Monthly Archives: April 2022

Just Say No To Learning Styles

Posted by Jan Kragen on April 26, 2022
Education | learning styles, personalized education

According to a survey in 2017, 93% of the public and 76% of educators believe in the theory of learning styles. It’s a pervasive idea. It’s appealing. It’s obvious.

Even though it’s wrong.

As its essence, the idea behind learning styles instruction is:

children who are visual learners learn best with visual instruction
children who are auditory learners learn best with auditory instruction
children who are kinesthetic learners learn best with kinesthetic instruction

However, experiments don’t bear this premise out. “If classification of students’ learning styles has practical utility, it remains to be demonstrated.”

Dr. Dylan Wiliam from the Institute of Education, University College London, argues that the whole premise of learning-styles research—that the purpose of instructional design is to make learning easy—may be incorrect. “If students do not have to work hard to make sense of what they are learning, then they are less likely to remember it in six weeks’ time.”

In other words, the learning styles movement wanted to make learning easy. But people learn best when learning is more challenging.

Especially if it’s more interesting.

Not only that, but teachers and students may have very different ideas of what each child’s “learning styles” are.

In a study published in Frontiers in Education, researchers interviewed nearly 200 fifth and sixth grade students, asking them to choose their preferred learning style (visual, auditory, or kinesthetic). Then their teachers were asked to identify each student’s preferred learning styles.

There was no significant correlation between the teachers’ judgements and the students’ own assessments. Clearly, the styles aren’t as obvious as some might expect!

If you, as a teacher, are a strong verbal or auditory learner, you should learn to incorporate extra kinesthetic activities like “vote with your feet.” However, you aren’t doing the activities to make your kinesthetic learners suddenly become better students. You are adding the activities to make your classroom experience richer for everyone. In the same way, you ought to incorporate extra visuals into your instruction: art, maps, charts, graphs, cartoons.

In my classroom, everyone learns to take 2- and 3-column notes (the third column giving space for questions or doodles). I also show everyone how to take notes in a more visually interesting way. In the end, students will choose the way that suits them best.

Pages: 1 2

Constructing Equitable Schools: One Block at a Time

Posted by Emma-Kate Schaake on April 25, 2022
Equity, High School, Life in the Classroom, Teacher Leadership | equity, equity team, teacher leadership

Legos for Big Kids

A few weeks ago in one of my classes, I used Lego blocks in a small group discussion. Each student was given a different color and they added to other blocks when they contributed to the discussion, asked a question, or started a new thread.

My goal was to have every student participate and the legos as a visualization tool was meant to help them see their own contributions and monitor the flow of discussion within the group.

I brought this up in an equity team meeting when we were planning our next staff training and the idea stuck. Though, it manifested in a more metaphorical sense for our district wide equity work.

Constructing Knowledge

As with most schools around the state, and around the country, our building staff approaches the idea of “equity work” from very different perspectives. Some see it as essential to every part of teaching and learning while others are skeptical of equity practices. Some believe they are already meeting expectations, while others view the concepts as indoctrination or reverse racism.

With that broad spectrum of thought, it’s a little daunting to plan a full staff equity training that everyone can find meaningfully learn from.

Let’s dig into the lego metaphor.

As someone who is seen as “all in” on equity work, I think, sometimes, people think my beliefs, learning, and practices look a little something like this:

Yellow could represent the podcasts and news sources I consume. Green might be how I vote. Blue could be the teacher leadership equity framework class I completed. Purple can stand for the shelf of antiracist and social history books I have read (and re-read) and red might show my work with student leaders.

Some may view my very linear lego tower as the only way to “do equity” and if so, then it’s not for them.

But really, there are many ways to learn and construct knowledge. As educators, we know this. No two class periods are alike, even at the same grade level, with the same content. I am constantly revamping my curriculum because this years’ students need something different than previous years.

We might all be given similar “blocks” of information, but we are going to make very different constructions, based on myriad factors like our perspectives, backgrounds, values, and experiences.

They might consume very different or much more news than I do, so their yellow news block might actually be orange, or three times the size. Maybe they are the duck in the middle.

Similarly, the tower with pink is different from mine, as that brain is probably bringing in entirely different experiences to their learning. I am a white, cis, straight woman, so my identity narrows and limits my lens.

My lego blocks create a tower that is incomplete, and just represents one way of learning and growing as an equitable educator.

Widening Our Perspectives

Often, our staff cites feeling frustrated that equity work isn’t going anywhere; “We’ve been talking about this for years.” They might be expecting a linear tower that leads somewhere like steps on a staircase. But, while we are always building on prior knowledge, this work is far from linear.

Similarly, staff want concrete action steps to feel fulfilled and successful. They might take in the information in our training, but want action steps; “Okay, so what do I do about that?” Teachers are used to problems with solutions; lesson plans with measurable outcomes.

But, the reality is, box checking equity or “checkquity” work isn’t lasting, effective, or substantial.

