This month we are talking about how to teach thoroughly, not quickly. There are many ways to do this. I discussed how to teach a concept until students understand it, rather than plowing through the curriculum in a previous post. I also talked about 10 strategies to use to make learning relevant to your students so that they are more inclined to learn here.

Another way to teach your lessons thoroughly instead of quickly is to make sure you reach all of your students’ learning styles.

According to the VARK model, there are four basic learning styles: visual, auditory, reading/writing, and kinesthetic. I encourage you to look into these learning styles more on your own, as well as other learning styles, such as solitary and social learners. For this post, I will be concentrating on giving you a list of strategies you can use in your classroom to teach to each learning style.

Visual Learners

If your students are visual learners, they learn by seeing. Being able to picture new concepts is very helpful for visual learners. The majority (65%) of students are visual learners, so, if you teach to this learning style, you are meeting most of your class's needs. However, it is still very important to make sure you reach the students in your class who learn differently.

Honestly, I can’t think of a lesson where I haven’t used visual learning techniques. This is probably partly because I am a visual learner myself, so I tend to teach that way. Even if I start out with a lecture, I very quickly move to my whiteboard to help my students (and myself!) picture what I am teaching.

Tweaking your lesson to cater to visual learners can be as easy as illustrating your lesson on your whiteboard. However, there are many other ways you can help your visual learners understand your lessons. You can use:

Charts

Graphs

Graphic Organizers

Outlines

Picture Aids

PowerPoint Presentations

Videos (Especially ones with charts, illustrations, and graphic organizers)

Illustrations

Your Whiteboard

Maps

Highlighting Strategies

Concept Trees

Auditory Learners

Auditory learners learn by hearing. I am definitely not an auditory learner, but sometimes I think teaching to auditory learners might be the easiest and most natural in a typical classroom. Auditory learners do well with oral presentations and lectures, so teachers who use this style of teaching are already catering to auditory learners.

Other types of instruction strategies that work with auditory learners are:

Read Alouds

Verbal Directions

Discussions

Repeat Directions to a Partner

Teach a Peer

Oral Presentation

Videos (with Audio)

Lectures

Speeches

Mnemonic Devices

Read Aloud to Self

Kinesthetic Learners

If your students are kinesthetic learners, they learn by doing. This hands-on style of learning seems to be the hardest to fit into a typical lesson. However, there are still many ways to cater to kinesthetic learners. If a student is a kinesthetic learner, they are going to have a hard time sitting still and listening to a lecture, so make sure these students (and all of your students) have the opportunity for movement breaks. There are also a lot of ways to incorporate movement directly into your lessons. Many of these strategies require some preparation, so make sure you plan ahead.

To reach kinesthetic learners, you can use:

Hand Motions

Manipulatives

Hands-On Activities

Modeling Clay

Role Playing

Whole-Body Movements

Field Trips

Physical Samples

Hands-On Experiments

Acting it Out

Reading & Writing Learners

The last style of learning, according to the VARK model is reading & writing. Some of your students will learn best when they are able to read and write. It might seem like this learning style would be easily met in a school environment, but that isn't always the case. To help students with this style of learning, you can use:

Books

Texts

Dictionaries

Note Taking

Essay Writing

Lists

Handouts

Libraries

Summaries (Writing or Reading Them)

Graphic Organizers

Teaching to Multiple Learning Styles

It can seem daunting to teach students of all four learning styles at once. It can be especially overwhelming to try to do this for every single lesson, but don't give up hope! A few modifications to your teaching can help you reach all of your students. In particular, you can use strategies that meet multiple learning styles at once. For example, using graphic organizers in a lesson will help your visual learners as well as your reading & writing learners. Showing videos will help your visual and auditory learners. Finding ways to meet multiple needs at the same time is a very helpful way to make sure you are meeting all of your students' needs.