“Hold on to your seat belts- It’s going to be a bumpy ride!” Learning Styles and 7-1 Students

When I originally conceived of the lesson on Multiple Learning styles and how they filter into the lives of 7-1 students, I confess that my original idea was to hold a brief talk for a day and progress from there. Yet, as I began to delve into the notion of making this a meaningful experience for students and started the process of analyzing the story I wanted to tell, it evolved into a life of its own. The organic growth and evolution of a singular item into so much of educational consciousness became something that I tried to contain, but could not stop. From distilling the four learning styles, I drove deep into the heart of models of learning, patterns of brain recognition, and determining how students can be empowered, I felt that this became too important a lesson to “gloss over.” When the opening starts with, “To ‘crack the code’ of how students learn becomes the essence of teaching and the root of all power,” it becomes evident that this lesson is larger than a mere explanation. I redid a pair of syllabi, changed a timeline on a writing task, added a quiz, and am ready for what will come out of it. This lesson might be one of those lessons where its ideas prove relevancy outside of the classroom and to all domains of learning and interpersonal dependence. I believe in a great deal of what I do, but I feel passionately about this particular lesson.

It is at this point where students should be rightly scared. I know I would be.
We start the lesson on Monday. Students will receive the scores from their exam at that time as well as the Chapter 5 Writing Extensions. Both can be revised, with the former being able to be revised during Tuesday and Wednesday lunch and the latter at any time until October 31. Students will receive updated progress reports on Tuesday, but all grades can be accessed online. We will be engaging in lecture driven instruction on Monday and Tuesday, and then profiling students based on their learning patterns on Wednesday. We will continue this process by profiling teachers on Thursday and Monday of next week. Students should expect a quiz on this material next week, and the unveiling of the Chapter 5 Writing Extensions to follow by mid next week.
I will be the first to claim that it is a time investment to sacrifice a week of instruction on a concept that is not directly linked to American History. However, I believe that our students are ready to receive a lesson that can serve as a snapshot of where they are at this moment in time and perhaps foreshadow where they will be in the future. I sense that this lesson will have meaning for several reasons. The first would be that a greater sense of understanding will result if students can identify their dominant and secondary learning style. Instead of saying, “I didn’t get it” or “Yeah, I got it,” there might be a stronger and more relevant discussion if they can explain why based on personal learning styles. Additionally, affording the opportunities to articulate why some find greater levels of success than others might help to bring a healthier notion of learning to our students. Too often I have heard students acquiesce to defeat and bluntly say, “I am not good at school.” While I have admired the honesty, this lesson on learning styles might offer some refutation to such a cynical claim. If students can understand where success might lie and where challenges might be present, they can appropriate a domain that seemed unreachable. I believe that we sense a greater level of meaningful and differentiated instruction for all if we can teach the idea that every learner possesses dominant as well as an equally compelling inferior learning style. The challenge placed upon the broad shoulders of all students is to not be afraid of their auxiliary or inferior learning style, but rather take ownership of it. This lesson might tear the mask of student ineffectiveness by giving them a vocabulary to articulate where their strengths and areas of improvement lie. In doing this, our students become stronger, taking one more step on the path of scholarship. They also become tougher and, in doing so, represent the spirit of the “Jayhawk”- a creature that binds and connects and compels us all to “master success.” Finally, I think a greater level of knowledge will unveil itself to students when they are able to take the lesson taught and apply it to their teachers. I plan on explaining to students the same learning styles that govern their understanding also govern their teachers, as well. To understand the learning styles that lie in their hearts and minds will give students power. Yet, to grasp the learning styles that lie in the hearts and minds of their teachers will give students access and control of their own academic destinies.
Yes, students should be mindful of this week. In the attempt to make something difficult a bit more approachable, I have uploaded the lecture notes to this lecture on this blog under, “Recent PowerPoint Lessons.” The file name is "Learning Styles 2008." It might help students to have a copy of the lecture notes so as to assist them.
I look forward to seeing many of our stakeholders this week during conferences. I also look forward to hearing about how your children, our emerging scholars, begin the process of better understanding themselves and the world that not only surrounds them but awaits their arrival.

Happy Hunting all you feelers and thinkers!
All best.
Mr. Kannan