weaknesses, the highs and the lows, and most of all, what makes them learn. Using Social Studies again as an example, students, nationally, are expected to learn about the settlers and the settlement of Jamestown. In Virginia, the focus is stronger on the settlers and the settlement itself because Jamestown is in Virginia. In the Hampton City Schools district, the emphasis is even stronger yet since we are, well 20 minutes away from, the original Jamestown settlement. In Hampton City Schools we have a higher concentrated focus on the settlement than a school district in Texas or Oregon, because here is an important piece of our local heritage.

They say that it is not easy in these times to be a teacher. They are right. There are so many things that make it a difficult profession to be in, but it can prove rewarding as well. The teacher is the one that ultimately knows just what catches their student's interest, where their abilities lie; therefore the teacher is the one that ultimately has to make the final decision on how to make sure that the required information gets to the students.