Please post below your application exercise using one strategy for student-centered teaching. Please share how your students benefited from this activity. Please also share any suggestions you have for other teachers as they plan to incorporate your idea. Check back to read other participants experiences.
Monday, October 15, 2018
SLN Foundations Participants Share!
Thanks to the newly created Special Learning Needs Foundations groups that met at Lincoln Land College and at the Pui Tak Center for your participation and insight into how to best meet the needs of our adult education students!
Please post below your application exercise using one strategy for student-centered teaching. Please share how your students benefited from this activity. Please also share any suggestions you have for other teachers as they plan to incorporate your idea. Check back to read other participants experiences.
Please post below your application exercise using one strategy for student-centered teaching. Please share how your students benefited from this activity. Please also share any suggestions you have for other teachers as they plan to incorporate your idea. Check back to read other participants experiences.
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Hi Sarah! Thanks for a great training last Friday.
ReplyDeleteToday in class I incorporated learning styles by having students move to different corners of the room based on whether they prefer visual, auditory, or tactile learning. The class was primarily visual and tactile. This made me realize how important it is that I am writing things on the board and not just speaking about things. The students seemed please with the opportunity to discuss how they prefer to learn. The visual learners reminded me to write things on the board for the remainder of the class. They also liked the opportunity to move about for a bit.
After discussing learning styles, we utilized the same introduction activity that we did during the training. This was only our second day of the term so it was a good time to get to know one another more. Students were each given a piece of paper. They wrote on the paper what they prefer to be called, what they are good at, what bothers them, and what their learning style is. This was a good vocabulary builder as many students were bothered by things that other students didn't know the meaning of. It was also a good opportunity to reiterate what their individual learning preference is.
In the future I hope to incorporate more with learning styles and really utilize all the learning modalities.
Thank you!
Rachel Greenwood
rachelg@chinesemutualaid.org
Rachel,
DeleteThanks for sharing and for helping your students understand themselves better! I love that you can use vocabulary building and understanding group dynamics at the same time. Thanks for being a fabulous teacher!
Hello,
ReplyDeleteWe completed the 4 part interview. I had a new enrollment 1 week before we went on Fall Intercession (2 week break). Therefore I had several new students whom my current students and I needed to meet. The name quadrant, as expected, was easy for all. :) Students also were easily able to identify their pet peeves/irritants. I did ask them to qualify that area with school oriented issues. Happily, I can report that all issues mentioned were either addressed, or moot, in my current class structure. Most students struggled with a strength. I believe many of them have never been asked to identify their strengths, or even believe that they have any. That became a group project as peers, and I, jumped in to help, after some group discussion. I was rather surprised to see that most students identified as visual, auditory, or a mix. I had expected more haptic oriented learners, but not so. Students seemed to benefit from having to identify a strength and process how they learned best, because after some discussion, they agreed they could be better self-advocates.
Marcia Templeman
Teen GED
Black Hawk College
Adult Learning Center
templemanm@bhc.edu
The students
Marcia,
DeleteThanks for trying out new activities with your students and for sharing! I really appreciate your students are learning their strengths AND learning how to verbalize. They are certainly correct that this will help them advocate for themselves. It's also a great work skill as well as a necessary interview skill! Thanks for all of your efforts with your students. They are blessed to have you.
Great training Sarah. Thank you for sharing your insights!
ReplyDeleteAs you know, I am the program coordinator for CMAA Elgin responsible for ESL student intake/registration and not currently teaching. Most of our ESL students begin at a very low level of English proficiency and might have trouble, at registration, fully understanding an English explanation of The Learning Circle or responding fully to the Ten Minute Interview questions. However, I am sharing some of the materials with our instructor and together we will come up with a plan to incorporate materials at registration and in the classroom to get the information we need for student-centered teaching.
For registration, I particularly liked you points about 'equal partners in learning' and setting the stage for students to be active learners. Registration is the first opportunity to set the stage for students and, as you mentioned, "help students believe that they will be successful here." To that end, an abbreviated questionnaire to set that tone is being conducted at registration to get at the basic input/output preferences for new students and whether they prefer audio, visual or tactile learning. I have started to incorporate some of these questions into the last few registrations and my initial impressions are that the students have definite opinions about how they like to learn. Moreover, I think they are encouraged to hear us asking the questions of them.
