As a parent, you’ll hear and learn about different types of learning styles.  You will slowly observe how your child learns best and what methods seem to present more of a challenge. Traditionally, as educators, we focused on four different types of learners:   visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and through reading and writing.   Since we are all uniquely created and “knit together”, it’s natural that we should learn in different ways!

VISUAL LEARNERS understand and retain information best when it is presented to them in visual ways:  pictures, graphs, illustrations, models, charts, videos, and flow charts, etc.  Visual images help these learners comprehend and remember.  I liked to use and had my student create a lot of graphic organizers when I was teaching ancient history, as these images especially helped visual learners.

AUDITORY LEARNERS comprehend and remember information best when they HEAR it presented out loud.  This may involve someone reading aloud to them, them reading aloud themselves, debate, conversation, audio from a video or repeating/restating information out loud. I incorporated a “turn and talk” strategy after teaching a mini lesson, asking students to re-teach a specific concept to their partner in their own words, to benefit auditory learners.

KINESTHETIC LEARNERS learn best by being physically active, by “doing”.    They are hands-on learners and thrive when engaging their five senses. These learners learn well in experiments and lab settings as well as with drawing, painting, making and creating.  When teaching ancient history, these learners enjoyed activities like creating a cartoon retelling of an event in history, using creativity and art!

READING AND WRITING LEARNERS learn best when focusing on the written word. These learners enjoy written information such as worksheets, presentations, and text-heavy resources. They may like to take notes, fill in outlines, and have very organized notebooks!   They learn best when they can reference written information, in books, online, or even in in their own (usually very neat) notebooks.

Not every child is ONLY ONE of these types of learners; most students will benefit from all four types of information presentation.    But many of us lean one way, we have a strength.  Teachers should be presenting information in all four modes, especially in the elementary and middle school years.  It’s important for us as parents to be aware of different learning styles and to be observant of how our own children appear to process information.  On the flip side, it’s also important for us to be cognizant of what types of teaching presents a challenge to our kids.

In my weekly blog, I’m going to focus on these four learning styles over the next four weeks, offering some fun and simple ideas for us as we “BOOK TIME WITH OUR KIDS”.  If our “littles” are just two years old or seven years old, we can certainly help prepare them for success in learning.  Let’s build on the unique design within each of our little ones’ minds.  

THANKS FOR JOINING ME! PLEASE SHARE and SUBSCRIBE for a weekly idea about how we can “BOOK TIME WITH OUR KIDS!”