The UK summer holidays are fast approaching.

I look back at my son’s achievements in the past year at Willowbrook Primary School and smile quietly to myself. Indeed he has had a very good year by all standards. My son has integrated well into his class environment during the past term and his ability levels have surpassed what I expected.

The majority of this is down to his teachers. Miss Williams and Miss Bokeria. Both form a great team in my honest opinion and Miss Williams has an uncanny “knack” of pushing the children that little bit further. 

At first I wondered if my son would cope. He is an intelligent child and excels in many ways. Yet he can be at times a little lazy and certainly shy at approaching certain tasks – especially in a group environment. I have noticed this over the years and put it down to his social skills needing to develop naturally and improve. 

But improve he has. My son has a great bunch of friends and has gelled well with all his classmates. He has three or four what I would consider close friends and appears to enjoy his school days. The fact he has managed to settle and adjust to a more demanding work load is partly down to the fact he integrates well with his peers and on a level that is relaxed and at times competitive.

My son loves a challenge. This is reflected in his football which he adores. An avid Spurs supporter he loves to work on his footballing skills and at times display his abilities to myself and his family. 

So what about the demands of the past year at Willowbrook School?

Miss Williams is a very competent teacher. If anything I was at first a little critical of her methods and at times demands placed upon my son. I wondered if the teacher was perhaps expecting too much too soon. But alas my fears have been eased as I have noticed that my son has adjusted to this extra pressure placed upon him. The benefit this has on his education was immense.

Miss Williams strikes me as a mixture of modern day teaching combined with the old fashioned “stricter” values. Her teaching ability when it comes to academic progress for children is second to none. There have been times when I have walked away considering whether to challenge Miss Williams on her methods. At times they appeared to over-step the role of a teacher.

But I can see why my son’s teacher does this.

It is in a way that alerts parents and children the importance of those early steps in child development. Any teacher may be concerned about a child’s lack of effort or the appearance of any child looking under nourished or lacking sleep. I myself have been guilty of my son staying awake late at night watching films at weekends or Match Of The Day. But I bit my tongue and put it down to a professional observation based purely on how late nights may undermine academic potential.

I must admit my son still stays up late at weekends but is in bed a good hour before midnight. But apart from his home environment he has been steered towards a better future by being slightly pushed that little bit further from his teacher.

In mathematics my son has excelled and his reading is excellent. His writing has certainly improved and his school report reflect this. Other subjects in his curicullum show improvement in stages of his development. His social network amongst his peers also shines.

My son’s co-teacher is Miss Bokeria. This lady appears to be a contrast to Miss Williams. But it works extremely well as both go about their day to day tasks in teaching children. Miss Bokeria appears to be the “more relaxed” when it comes to her duties. This is not to say Miss Williams is not like this, but from a parent’s observation this “team ethic” applied by both appears to suit the children and parents as much as themselves. Miss Bokeria is what I would class as the “fun element” and leaves the “academic push” to her co-teacher in Miss Williams.

Overall I am happy to see how well my son has adjusted to this extra demand. Miss Williams appears to be a great teacher when it comes to seeking out that little bit extra from a child under her teaching umbrella.

My son’s teachers are also great believers in educating parents before class starts. What I mean by that is that the methods for working out addition and subtraction have altered since my days at school. But the way in which the modern teaching methods are applied is explained at great lengths and both Miss Williams and Miss Bokeria are more than happy to show parents how this new teaching method is implemented. 

Willowbrook Primary School has achieved much in the past couple of years. I believe it is one of the top primary schools now in the county, if not the country.

On a personal note I was sceptical about Miss Williams and her methods. But I am happy to eat humble pie and will look back on my son’s past year knowing that his teachers only wanted the best from him. Plus I know they got that from him in a way which has made my son relaxed.

Therefore I tip my hat to my son’s two teachers. If there was ever a winning team with your child’s best interests at heart, then the two people who teach my son on a day to day basis this past year were certainly that.

