Auditory Learners

As we explore our children's thinking process, it's important to know that your child may not fit snugly into one style. I know that might be disappointing. It seems so much easier if we can just categorize them and then deal with them in one easy step :). Oh, if life could be that easy! My husband fits into two categories equally after testing, so it may be that he has always been that way OR that as he matured, he was able to learn another process of learning and now he pulls equally from both.

I understand there is controversy on learning styles. Some believe there are multiple learning styles. Some believe that there is no such thing. For me, these three learning styles make sense to me. They seem to bear out in my experiences. Please don't end your research with my posts. There is a wealth of knowledge out there that can assist you in your journey of discovering and teaching to your child's learning style. Please go after all that you can.

Let's identify the AUDITORY learner. If your child is auditory, you may notice the following characteristics.

• Has a strong memory and able to memorize songs/poems/scripture/commercials etc. with ease.
• Will sit where they can hear, but not necessarily needing to see the front
• Loves to sing or hum
• Remembers songs/music with very little exposure
• A strong speller- will sound words out if they are unsure
• Enjoys listening to audio books over reading
• May not coordinate colors of clothing very well, but could explain to you why they chose them
• Expresses feelings verbally
• Can retain a "to do" list in his mind after hearing it once
• Needs to hear himself repeat something in order to remember it
• May talk to themselves when bored
• May have trouble reading maps/diagrams or mastering conceptual assignments like math
• Can be distracted easily
• Talks out problems
• Has the ability to learn multiple instruments/has an "ear" for music
• Enjoys listening to background music while doing school work or tasks
• Loves listening to the radio/CD's/Audio Books
• Telling or listening to stories is enjoyable
• Can repeat oral information back to you without issue
• Listens to lectures favorably
• Auditory learners enjoy participating in debate or discussions
• Usually excellent readers

In many cases, the Auditory Learner does NOT like to:

• Spend time on already mastered material
• Writing projects
• Long periods of silent reading
• Taking notes

So how do we teach auditory  learners?

Generally when teaching the auditory learner:

• Minimize distractions.
• Place concepts and information to music AND teach the child how to do that themselves.
• When teaching, include a lot of discussion.
• Present subject information and assignments in verbal form.
• Give tests orally.
• Allow student to record his/her reports orally as an occasional substitute to written reports.

TEACHING GRAMMAR, SPELLING, WRITING:

• Give tests orally for these subjects.
• Practice spelling/vocab by saying the words aloud and have your student repeat them.
• Dictate narration to child for them to write out or record dictation for them to write out later.
• Associate Grammar/Phonics rules to music.

TEACHING SCIENCE, GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

• As you teach historical facts and scientific laws, be sure to incorporate lots of discussion and explanation.
• Remember to teach historical/patriotic songs to make it enjoyable.
• It is beneficial to read biographies and most other books aloud either to each other or to themselves.

 TEACHING READING 

• Encourage to read aloud.
• After reading biographies, for a comprehension exercise, have student video or audio record an interview with the main character or something along that line.
• Utilize audio books found at a library
• Have students do both oral and written reports.

TEACHING MATH

• Use a video or audio tutor
• Be sure to verbalize the steps and details of math problems
• Use musical jingles to master mathmatic facts
• Many auditory learners enjoy creating their own word problems in discussion form.

Like I mentioned above, your child may not fit into only one learning style nor exhibit all of the characteristics listed. Some may have moderate dispositions to all three.I think it's important to utilize their strongest process without letting their other processes go unchallenged. As our children grow into adults, they will work in environments and under authorities that are not concerned with their learning style. They need to be able to adapt to whatever learning environment they find themselves in.

Is your child an auditory learner? I would love to hear your ideas on how you meet this challenge at home.

Visit us again as we continue with "Visual Learners" by following my blog or signing up to receive email updates so you won't miss another post.

*Sources: LAMB Company
    and www.people.usd.edu.

The Visual Learner

I am so glad to finally be delving into this learning style series. I have been talking about it for months with my bloggie friends. Earlier we took a  deeper look into the auditory learning style. Today, we will cover the signs and symptoms of the Visual Learner.

If you are suspicious your child is a visual learner, they should exhibit many of these characteristics:

• Usually learns better when he/she can actually see the person who is talking
• Is observant of details
• Is exceptionally good at completing puzzles, riddles, and mazes and can assemble things with little or no help from picture or print instructions
• Is usually quiet and rarely volunteers an answer
• Loves to put up posters in his/her bedroom
• Being neat looking and color coordinated are typically important to the visual learner
• Has a tendency to be able to locate items that have been misplaced
• Has a VIVID imagination
• Tends to "hold in" his/her feelings, even when emotionally upset
• Has a good understanding of directions and easily remembers places/locations previously visited
• Is drawn to flashy, colorful, visually stimulating objects
• Can remember the visual sequence of objects in games, books, and posters
• Enjoyable activities include reading from various sources (newspapers,books, magazines), and especially enjoys watching television
• Coloring, drawing, and working with maps are enjoyable activities
• Learns easily by watching a video or CD that explains the process
• Enjoys using workbooks, particularly when pictures and vivid colors are included
• When presented with different figures or shapes, can draw these from memory

