Auditory Learners

“It is important that you are able to accept the areas you have strengths and those where you have weaknesses” (citation 1) Even more so, it is important for educators to leverage students’ strengths in their classroom. There are three main ways that a person can learn, some through a combination of multiple. There are auditory learners, there are visual learners, and lastly there are kinesthetic learners. An auditory learner is one who “has a preference for the transfer of information through listening: to the spoken word, of self or others, of sounds and noises. These people will use phrases such as ‘tell me’…” (citation 2). A visual learner is one who “has a preference for seen or observed things… These people will use phrases such as ‘show
Well firstly, I decided to focus the first month of school, to getting students adjusted to my classroom routines. I noticed that when students knew what to expect, I was able to spend less time on classroom management and more time on instruction. Each day, students would walk in, and on the SmartBoard, I would have the Bell Ringer up and a countdown displayed on the same slide. Most of my Bell Ringers, incorporated some sort of image that would connect to that day’s lesson (for an example, if the focus was on characterizing Lady Macbeth, I would have an image of how Lady Macbeth has been depicted in the media). I would also have up on the board, the Agenda and Aim for that day. This way students would know that after sharing out their Bell Ringer (whether it be in pairs, groups of three, or as a class), they would then engage in whatever activity was listed. Lastly, every lesson ended with an Exit Slip, which students knew would be answering the Aim in RATES format [restate question into topic sentence, answer the question, provide textual evidence (with proper citation), expand on the textual evidence, sum up the paragraph]. By the end of the month, classroom management was no longer an issue, because of the routines I had
I also believe that the more a teacher attempts to make the lesson assessable for all students, the less likely they are to experience disengagement and behavioral issues. With that being said, I would like to comment on one lasting thought. Education has shift to student centered learning and prioritizing college by including 21st century skills and college readiness into the curriculum. Teachers are expected to scaffold their lessons and ensure that they are addressing the learning needs of all students, and as a result, it is becoming evident that such practices are increasing students’ thinking on a deeper level. However, if teachers are expected to make these changes in the classroom, why do we continue to assess children through the “Worst test type: Reading passages and writing answers about them in a timed test” (citation 4). Not to mention, we expect our students to be college ready, however, most classes in college are structured as lectures (at least until you get to upper level classes, or graduate school). I sometimes worry that teachers are expected to do all these things to bedazzle their lessons, but in doing so, they aren’t preparing their students for the harsh reality of how