Then, in the classroom an expanded explanation of the Learning Circle and different types of input and output preferences can be presented as an orientation or team building exercise within the first few days of a new class. I look forward to sharing with our instructors and hearing about their experience.
Thanks again!
Jim Pirovano, ICCB Program Coordinator
Chinese Mutual Aid Association
jamesp@chinesemutualaid.org
Jim,
DeleteThanks for taking this information back to your program and for working with your teachers to find ways to adapt to the specific needs of your students. I'm anxious to hear more about how your registration changes impact your students and your program. Thanks for keeping your students and their needs at the front of your planning.
Hello Ms Goldammer,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the training session -October 19.
My Ten minutes interview was a very casual conversation that allows me to learn a lot about my students and design my class to accommodate each one of them.
I found out that some of my students has the following issues.
1. Low self-esteem due to their personal experience where their families never believe in their ability to succeed.
2. Discontinuity in their education due to their financial situation that prevents them from continuing their education.
3. Being away from school for over 20 years and their fear not to be able to learn new technology that they have not used before.
4. Struggling to balance between learning new skills to enhance their chance for better job and taking care of their housework and family.
5. Lack of confidence in their ability to learn new skills.
Suzanne,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your findings as you used the ten-minute interview with your students. I hope knowing these pieces of information will help you as you plan instruction AND as you build rapport with your students. I hope your students see your classroom as different from those earlier, less positive environments. Knowledge is power...as long as we do something with our knowledge:)! Thanks for working hard to reach your students where they are and for engaging them as co-investigators in their learning.
Hi Sarah,
ReplyDeleteThank you for coming and talking to us on October 19th! I really appreciated the opportunity to think more about different learning styles and needs, and was able to an activity with my students the following week. I gave my class a slightly modified version of the learning styles checklist - they completed it, identified their primary style, and we talked together about how they liked to learn (in class activities, studying at home, what's difficult for them, etc.). I think they enjoyed the discussion, and it was a good chance for me to be able to learn more about how they prefer to learn. Of the 8 students who took the quiz, 4 were visual, 3 auditory, and 1 haptic.
Following that class session, I thought about some different ways I could make my lessons more accessible to students with each style. I use a lot of visuals in class already (as it's my preferred style), but I looked for ways I could add even more visuals in areas I hadn't thought of before. One way I found was by adding picture clues to some of the more problematic conversation questions I give students in class. Usually I give students a series of questions printed out on strips to talk about together, but this past week I added pictures to some health questions I use that had been difficult for past classes. The students were able to discuss them together with little to no support from me - yay!
After our training, I felt challenged to try and think of more activities for haptic learners (especially since I have at least one in my class!). My students practice spelling words in several ways, but something new that I tried this past week was buying a bucket of colorful, foam letters to use with spelling words for our health unit. Students looked at an index card with a body part on it and had to find and select letters to spell the word. They worked on this with a partner, talked together about the spelling, and then checked their answer on the back of the card when finished. The activity went great and the students loved it! I know that this is a familiar technique (using Scrabble tiles, for example), but it was something that I hadn't used before, and could also be useful for auditory learners by having one partner speak the word and the other find the letters.
Thanks again,
Mandy Bozart
mbozart@ahschicago.org
Hi Sarah,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the training on October 19th! I feel like I learned a lot, and it helped me to reflect on some things I may have been overlooking in my classes.
For the initial activity, I gave my students a modified version of the Learning Styles Checklist. They went through it individually and we talked about the results together as a class- whether they felt it was accurate or not, some different activities that they liked to do in class, and any connections they made to their past learning experiences. Of the 8 students who did the checklist, 4 were visual learners, 3 auditory, and 1 haptic.
Using the information from the survey/checklist, I thought about ways I could better meet their learning needs/preferences in class. I tend to use a lot of visuals already (as I'm a visual learner), but I tried to identify additional areas where visuals might be helpful since I have so many visual learners. We are doing a unit on health and I usually give my students some health conversation questions to talk about together. These questions have been difficult for students in the past, so I added visual cues to some of the questions. It really seemed to help, and the questions went much better!
Following the training, I was also challenged to think of ways to incorporate more haptic activities into my lessons (especially since I now know I have at least one haptic learner). One way that I thought of was to have students practice spelling words with colorful foam letters – the colors and the movement appealing to their learning preference. I purchased a large bucket of letters and had students practice spelling different body parts with a partner by choosing a card with a body part picture on it, finding the letters to spell the word, and then checking their spelling on the back of the card. Obviously this isn’t a new idea, but it was a new activity for me and I think my students enjoyed it a lot.