The visual learner, in most cases, does NOT like:

1. Untidiness, disorder, or clutter
2. Activities that are primarily listening
3. Changes from his/her routine
4. Communal activities or role-playing

General Suggestions for Teaching:

1. Use reasonable structure and consistent routine with your visual learner.
2. "Happy faces", bright stickers, stars, and grades are all excellent reinforcements for the visual learner.
3. Use colored chalk or markers when writing information on a blackboard or whiteboard.
4. Memorization is often enhanced when red ink is used to print material your child/student has written or is working on.
5. Drilling and reviewing information are often helpful to the visual learner.
6. Important information should always be highlighted using a colored highlighter.
7. Encourage your visual learner to take notes or draw pictures or objects from lectures or discussions.
8. Provide multiple ink pens that offer various colors for your child/student to write with and encourage him/her to change colors frequently.
9. Teach concepts by using maps/diagrams/charts.
10. Give your visual learner books that contain brightly colored, stimulating pictures and inserts.

Suggestions for Teaching Math:

1. Write out math facts on brightly colored flash cards.
2. For younger students, write down several problems such as: "Which is less, 11 pennies or 17 pennies; 9 dimes or 5 dimes; 4 quarters or 7 quarters?" Have your student write out and verbalize their answer.
3. Brightly colored numbered charts for teaching "skip-counting"( 2's, 4's, 6's...) will appeal to the visual leaner.
4. Use graph paper to teach how to organize a math lesson-that is, to show how to line up math problems and create graphs.
5. Highlight mathematical signs (+, -, x, /) to help locate them easily.
6. Word problems should be written out or drawn out for clarity.
7. Greater visibility of math problems will be achieved if those problems are highlighted in some way such as using real coins and/or paper money.

Suggestions for Teaching Grammar, Writing, and Spelling

1. Practice writing by keeping a daily journal, which may also include drawings and illustrations with the requirement that they be fully explained in writing.
2. For diversity, provide multi-colored pens, pencils, and paper for writing projects.
3. Diagramming sentences (that is, defining each word in a sentence as it relates to the eight basic parts of speech in the English language) should be taught as an integral part of grammar.
4. Spelling words may be written out on flash cards using bright colors.

Suggestions for Teaching Science, Geography, and History:

1. For science, visual learners often enjoy collecting items such as insects, rocks, various plant-life, and leaves.
2. Access to a variety of colorful science and history books, videos, and puzzles will be helpful to the visual learner.
3. Visual learners can be motivated by collecting pictures of historical events, animals, plants, states, and countries. They also enjoy taking their own photographs.
4. Provide various maps, charts, and graphs to visual learners to be reviewed, colored, and traced.

Suggestions for Teaching Reading: 

1. Key words and directions should always be underlined or highlighted in a bright color.
2. An excellent method for teaching comprehension is through "story mapping".  This is accomplished by having the student draw a circle which may include a main character or event and then writing characteristics of each out of the side and lastly, making diagrams and charts of characters and events.
3. Strong visual learners usually do not have a difficult time learning to read because of their ability to memorize words. Once they are taught phonics concepts, their reading skills often continue to improve.  Phonics rules and words that use these rules should be written in red on flash cards.
4. Visual learners are drawn to brightly colored books and especially those with pictures and drawings.
5. A recommended reading comprehension task that the visual leaner will most often enjoy doing is keeping a journal(s) in which they write, doodle or draw pictures about the books they have read.

So did you confirm that your child is a visual leaner? Let me know.Thanks for taking the time to discover your child's learning process with me. Join me next time as we explore the kinesthetic leaner.You can do that by subscribing to my website on the right hand side of the page so you won't miss another post.

Sourced with the permission of : The LAMB Company
* To order the full test for all three learning styles and/or have a curriculum customized for your child, visit their link above.

The Kinesthetic Learner

Definition: A kinesthetic learner is one that processes learning through movement and feeling. This one is my challenge. Why? I am not entirely sure. It may be a mixture of lack of creativity and laziness. Either way, I have to face the fact that I have a kinesthetic learner or two and have to make sure she/he doesn't get left behind. My daughter tested high in this category, so I find this research very beneficial. I hope you will too!

Let's identify them. If your child is primarily a kinesthetic/tactile learner, you should see him/her exhibit many of the following characteristics:
(By the way, I read somewhere that all kids are kinesthetic in the early years and around 1st grade or so, you begin to see their true learning process.)