Teaching is the most difficult task in this learned and advanced world. The people who know nothing of teaching often claims themselves as the source of knowledge. That is why the teaching has become a tough job. A successful teacher is he who is able to motivate his students and convince them that they need instructions. The teacher can transform a rough diamond into the most beautiful stone like a goldsmith. His job is to change the dry soil into a beautiful statue.dry drab and dull minds are made the coffers of feelings and knowledge by teacher. Those who are unable to express themselves with words can convey with their looks and gestures after the instructions. The educationists have worked out different methods of teaching for this purpose. By acting upon them a teacher can make his work easy and more diverse. He becomes efficient in his work and job.

The Reading Method

Michael West and Coleman are considered the builders of the reading method. They intentionally limited the aim of language teaching to the reading skills. They insist on reading and consider reading as the only skill necessary for learning the second language. They limit the goal of learning foreign or second language to reading skill.

According to their research the reading skill is the major skill that can make learning the second language easy. The reading method as its name shows stress on the reading. Different techniques and activities are employed to achieve the proficiency in the target language.

2-The Audio Visual method

The second major method of teaching is the audio visual method. This is the most effective method of teaching language. It was devised in France in 1950s.It is a way of learning which stress on visual aids and uses multimedia in the class rooms. It is intended for the adult learners especially. It is often used for teaching everyday language. It is similar to audio lingual method except the learning materials. In audio lingual method we use audio aids while in this method video learning aids are used. The filmstrips, presentations, video tapes, and now multimedia are its prerequisites. Teacher explains the visual aids by pointing, demonstrating and listening from the students. It is a gradual method which begins with the demonstration .the next stage is explanations of the materials by the teacher. The third step is the reinforcement through repetition, memorization, and practice in a language lab. The final step in this succession is the development by means of employment of language in different contexts. Listening, speaking reading and writing are taught in the natural order.

3-The Cognitive Approach of teaching

In the 1960s cognitive psychologists and applied linguists J.B. Carroll and K. Chastain promoted the cognitive approach. It is also known as cognitive code-learning theory. It was projected as a substitute to the audio lingual method that accentuated habit formation as process of language learning. It is known as the modern version of grammar translation method. The common thing between two methods is the system of learning the rules. It emphasize on studying foreign language as a system of rules and knowledge, not as a set of skills. Based on  gestalt psychology learning becomes easier especially  when one the target  language is understood and learned as part of a structure or system. It considers language creative and should be governed by certain rules.  It recommends the conscious study of language rules as fundamental to the learning of a foreign language.

 Its most important aspect is the meaningful practice. If a learner understands rules he can do this meaningful practice. The deductive approach to grammar is adopted in this teaching method. The teaching of grammar is deductive in this approach. The learner is incited to have a clear understanding of a grammatical rule before practicing language in meaningful contexts. It is quite different from audio lingual method in this context. The audio lingual method relies on drills as a means of teaching syntax, without explanation of grammatical rules.

It is not developed for any class room teaching method but is theoretical in nature. In the very own words of the proponent of the theory Carroll:

“…learning a language is a process of acquiring conscious control of the phonological, grammatical, and lexical patterns of the second language, largely through study and analysis of these patterns as a body of knowledge.” (Carroll, 1966, p. 102)

For more information on teaching methods

http://teachingofenglish.blogspot.com

If you are working with an individual, then it is wise to be aware of their style of learning and tailor their education towards that approach.  If you are working with a whole class, then it is likely that you will have a mix of students who have varied learning styles.  Therefore, it is recommended that when planning your lessons, you ensure that all three approaches are covered at some point so that the methods that you use enable the learners to reach their full potential.

Here is an overview of the different learning styles and different methods that you can use in your teaching to enable each style of learner to fully access your lessons and to enhance their learning experiences. 

Visual Learners

These learners respond well to learning through the things that they see.   They will benefit through work being presented on the board or on handouts.  For those with literacy difficulties, images are another way of presenting information in a visual way to the learner.  When using ICT, try using vide clips and animations to support their learning and to make their learning a more interesting experience.  Most lessons can be adapted to suit the visual learner.