I’m excited to try out some of the other strategies/ideas that we discussed, and hope to incorporate something similar to the 10-minute learner interview at the beginning of next term.
Thanks again!
Mandy Bozart
ESL Coordinator
Asian Human Services
mbozart@ahschicago.org
Mandy,
DeleteIt's great to read what exciting, simple new ideas you are trying out in class! Thanks for your willingness to learn and try new ways to learn with your students! Thanks for all you do for your students.
Hello Sarah,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the special learning needs focused sessions on learning styles and student needs. I'd like to share a weekly introduction activity that I do with my students.
I give my ESL students a weekly list of sight words. We start the lesson by asking students to phonetically attempt to spell the word. I say the word 2 times, then provide an example sentence using the word, and finish by saying the word again. (Auditory incorporation) Our lists are between 8 and 12 words. After their phonetic attempt, I ask students to volunteer and come to the board to write one of the words. (Haptic incorporation) We make corrections to spelling and discuss the word meanings. To finish the introduction to the sight words list, I have the students write the words in repetition, three times if they got the word phonetically correct and five times if they need a little extra practice. (Visual incorporation) After writing the words, we go through the list again, as a class, practicing the pronunciation. We say each word 5 times and I repeat the example sentence from the phonetic introduction. (Auditory again).
These three or four exercises seem to be beneficial for my students with their reading, writing, and speaking practice.
I also enjoyed the learning circles activity and the introduction to better get to know my students. I will be using both activities during the coming terms at the beginning of class.
Thanks again,
Alana R.
arussell@ahschocalog.comr
Alana,
DeleteIt sounds like you are having fun learning with your students. Thanks for all of your efforts to help your students with vocabulary. It can be so difficult. Incorporating multiple learning modalities and opportunities for repetition can certainly go a long way towards success.
Hi Sarah,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing your knowledge with us during the training! I feel like I've been much more aware about students in my ESL class who may need accommodations. I've also been more sensitive to different learning styles.
I chose to try out a series of different methods that you outlined in the Learning Styles handout. I tend to use a lot of visuals in my class, and despite being a predominantly auditory learner, I realized I don't incorporate enough auditory accommodations in the classroom. This week, we practiced spelling out numbers. I had students guess how to spell the numbers, then I wrote them on the board and students copied the spellings onto a worksheet. I noticed that some students picked up the spelling on the board fine, but others struggled to keep up. To accommodate, I spelled the numbers out loud, slowly, two more times. This was particularly helpful for one of my students who often takes a lot of time to copy notes from the board onto her paper. It was a really eye-opening exercise for me - it was such a simple accommodation, but so effective!
I also implemented a kinesthetic activity this week. It was a simple matching game with cards. The students put the cards face down in groups and had to match vocab cards to picture cards. It was a nice break from our normal routine and the students seemed to really enjoy it. A few students who I noticed struggled in other areas, like speaking, seemed to excel in this activity. They picked up the rules quickly and were able to explain the concept of the game to other students who didn't understand. They accomplished this by physically demonstrating the activity, rather than verbally explaining.
Overall, they were really small changes but they made such a huge difference in my class this week. From here on out, I definitely plan to incorporate more activities that accommodate a wider variety of learning styles.
Emily,
DeleteYay! So excited to hear some simple new additions are making a difference with your students! Please keep trying to find those simple solutions. Thanks for your efforts!
Hello Everyone,
ReplyDeleteI conducted the 10-minute interview with one of our students. She allowed her teacher to sit for the interview as well, which I thought was beneficial. Her teacher had an opportunity to listen to how she learns as well as hear a few things she did not know about this particular student.
I enjoyed conducting the interview. I can see how a teacher or an assistant can use the interviewing tool to inform instruction. I hope to win over the teachers so that we can begin using this tool or a similar one in our practice. I also hope the teachers allow me to come and interview more students throughout the school year. Perhaps, we can incorporate this tool during or intake process. After typing the latter statement, I do not think orientation would be the best place to administer unless the teacher and assistant are present.