• Loves to take things apart and put them back together. (This may mean her closet or all of the clothes in her drawer several times a month. :))
• Enjoys conducting experiments
• Relates to people more in body and action than verbally (Be sure to give lots of hugs and kisses!)
• Is fidgety or a wiggle worm
• Prefers to read books or hear stories that are action packed
• Tends to be untidy and have a messy appearance
• Touching, holding. and feeling something is very important to the kinesthetic/tactile learner, rather than just looking at something
• Is perpetually in motion and rarely sits still
• Playing games is a favorite activity
• Enjoys drawing and writing with chalk or on a dry-erase board
• Prefers standing or walking around while studying or memorizing facts
• Is skillful at using various tools
• Using a word processor, typewriter, calculator and computer is enjoyable
• Loves working with his/her hands and building constructions out of blocks and commercial toys made specifically for this purpose
• Enjoys and has skills in dancing, athletics, and acting

The kinesthetic/tactile learner does NOT usually like:

• Sitting for a long time
• Large writing projects
• Participating in activities that do not hold his/her attention
• Activities strictly in workbooks or on worksheets
• Long reading projects
• Activities that require a great deal of just listening

General Suggestions for Teaching the Kinesthetic/Tactile Learner:

1. Allow your learner to physically participate in tasks.
2. Encourage your child to use the computer as a method of learning and retaining new information.
3. Frequently change writing tools so that a different feel/grip is obtained.
4. Provide lots of paper on which your child may write and draw.
5. Allow your child to stand and move around while studying.
6. Encourage frequent breaks.
7. Use role-playing and acting to introduce concepts.
8. Instruct your student to take notes and highlight information while listening to instructions or when reviewing pertinent information.
9. Remind your kinesthetic/tactile learner of the need to complete projects in all subject areas and to understand and master concepts being taught.

Suggestions for Teaching Mathematics:

1.  Allow your learner to become familiar with the use of calculators as a way for them to work and experiment with numbers. However, avoid using them strictly for solving their math problems.
2. A tape measure should be made available for your student to use.
3. Consider utilizing one or more manipulative formats for teaching the concepts of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
4. Teaching about time and money can often be accomplished by demonstrations using a watch or clock and real money.
5. Use activities such as running, walking, jumping, and drawing and have your child practice different math functions using all of those activities.
6. Acting and role playing are good tools to use in teaching mathematics.
7. Use a chalkboard or dry whiteboard instead of paper for doing math problems.
8. BE INNOVATIVE: Allow the kinesthetic learner to learn math facts by tracing them in the air, in sand, shaving cream or other non-traditional places. Use common, every day items such as watches/clocks, coins, calendars, and recipes to teach math.
9. The use of computer programs or a math facts drills program can be a great help in teaching the math concept.

Suggestions for Teaching Grammar, Writing, and Spelling:

1. Look for multi-sensory opportunities such as learning spelling words while humming, clapping or knee slapping each letter, walking, running, or bouncing a ball.
2. Suggest that they keep daily journals of what they write and draw. They may also enjoy writing plays, songs, and stories and acting out the characters in the stories.
3. The use of flannel boards that provide sentence strips can be an outstanding tool for teaching the kinesthetic learner about sentence structure and grammar.
4. Spelling words can be traced in the air, in sand, dirt, or whipped cream.
5. Allow these learners to write stories and sentences on the chalkboard/dry-erase board.
6. Spelling words can be practiced by writing them in the air or on each others backs or in some other way that incorporates movement in the learning process.
7. Kinesthetic/tactile learners would enjoy videotaping or photographing plays or stories they have written.
8. Use of the computer keyboard is an excellent way to practice writing, spelling words, and composing stories.

Suggestions for Teaching Science, Geography, and History:

1. Acting and role playing should be incorporated often in teaching History.
2. Consider using map puzzles to teach geography concepts. They can also learn to make their topographical maps.
3. Kinesthetic/Tactile learners should attend many demonstrations, exhibits, and field trips that emphasize material they are studying in these areas.
4. They should be involved in building projects and models to demonstrate comprehension of history, science, or geography concepts.
5. When teaching science, hands on experiments are usually helpful to the kinesthetic/tactile learner.

Suggestions for Teaching Reading:

1. Have your learner pantomime or act out vocabulary words. Also, have them role-play characters in books.
2. Phonics sounds and reading words can be "spelled out" in the air, sand, dirt, or whipped cream. Use finger paints to trace words onto paper.
3. Role play, acting, or dancing are all forms of alternative learning opportunities available to the kinesthetic/tactile learner that allows them to portray parts of stories, plays, and poems as they read them.
4. Computer programs that involve lots of hand manipulations can be helpful to them as well.

Well, this concludes our "Learning Styles" blog series. Hopefully, everyone of you reading these are visual learners :) If you are auditory and  need it said out loud to you, pass the computer over to your child and have them read it to you so they can practice their reading while you are learning at your best.  Then have them either write down a narration of what they learned or dictate it back to you depending on what works best for their learning style. If they are kinesthetic, have them write key ideas on a dry-erase board. :) If YOU are a kinesthetic learner, then you need to type out my blog post 3 times and then give a short dance that describes the essence of the post ;) Also, please forgive the typos, I am Auditory and until I go back and read this out loud, I might have missed something. LOL! Thanks for tuning in!!

*Sourced with permission from The LAMB Company.
Visit their site to learn more, have your child tested and/or have a curriculum customized for your individual child.