Auditory Learner 

This type of learner responds well to information being present3ed in an auditory way.  This means that they learn from what they hear.  In most lessons, the teacher will be speaking and giving the students information.  This is ideal for auditory learner.  They will also benefit from group work with peers and information being presented using ICT devices, such as DVD’s on the whiteboard.

Kinaesthetic Learner

Basically, this type of learner learns from doing.  A practical approach is best to enhance the learning experience of these types of learner.  For example, in Science, they will learn more from conducting an experiment than from written work.  They will benefit from role plays, craft activities, group work and design.  With a bit of thoughtful preparation it is easy to incorporate this style of learning into most activities. 

In any given class there are the bright students and the not so bright ones. This is only natural, even as no two individuals are alike. There are many reasons for students to fall back on their studies and not least of all is the encouragement given at home. As teachers however, let us reflect on how we can adapt our own attitudes, so that the weak pupils do try harder in the class.

Edward De Bono, in his book “Teaching Thinking”, says: “The motivation level of the pupils is set almost entirely by the teacher. The teacher has to give status to the subject. The teacher has to adapt the material. The teacher has to create a sense of achievement in the lesson…”

Students, especially those in the weaker groups, are hungry for encouragement. The teacher’s main concern, more often than not, is to present stimulating lessons to the class as a whole. Having this main concern, he may be dropping some signals that he is not expecting any response from the weaker group. So, what happens? The weaker pupils simple withdraw, and do not produce any result.

It has been found out that, under any circumstances, people who have preconceptions will actually unconsciously create situations to prove their hypothesis correct. As a result, people not only find what they are looking for, but also cause their expectations to become fact.

This phenomena is called a “self-fulfilling prophecy” exists in the schools has been demonstrated in the classroom. Rosenthal and Jacobson tried out an experiment in 1968, in which teachers were led to believe that certain randomly chosen primary school children would “bloom” academically. As a result of this, these students actually did better than those who were not picked for this group. Why did they actually do better than those who were not picked for this group? Why did this happen?

It appears that the teachers themselves brought about this change; by the way they treated the students. Can we now apply the same kind of psychology that is used with the fast learners to the weaker pupils in our class?

Teachers often give extra assignments to the good pupils, and also point out their good habits to the class. When these pupils do well in any tests, teachers are quick to give them a pat on their backs. Perhaps, the slow learners are always failing their tests. But, surely, their marks must show some progress. If there is, let the teacher acknowledge it, and say: “Good! Keep it up.”

Even the weakest pupil in the class must have some good qualities in him (not necessarily in the academic line). Let the teacher point out these qualities in front of the class, and build up the child’s self-esteem. Let the teacher give him extra assignments!

The results might be surprising.

By Santhira Sekeran.

By the term higher education, we are talking about college education. The students of the college have to be dealt in a different fashion compared to the school students. As somebody who has taught in a college for more than thirty years, I am in a position to talk about the art of teaching the college students.

Attention span

Studies have shown that the maximum duration for which the students can listen to a lecture with complete concentration is about twenty minutes. I am talking about an exceptionally good lecture. If the lecture is very mediocre, then the students will lose interest at the very beginning itself. After about twenty minutes, the attention of the students will start wandering. So you have to think of different tactics. You can slow down so that the atmosphere is more relaxed. You can change tack and deviate from the prepared lecture and turn the class into an interactive session. At the same time, you can stick to your topic of lecture and give them interesting snippets of information which are application oriented.

Gestures

A good lecture must be expressive and should not be monotonous. Your body language must be impressive and should exude confidence. The gesturing with your hands is very important. If you give out a lecture with the pose of a statue, you can very well imagine the outcome. It is important to move about in the classroom. Movement attracts attention and the students tend to follow you and therefore, your lecture.