Staff disengage when they feel like they don’t have a seat at the table, just like our students do. So our hope with introducing this lego idea is that our staff would widen their perspectives and –to add yet another metaphor here– pull up a chair.

We want them to give themselves the grace for not having a full tower, or even a tower at all. Making a square, a triangle, or even a duck is a valid form of engagement and learning.

There’s no one right way to do equity work. As long as we’re doing it.

All I Ever Needed to Learn about Teaching I Learned…in the Barn?

Posted by Lynne Olmos on April 20, 2022
Education, High School, Life in the Classroom, Middle School, Professional Development, Teacher Leadership, Uncategorized | engagement, SEL

This blog is about the intersection of my teaching life and my relationship with horses. Not a horse person? No problem. You might have another passion – cats, science fiction, woodwork… It hardly matters. The reality is that analogies are powerful pathways to learning. When we make connections, we gain insight.

Horsemanship strategies have had a bigger impact on my teaching style than any professional development, administrator, or mentor. Most of the lessons I have learned from my four-legged friends would be labeled social/emotional learning, but they also touch on trauma-informed teaching, restorative practices, and student engagement.

Here are just a few truths I have learned from those big beasts:

Fear is not an effective tool for training or discipline.

Adult humans often assume that their status as the elder and more powerful in a relationship affords them the right to insist on hard work and good behavior. Honestly, some students (and horses) are conditioned to respond to this behavior, doing whatever the boss says and trying hard to please. On the other hand, many sensitive creatures do not operate well under these conditions. Just because you have the power does not mean you can force or threaten a kid (or a horse) to do your bidding. They may do it, but it will not be their best work, and it will not be for the best reason. If you want to truly inspire a great performance, you need a trusting relationship.

Building trust takes time.

With any creature, you cannot ask too much too soon. With a horse, you need to take time to prove that you mean no harm. You have to let the animal adjust to your presence, and you have to earn their trust through consistency and fair treatment. This is so true of students, too. Push them too hard before you have earned their trust, and you might break that trust forever. You cannot demand hard work or ask them to take risks if they don’t really know or trust you. Time. You have to invest time in your students to see the best results.

A good leader does not have to be a bully to earn respect.

Once trust is achieved, you can work on building respect for your leadership in the classroom. This is similar to working with horses. They are big and can be dangerous, so it is important that they respect and honor the space of their human leader. It is similar with kids. If they trust you, and you establish firm and fair boundaries, true respect can be earned. They will be happy to do as you ask, without any dramatic effort on your part. With horses, this is all about body language, how you move, where you stand. They are creatures who communicate in silence quite effectively. With students, physical cues are also important, but we humans mainly use words to establish boundaries and build trust. One thing you never do with a horse is block its avenue of escape when it is stressed. This is also wise with students; always give them agency and voice, and you will earn their respect.

You have to give clear cues to get good results.

When you are riding a horse and you ask it to move a particular direction, there is a specific cue for that movement. If you are inconsistent in how you ask, the response will also be inconsistent. The creature is trying to understand your language, but how can it make the correct response if you keep changing the request? Imagine how frustrating it is for any learner when the rules keep changing, or when the instructions are unclear. The only cure in these instances is clear and consistent instruction. If you want students to succeed, they need clarity, consistency and repetition, along with support they can turn to as needed.

“Drive” and “draw” are the keys to engagement.

Recently, I have dabbled in “liberty” training, where the horse is free to interact with you, no equipment, just you on the ground giving cues and trying to get the horse to respond to them. It is very challenging. You have to have a way to send or drive the horse away from you, and then an even more powerful method of “drawing” it back to you. A strong drive is putting them to work and a strong draw is getting their undivided attention. Done right, it looks like magic. In reality, it is the product of good horse and human relationships, clear cues, and rewards for good responses. I see the application to the classroom here, too. I want drive. I want kids to work hard, take risks, and struggle when I ask it of them. I want them to respect my requests and take me seriously. Beyond that, I also want draw. I want them to join up and listen when asked. I want them to be curious about what we are doing next. I want them to be looking for the benefits of our interactions.

Horses are wise teachers and they have taught me to listen carefully, and not just to words. They have taught me to be respectful to earn respect, and to leave a little wiggle room to relieve anxiety. They have humbled me and helped me to understand that I am more powerful in my connections when I am thoughtful, intentional, and kind.

You may not have the privilege of learning these lessons from big beasts like mine, but you get the idea. We become wiser when we are open to the lessons around us. What we learn from our experiences, we can bring to our classrooms to be just a bit better for the students we teach.

I am interested in the philosophies and influences that other educators bring to their work. Where did you learn “everything you needed to know”? Do you have some analogies to share? Leave some ideas in the comments and we can learn from each other.

Meanwhile, here are some related readings for you.

What Teachers Could Learn from Animal Trainers

8 Lessons Horses (Yes, Horses) Can Teach You About Business

Horses Teach Us Life Lessons (Learning Emotional Intelligence with horses)

Equine Assisted Learning: Skills Development through Experiential Learning

Stories From School

Practice Meets Policy