Warning: Your Losing Students, Advice for Teachers by Graham

Warning: Your Losing Students, Advice for Teachers by Graham - January 2015 Scholarship Essay

Across America lie many different forms of K – 12 education, which include public, private, home, and charter. Each teacher has his or her own unique teaching style used when instructing students, however, some students feel like they struggle during class because of lack of understanding or an inability to keep up with the instruction. A possible reason behind the struggling could be the type of teaching style that is presented to them. Many teachers are taught to use a single mode of distributing educational instruction involving learning styles that are singular in nature and have become accustomed to use that method when teaching. These styles include visually oriented learning, hands-on learning, or auditory learning. My advice for those teachers is to be flexible in their teaching methods and to adapt to each individuals needs and learning styles also known as differentiated instruction. Do not be afraid to explore different methods of teaching and break away from the views of teaching that they acquired from their time in school.

In today’s society, many students are more equipped to learn from multiple combinations of learning styles. For example, I am diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome and my level of learning is at its pinnacle when I can be able to see and hear the information. This shows that I am an auditory and visual learner, that I learn better when I can see and listen to the teachings. However, there were times when I tried to learn something, but could not quite understand how to accomplish the assignment. I can recall a moment in my algebra two class when I was given an assignment that was a group effort task that could help explain quadratics. I struggled with this because I was not a hands-on learner so I needed to ask for some additional instruction to help guide me through the process. Discovering that I was not a hands-on learner, my teacher helped me through the steps. She wrote down on the paper what was to be carried out and explained how this is done with different visual representations. I was able to perform the task with the rest of my group and earn a decent grade for the assignment. This was accomplished by a teacher’s ability to identify a problem with the communication between teacher and student, and the ability to conform and adjust to a student’s style of learning so that the information can be used.

Over time, I have noticed that there has been an improvement in education in my school by teachers adapting the needs and learning styles of the students. With each year that progresses, more students are arriving with their unique way of learning. Teachers need to be flexible when instructing the class and should be able to incorporate the various learning styles into one so that each student can learn without the worry of falling behind or being unable to learn the material.