Voice

This is the most important part of teaching. If you have a feeble voice, it is very difficult to impress. At the same time, shouting at the top of your voice, is not going to be a big hit either. Voice modulation plays a very important part in holding the attention of the students. You can modulate your voice in such a fashion that it oscillates between the two extremes. Occasionally a few moments of absolute silence will produce better results than nonstop shouting.

Eye contact

This is a very important aspect. Eye contact with the students plays a key part in the delivering of lectures. It tells the students that you are talking to each one of them individually and you care for each one of them individually. It also helps to prevent the attention of the students from wandering away.

Is power point the best option?

Power point presentation is very popular among the teachers now-a-days. It is colorful and is audiovisual in nature. The role of the teacher is minimized. Many lecturers are merely repeating what is on the slide. There is practically no extrapolation of the facts. On the negative side, power point presentation kills creativity. This is where the good old method of ‘chalk and talk’ scores. With the chalk in your hand, you can be highly creative. Each method has its own advantages and drawbacks. One has to learn to strike a proper balance between the two methods.

Have knowledge

If you are shallow, you will be found out in no time. If you want to establish a reputation in the field of teaching, it is essential to possess knowledge. Students will be tempted to listen to you only if they are confident of your expertise.

Teaching cannot be taught. One has to learn from experience. In my own experience, I have noticed that good teachers are good from day one and the worst performers do not improve even after twenty years. Good teachers are born teachers.

I think that student should be taught the main lesson once, and then only given one page of work (not with millions of questions crammed into every corner of the page) to do. The teacher would then collect the work and mark it, and if on average everyone did well, then the teacher would give another lesson. If most of the class did well, but some didn’t, then the teacher would explain more thoroughly and give the people who didn’t do well some homework. And of course if no one in the class did well, then the teacher would do the same with the whole class as he or she would do if only a part of the class did not do so well. The class would progress much faster, and they could afford to spend time on other types of activities.

 Being overly repetitive can also do damage. If you do the same basic skills over and over, you could lead yourself to believe that you won’t like the next step up from that base. Then when you get to and interesting part, it’s already ruined for you because you anticipate that you won’t enjoy it. And when you don’t enjoy something, you tend do be worse at it. So while it may be easier to just do the same things over and over again, it’s just not the right path to choose.

One of the first casualties of this “back to the basics” business was that a lot of schools cut many of the electives they had been offering. Art classes were diminished in importance, and sometimes removed from school completely. But as time went on, educators (and others) became aware that art plays an important role in a child’s development. Fortunately, this meant that many education systems returned art classes to their curriculum, or kept the ones they had.

Art provides many things to students.

1.First of all, it can provide a time of free expression. Even in today’s educational environment which forbids their drawing gruesome events or ideas at school, (at least here in the midwest) students have an opportunity to exercise imagination and give vent to emotions that have been pent up in other studies.

2.It allows alternative exercise of the small motor skills needed for handwriting.

3.Correctly taught, it offers a milieu of cultural and historical awareness.

4.Learning the correct vocabulary for discussing art can carry over into general vocabulary for other areas of knowledge.

5.Art is inter-related with math.

6.Artistic application is necessary for many design and building trades-and more ordinary applications such as arranging a shelf display in a store or decorating a cake.

7.It can provide a means of communication and the opportunity to excel for students who are linguistically challenged-for whatever reason. (Don’t confuse this with number one.)

8.It can provide information to teachers about a child’s reading/writing readiness and/or psychological state of being.

9.It provides knowledge of how to mix paint and colors.

10.It allows practice of simple skills that may have commercial or personal application.

Art does all this and more besides. Practice with a variety of materials, maintaining the equipment, preserving the supplies while using them correctly, sharing, cooperation, kindness in criticism-all are part of an elementary art class. Faith Ringgold-artist and author of the children’s picture book, Tar Beach, says in a video interview, “Anyone who denies the children art should be brought up on charges…they are guilty of something”.

