Learning Styles Special Ed Standard Reflective Paper Essay

Learning Styles

Special Ed Standard

Reflective paper on student differences and learning style approaches

This paper provides a brief overview of different learning styles and the types of accommodations teachers can make in the classroom

Learning styles: An overview

"Students learn in many ways -- by seeing and hearing; reflecting and acting; reasoning logically and intuitively; memorizing and visualizing and drawing analogies and building mathematical models; steadily and in fits and starts. Teaching methods also vary. Some instructors lecture, others demonstrate or discuss; some focus on principles and others on applications; some emphasize memory and others understanding" (Felder 1988: 674). The idea of using multiple approaches to teaching the same material has become more and more popular as teachers are cognizant of the different learning styles students manifest. Some auditory learners may learn best through listening; students who are visual learners may learn best if the teacher uses graphs and other pictorial methods of instruction; physical learners are likely learn best in a hands-on fashion. In most instances, no student perfectly embodies one style, but rather is stronger in certain types of intelligence than others.

One of the criticisms of the modern school curriculum, particularly with its emphasis on standardized testing of 'the basics' is that it gives insufficient attention to other forms of intelligence, outside of verbal and mathematical abilities. Music, physical activity, and art, are some of the other aspects of learning often overlooked. Teachers must strike a balance between catering to student needs and moving students out of their comfort zone. Many visual learners might want to do art all day and auditory learners might be content to listen to music. Even verbal and mathematical learners, whose gifts are more likely to be honored by the structure of the conventional school day, can benefit from physical…