610 #3
Learning Styles and their application.
Tammie Zentgraf
Two learning styles that I utilize in my classroom environment which integrates different
learning styles appeal to Musical/Rhythmic Learners as well as Bodily/Kinesthetic Learners.
The two following descriptions of these learning styles are taken from Glencoe Online
(http://glencoe.com/ps/teachingtoday/educationupclose.phtml/print7)
Musical/Rhythmic learners recognize tonal patterns. For optimal learning, suggest they hum or
sing information they want to grasp, or have them move their bodies while they study.
Bodily/Kinesthetic Learners: The brains motor cortex, which controls bodily motion, is the key
to intelligence of bodily/kinesthetic learners. Provide these learners with hands-on activities,
such as sports, dancing, acting and crafts. These learners need to touch, move, interact with
space, and process knowledge through bodily sensations.
Musical/Rhythmic learners are able to connect with rhythm, pattern, tone and pacing and when
learning objectives are packaged with those things in mind, a powerful connection can be made
with students who may not understand or connect with lessons focusing on other learning styles.
I used this in my math classroom many times. In particular when academic vocabulary is new
and needs to be connected with a process. For example, when teaching students how to change
fractions into decimals, many of my colleagues taught the simple phrase top in, bottom out.
Very functional yet it lacks the foundational vocabulary necessary to continue working with
fractions and helping students master the concept of what they are actually doing with this
process. So instead we worked with students and this little ditty Fractions to decimals in a
whisper, not a shout, Numerator in, Denominator out! This also has a few hand motions to
mimic grabbing the numerator and putting it under the radicand and likewise putting the
denominator on the outside of the radicand. This was more elaborate for them to remember but
it also connected the what they are doing and the how to set it up, using the academic vocabulary
that is essential to students for being able to scaffold knowledge.
We also had students help us write processes out in short phrases and set it to familiar tunes.
When the students invest in creating the tool to help them remember, an even stronger
connection is made and this allows for the musical/rhythmic learners to be confident in
contributing in this type of project. Mr. QUE, whose full name escapes me right now, is a
teacher from California who has written and produced many math-based songs full of process
that bring upbeat, catchy music that students enjoy. The song of Order of Operations is one of
their favorites and has helped my students embrace math concepts through a medium they
directly connect with.
A number of years ago, I attended a workshop during our teaching inservice and it had an
enormous impact on my teaching. The workshop was simply titled TPR (Total Physical
Response) and again was speaking to engaging your learners in a different way. TPR was used
for connecting words and concepts to actions. This was particularly helpful to some of our
strugglers who are not auditory or even strongly visual learners. Those who need to touch or feel
or move in order to understand. During class several weeks ago, your vocabulary guide
reminded me of how I incorporated academic math vocabulary into our day. My students had a
vocabulary journal and had to write similar information to your worksheet including what action
or picture they could connect to that word. Developing an action to go with the words was
particularly helpful when teaching concepts like coordinate geometry when they had to
differentiate between the two axis and in graphing things like rise over run for slope intercept.
These are ways I have and will continue to incorporate into working with students whose
learning style matches up with Bodily/Kinesthetic Learners.
While my teaching experiences thus far have been as a regular education teacher, we had full
integration for our special education students with pull-outs for only a very few students. I have
found these learning styles tend to be more effective with our special education population in that
it connects more directly physically to them and provide opportunities for movement in the
classroom which also makes it easier to refocus for the times when they are expected to practice
independently or to have to listen to sometimes inevitable lecture lesson that has a place in the
classroom as well.