Broken pencils, bad attitudes, nibbled bits of eraser, scissored hair, painted faces not withstanding: children need art. They enjoy it, they learn from it. Moreover, they need it.

The sentences may include errors in punctuation, capitalization, and wrong verb tense. The new content may focus on verb tenses, but allowing students to make corrections on capitalization and punctuation which they already studied and enjoyed doing, will boost their confidence and let the teacher gauge how well they may already recognize verb tense usage. This is a method of activating prior knowledge which is key to helping students understand new knowledge (Slavin, 2006, p. 198). When students apply prior knowledge to a new concept it makes more sense and helps them make a connection in order to process the information. Once she has developed a base of understanding she can focus more on verb tenses. The students have made the connection that editing involves not only what they have already learned, i.e. capitalization and punctuation, but also whether the verb is in the correct tense. The teacher has successfully incorporated prior knowledge and learning into the lesson in order to solidify her lesson.

The lesson example above relates to the schema theory. “The schema theory is information that fits into an existing schema is more easily understood, learned, and retained than information that does not fit into an existing schema (Slavin, 2006, p. 191)”. In the example, the teacher has linked prior editing skills to her new lesson and shown the students that verb tense is also an integral part of the editing process. By employing their past knowledge of editing, she is using that knowledge background to further embed the information. “Learners who know a great deal about a subject have more well-developed schemata for incorporating new knowledge (Slavin, p. 191)”. Again, using the editing of sentences, which the students were already familiar with, helped them to understand that verb tense usage is also part of the editing process.

The next step is for the teacher to teach verb tenses outside of editing because in order for the students to be able to find the mistakes while editing, they need to have a good command of verb tenses. This starts the levels-of-processing which is a method of refining information so that it becomes relevant and retainable. The theory of levels-of-processing means that a person only retains the information that has been thoroughly processed (Slavin, 2006, p. 175). In the next step the teacher is now singling out how to use different verb tenses. This lesson will stand alone from editing but she should explain why knowing how to do this leads to better editing, a task they do well at and enjoy. Once the students have mastered verb tense usage, she can again give them sentences or even stories to edit to practice their new skill as well as prior editing skills. Having the students return to editing and employing their new knowledge will make the new concept more relevant. They now know that in addition to capitalization and punctuation, that verb tense usage is an editing skill. Relevance in a lesson means that the teacher has successfully linked prior knowledge to new knowledge and students understand how it all fits together (Slavin, p. 198).

When these connections are made, and the student is given the opportunity to practice and refine, neural connections are made in the brain. These connections are what keep the knowledge in long term memory for future use. The more a student practices and demonstrates a new skill them more it becomes imbedded in long-term memory due to the neural connections formed within the brain (Slavin, 2006, pgs. 171-174).

Incorporating student interests in all lessons may seem like a daunting task as it can be hard to cater to twenty-five or more different tastes, but there are other ways a teacher can arouse interest. For example, some students may not like math no matter to what it is applied. However, those students may prefer to learn hand-ons, so incorporating more activities that require students to physically move in order to learn math concepts will appeal to the interests of those students. Interest does not have to mean the topic is always geared towards what students like personally. Interest could apply to how a student learns. If the topic is more abstract then incorporating activities of various forms will assist in reaching more students in addition to catering to their interests. By mixing up the learning activities, the teacher is also having the students repeat their learning which further embeds the information. Finding creative ways to present topics through learning activities should be a top priority in every lesson. The more appealing the activity the more chance the students have for learning, processing, and retaining the new information.

These factors are important considerations when creating lesson plans. Teachers that do not consider how students learn and ways to activate learning will become ineffective teachers. Presenting new concepts is more than standing in front of the class lecturing or handing out worksheets. Teachers must have an in-depth understanding of how students learn, how to keep them interested, how to teach them to retain information, and how to allow them to use prior knowledge as a stepping stone for new concepts.

