Entry 1 Continued

  How does knowledge of the way people learn related to the experience of being a teacher?

I will be completing my fieldwork at Scera Park Elementary. I am super excited to get started and look forward to working with the kids in a second grade class. This week I met with my mentoring teacher to discuss what times I am available to help out. Unfortunately I was not able to get a lot of time with the kids I will be working with, however I was able to ask Mrs. Coleman how knowledge of the way people learn relate to her personal experience of teaching. 

Before I tell you Mrs. Cullimore's answer let's review how people learn. There are three different categories in which people learn best; visually, auditory, and kinesthetic/tactile. Although some individuals can learn through multiple learning modalities there is usually one that they prefer. Having your preferred modality be visual means that you learn by seeing. Mrs. Cullimore preferred learning modality is auditory. This means that she learns best through hearing information. This did not surprise me since most teachers are auditory learners. The final modality is kinesthetic/tactile. This means a person learns by doing. Through experiences they take in the information through the five senses. It is important that students learn this way as much as possible since it allows them to use all of their sensory processes. I believe this will help them embed the information into their memory much easier. 

Now that you know the three learning modalities, you are ready for Mrs. Cullimore response to my previous question. She explained that having the knowledge of how people learn is a huge part of being a successful teacher. In a class of second graders there is evidence of all three learning modalities. As a result, you must plan your lessons in a variety of ways throughout the week. It is important to incorporate all the modalities in your teaching so that you may reach each student in your class. I can tell that Mrs. Cullimore really cares about her students and wants them to succeed. She includes all the learning modalities in her teaching. I look forward to working with her and I know I will learn a lot during my time at Scera Park Elementary.