I enjoyed the SLN training at Pui Tak so much so that I want to send one or two teachers to the next workshop, especially, if time permits. I enjoyed the training because I walked away with instruction and implementation strategies that could really benefit my program. Learning how you learn is a powerful way of knowing self. It also adds personal value to the teaching-learning process.
Take Care,
Tina
Tina,
DeleteThanks for taking the time to try out the ten minute interview with a student. I agree learning about your learning IS a powerful tool. Taking the time up front to set the stage for learning with definitely pay off. Thanks for sharing, Tina! Thanks for valuing your students in such a way that you invested time in learning something new to help them!
Good afternoon, Sarah,
ReplyDeleteI appreciated the training you led on October 19th. It shed some light on the learning styles of my students and why they respond as they do in class.
I'd always thought of myself as a visual and auditory learner, and was surprised from the inventory that I am equally all three (haptic too!). Immediately following the training, I felt more in touch with the haptic learners in my class. The clicking pens, the shifting in chairs, and the wiggly legs were a dead giveaway :) So it was no surprise to me when, a couple weeks ago, my highly haptic learners ASKED if the students could do oral research reports!
I've had my students give presentations and write research reports before, but never as a combination. I decided to give them the task of oral presentations on a famous person of their choice, and to have them utilize note cards. Not only will they be practicing their writing in a grammatically correct way (which they wanted), but they'll also be practicing public speaking skills (giving eye contact, speaking slowly and clearly, etc.).
I gave the assignment to them this week, and so they're currently gathering research and preparing. I was excited to accept the request of my haptic learners and to see what all of them come up with!
Thank you for sharing this most important training with us.
Sincerely,
Aubrey
Aubrey Wise
awise@ahschicago.org
Aubrey,
DeleteThanks for listening to your students' requests and finding ways to incorporate what they want with what you need them to do! So easy but so effective! Thanks for being a student-centered teacher!
Sarah,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the special learning needs training I attended on October 12 in Springfield. My overall takeaway from that training was that all students have strengths that we can capitalize on. We need to get to know our learners and minimize weaknesses and play to their strengths.
As a follow up, I had the opportunity to present to a small group of students and I had them complete three of the activities we did in our training. I began with the getting to know you activity asking them what others call them, what they are good at, what peeves them, and what they like when learning something new. Many students were unfamiliar with the word peeve. One student advised they had too many things that peeved them to choose just one. Another is annoyed by people asking them lots of questions. This guided me away from doing the Questionnaire with this group. Several of the students say they learn best by trying it.
I next went though the learning circle with the group. They responded positively to this exercise and were attentive and engaged and participated with feedback about input and output. The learning framework of environment and attention hit a chord with several of them. This visual depicted in a concrete way the abstract understanding of processing learning in the brain in a way that made sense to them.
Next I had the group complete the learning styles checklist and connected it to the ways they input an output. I also gave them the handouts with recommendations for each type of learner.
Student feedback on the presentation was positive and learners felt the information was beneficial. I have also shared all of their responses with their instructor who seemingly valued the information.
Going forward, I will recommend this training to our ABE and HSE instructors as well as academic coaches working with Developmental Education students in the college. I also hope to get further training as it becomes available.
Thanks again,
Paula Prather
Program Manager Adult Education
Parkland College
pprather@parkland.edu
Paula,
DeleteThanks for taking the time to gather a group and try out some new strategies with your students. I had to giggle reading your account of the students not liking questions:) Thanks for persevering and working with your students on the learning circle and learning styles. I hope it continues to make a difference in their learning!
Hi Sarah,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing the great tips on various learning strategies.
Since our training, I have incorporated more haptic activities into our routines. For example, to practice at/in/on, I would say a sentence (auditory) and the students would move to areas of that room that are labeled at, in, or on. This gets everyone to move and hopefully build increased neural connections to the function and definition of the prepositions. Haptic activities are also useful when learning classroom directions (look, listen, read, circle, write, etc.), prepositions of place (in, on, under, over, next to, etc.), or parts of the body. For new vocabulary, I try to include the haptic with the visual by using flashcards (store-bought or hand made) to allow students to match or flip pieces of paper with the new word. We do lots of brainstorming as well, with a card that has a theme and lots of cards with images to match that theme (e.g. What do you wear in the winter? Students match pictures of scarf, boots, hat, and gloves to this question).