Learning-styles is the idea that people, in this case children, learn differently (LdPride, 1998). There are three classes of learning-styles: visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. A learning-style test is administered to determine an individual learning-style. The most widely used test was developed by the Oklahoma Institute of Learning Styles by Dr. Sue Ellen Read and Dr. Rita Dunn (Oklahoma Institute for Learning Styles [OILS], 2002, 2006). Other learning-styles tests can be found on the Internet and can also provide good results. Although it may be difficult to determine and work with every single student in a large classroom setting, this test offers insight on how a teacher can best reach the class to deliver and receive the desired results: higher retention, better academic scores, and improve enthusiasm from the students.

The first class is the visual learners who need to “see” a lesson in order to absorb and comprehend. They prefer to have pictures to accompany words, they prefer written instruction versus oral instruction, they enjoy organizing and decorating their work areas, and they retain information best when “delivered through maps, charts, diagrams” (Berghuis, 2001-05), or other images.

For the visual learner there are several ways they can adjust learning to benefit their learning-style. Most importantly the individual visual learner needs to “observe the teacher’s body language and facial expressions” (LdPride, 1998) they need to sit closer to the front of the room to gain an unconstructive view, they rely on maps, graphs, pictures, and will take copious notes (Berghuis, 2001-05). These learners do better when they can highlight and make marginal notes in their texts (Berghuis, 2001-05). They should also preview a text’s chapter by scanning over graphs, maps, pictures or other visual stimulants to give them an understanding of the material being presented. Visual learners tend to think in pictures when recalling information (LdPride, 1998) so all of these visual cues work together to help provide the overall lesson.

Teaching to visual learners allow for a variety of teaching methods, most of which are appealing to all three learning-styles. Creating posters and collages to demonstrate historical events, simulating popular game shows to review information, creating multidimensional displays, displaying information through slide shows, and accessing the Internet are all ways to engage the visual learner.

The next class is the auditory learners who need to receive instruction through listening and other verbal cues. These students should use tape recorders for longer lectures, use flashcards and review orally, and read text assignments out loud. They will also do better when studying aloud with another person.

For teaching methods in the classroom, these students will thrive in discussion groups, teach back groups, and will take their audio cues by the subtle nuances of the voice delivering the lecture (LdPride, 1998). The teacher should use variations in her voice and oral expressions to relay information and avoid using a monotone and no expression. These learners comprehend better when they also repeat information out loud (Berghuis, 2001-05). This could include teach back sessions, oral reading, or small group discussions. They also do well when given the chance to do oral presentations (Berghuis, 2001-05).

The last class is the kinesthetic learners. This group learns best when actively involved through such means as moving, doing, and using manipulatives to learn the topic (LdPride, 1998). This group learns by doing and may become easily distracted when forced to sit for long periods of time (LdPride, 1998). These students should try playing soft background music while studying. They should take frequent short breaks to help them concentrate and keep their interest peaked (Berghuis, 2001-05). When learning new ideas it is best for them to be shown how to do something and then have them do it to reinforce the lesson.

Classroom ideas for the kinesthetic learners include hands-on activities such as crafts, cut outs, demonstrations, charades, dance, playacting, and experiments. Once again, these types of activities can also appeal to the visual and auditory learners, but assist the kinesthetic learner the most. These activities feed their need to stay active and get them focused on task.

Various methods of teaching are used to communicate topics for different learning-styles. A successful teacher will incorporate several methods throughout a topic unit. This will ensure that she is meeting the needs of all her students especially when she is dealing with a large class size. Over the course of the year she will be able to understand which types of teaching methods work best for her students and will be able to incorporate them seamlessly into her lesson plans. She might also have the luxury of being able to create interest groups that cater to the different learning-styles in order to teach the same material. For example, the visual group could create movie style posters to illustrate different events in a lesson. The auditory group could create advertisements to go along with the posters and the kinesthetic group could act out the poster scene while the auditory group narrates.

