My Personal Learning Style

I remember studying for Spanish final exams in high school vividly.  I laid on my belly on the floor of my bedroom and wrote, and rewrote the rules of grammar and vocabulary words.  (Over and over and over...)  later I learned more about learning styles and realized that I am generally a tactile/kinesthetic learner.  As I look back, I see that when kinesthetic opportunities were not presented to me, I made them up!  For example, with Spanish vocabulary, I used to walk around the house, touching items and saying the Spanish word aloud.  "Mesa" (Table), "silla" (chair), "naranja" (orange), etc.  In college, I had many large courses in auditoriums with 500 students.  I didn't mind these, as long as the professor was a great lecturer, and had good pics.  I never felt the need to sit in the front, and was a little offended when people assumed that the person in the way back, sitting comfortably was not paying attention.  I really enjoyed sitting back and taking everything in during these large lectuers.  Of course, in my Spanish courses, we had classroom caps at 20 and one HAD to participate to earn a grade, so maybe I just liked being a number for once!  :-)

The worst case scenario for me was just listening.  If there were no pictures or charts to supplement the lecture it was very difficult for me.  I can't get through a lecture today without taking extensive notes.  I can't get though a meeting at work without taking extensive notes.  They are a way that I keep my hands busy and seeing the words makes concepts more tangible for me. 

As an educator, I always try to plan auditory, visual and kinesthetic activities into EVERY class. Usually the subject I teach allows for this.  My students are up and moving around talking, playing, listening, speaking, and creating.  One activity I am particularily proud of is a "Cranium" game I made as a test review for my high school classroom.  I modeled it after the popular game using the grammar concepts and vocabulary for the chapter.  Categories included different "Pictionary" types of activities, straight "Trivia/facts", and art activities.  This really was challenging and new for the students.  For example, one student drew the "Creative Cat" card which required him to show "Hace viento" (It's windy) using modeling clay.  He sculpted a tree and bent the branches in one direction.  The students on his team were bouncing up and down yelling "Hace viento!, Hace viento!".  We played that game for 2 days straight and the students were engaged, learning, and having fun.  The test scores were excellent, including the speaking part of the test.  Of course, making several copies of this game took an enormous amount of time.  I couldn't do it for each chapter, but I could modify different activities for daily use.  I felt like the game was a good compromise for all types of learners at the time, but I felt good that my kinesthetic kids were able to actually move around and use visuals and their hands. 

One of the reasons that I LOVE teaching a language is because you can really be creative in lesson planning.  Games and activities are so effective, and just about anything that encourages spontaneous use of the target language is beneficial rather than drill, repeat, drill, repeat.  I can't imagine doing a fashion show in biology class.  Maybe some skits though?  I am imagining the instructions: "Act out a cellular process".  I would have loved that!