In the future, when I have a higher level class, I would like to incorporate the Learning Circle at the beginning to set the tone and remind everyone about our strengths/weaknesses when it comes to learning styles. Individually, students will complete a revised Learning Style Checklist and report back in small groups. Then, we will break into pairs and do the 10-interview questions. Students will share with the class what they have learned about their partner. This way, we all get to know each other and know ourselves.
It's been fun thinking about these various learning styles. Thank you for encouraging us to be "equal partners" in the learning process!
Regards,
Hai Minh
Hai Minh,
DeleteWow, sounds like your have incorporated a lot of new learning activities! I love how you have them moving around the room to different words. I look forward to hearing about your future efforts with some of the other resources shared during SLN Foundations. Thanks for all of your efforts in helping your students learn!
I chose the Foundations of Special Learning Needs training as my goal based self-evaluation for Harper Community College. Harper encourages faculty to choose projects that offer new insight into their teaching practice.
ReplyDeleteI met with my AED manager to discuss the SLN training and possible outcomes for our department. She thought that the 10 minute interview would work well with our orientation program and is planning on discussing it at the next departmental meeting.
I gave my class the Learning Style Checklist, and my class was split evenly between visual and auditory learners. We discussed how that will change my teaching style as I am a visual learner. I passed out the recommendations for visual and auditory learners, and they discussed how this will change their approach to learning in the classroom and at home/work.
I also teach a STAR class at College Of Du Page and conduct an extensive reading evaluation prior to the start of class. I think the ten minute interview would work well as part of that evaluation.
I enjoyed the training and look forward to the next step in the process.
Theresa Clark
Theresa,
DeleteThanks for your efforts with your students. I'm glad you had success discussing how they like to learn. I look forward to hearing about your ten minute interview project! Thanks for your dedication to your students and to your own learning!
Thank you for the great training! I appreciate all your incites and it was a joy to meet everyone there.
ReplyDeleteEarlier this week we implemented the learning circle in my class. Some of the students found it very confusing but others picked up on the core of it. I was pleasantly surprised by the conversations it prompted between my students. They had many different learning strengths. Because students talked about different preferred output activities, I decided to do language learning stations which had visual, auditory, and haptic components. It took a lot more preparation time, but it was successful and I hope to do it again.
Emily H
AHS
Emily,
DeleteThanks for trying out he learning circle with your students! Keep this conversation going so all of your students can grasp their learning process.Understanding will help them learn and help you teach them! Looking forward to hearing more from you about your student-centered instruction!
The following was submitted by Tara Driver:
ReplyDeleteSpecial Learning Needs Assignment
11/09/18
Although I used the 10 Minute Interview during the first phase of the SLN training, since our face-to-face training I’ve decided to revamp our intake process and use it to enhance the student’s experience. I wanted to include the 10 Minute Interview, along with the Learning Styles Assessment, prior to the student’s first classroom experience. By implementing these two strategies as a way of acclimating them to the Adult Education program, it provided a greater sense of community and an assurance that we are focused on addressing their individual academic needs while helping them reach their personal goals.
Once the Learning Styles Assessment was complete, it helped the Adult Education Instructor develop a more personalized Education Plan for the student. This helped the student take a more active role in their academic direction. This student-centered approach benefited students and helped maintain persistence.
Tara D. Driver
Adult Education Program Manager
National Able Network
I used the 10 minute interview for the first time. I was very beneficial for the student, he was able to understand how he learn and what is important. In my class I always use different approaches during my lessons. However, I have never asked the students how they learn, I have mention it the different styles of learning, but now I know that I will make an informal assessment using these 10 minute questions.
ReplyDeleteAfter attending the special learning needs training, I came back to my classroom eager to try out what I had learned.
ReplyDeleteFirst, I had all of my students who registered for the new semester complete a learning styles assessment. Some students said that they already knew what type of learner they were, but others had never done an assessment like this before. We discussed that knowing what your preferred learning style is was just one step in a process. The next step was using that information to advocate for yourself as a student and a learner.
The next activity I tried was the getting to know you activity. Students enjoyed being able to share what peeved them and and how they preferred to learn new information. I agree with others who commented however, that the word peeved was not commonly known and may need some vocabulary instruction prior to beginning the get to know you activity.
Throughout the semester I saw evidence that these activities stuck with my students, so I would call them a success. I had students advocating for themselves by asking for alternative assessments and assignments that were more inline with their preferred learning style. It was refreshing to see students finding success in this way.