When different teaching methods appeal to the student three things happen: better retention of material, higher academic scores, and a renewed enthusiasm for learning. Students respond better when they feel more included and when they feel they are having fun. Creating lesson plans that meet learning-style needs makes the students feel like the teacher has taken time to understand how to reach them and in the process made the activities enjoyable. Soon that teacher’s class becomes the favorite and that teacher becomes the one every student wants to have. Since students are actually doing activities that are enjoyable, they start to connect those activities to recalling information. For example: the students that created the posters remember the dates of events because they chose a wild looking font to use in the word processing software. The students that created and delivered the advertisements remember the facts by recalling the words they spoke. Lastly, the students that playacted the scenes, remember the events because of actions they did to convey the scenes. All of these aid in retention of knowledge and in turn boost the academic scores.

Determining learning-styles and developing interesting teaching methods is a great way to reach student at any level. So many of these students find some subjects very dry, boring, and do not understand the connection to modern times. A current middle school Civics student (personal communication, S. Jacobs, May 27, 2006) tells how she “hates my Civics class. The teacher is so boring and he makes me want to fall asleep”. She relates how he stands at the front of the class and drones on about the day’s lesson. She is given the standard reading assignment homework along with the textbook questions. It is now close to the end of the school year and she states she did not have to do any reports, rarely watched movies associated with the lessons, or did any kind of activity that required the class to move about the classroom. It was the same textbook homework assignment every Monday and Thursday with a test on Friday. This is verified by her mother (personal communication, T. Jacobs, May 29, 2006) who is not pleased with her daughter’s very low and barely passing grade. When asked about the Social Science class the year before, she gushes about that year’s American History teacher. The class went on a field trip, they acted out the Boston Tea Party, they watched lots of movies, and the reports they did were varied, short, and “lots of fun.” Her eyes shone with enthusiasm that was missing when she talked about her Civics class. Her grade in this class? A solid B+ all year. This is an obvious example of how creating various lesson plans helps keep students involved and intrigued.

A survey was given to teachers at local Stafford County, Virginia schools the week of June 5, 2006. The survey asked them their opinion of teaching methods based on learning-styles and how they incorporate them into their lesson plans. One teacher commented that learning-styles was not a new idea only a fancy name given to what good teachers have been doing for years. This may be the case, but not all teachers choose to use teaching methods based on learning-styles. Some may not understand the concept, some may not understand the all-encompassing results, or sadly, some may not care to go the extra mile to help students exceed.

The survey from this particular school found that the teachers were familiar with learning-styles and made an effort to determine individual learning-styles but would usually incorporate several teaching methods in order to include all the learning-styles of the students. They did have some difficulties when trying to determine individual learning-styles. These included finding class time to devote to testing, disruptive students, students with special needs, and overly large class size. On the whole, the teachers did find lessons more rewarding when various teaching methods were used to for lessons.

The most common teaching methods used in these classrooms are manipulatives, hands-on activities, games, and bringing the lesson to life through playacting. The teachers all reported improved retention in knowledge which was reflected in higher academic scores. This was very important to them because their state standardized test scores also reflected positive results. Most agreed that when they found a formula for reaching the students they rarely varied from it unless they could see the results were not up to par with past classes.

Another reason for bringing teaching methods based on learning-styles into the classroom is to make the topics more personal. For example, in a history class it helps to show them how past events relate to current events. “In addition to providing lessons about history…curriculum about a historical atrocity, such as the Holocaust, would speak to the value of human life” (Farkas, 2003). Getting the students physically involved with learning about a topic such as the Holocaust can bring the rawness and the horror of the events to life and let them feel the lessons as well as understand why this should not happen in their lifetime. These teaching methods will bring history alive and engage the students so that they look forward to the next lesson.

Establishing the learning-styles of students and using various teaching methods in the classroom will enhance the student’s educational experience. The students retain more information because they are more involved with the lesson and this results in higher academic scores. Current teachers agree that taking the time to understand what methods work best to reach their students is a win-win situation. Learning-styles and the associated teaching methods will prove to be the shining star in educational development within the classroom.