Thursday, April 02, 2009

Learning Styles and the Magic of Classroom Management

How Teachers Make Magic

 

This is a true story of a New Zealand teacher called Tony. Read how he uses his knowledge of Learning Styles to make magic come alive in his classroom....

 

The Magical Classroom

 

·        The magical look is balanced: plenty of colour, but not too cluttered and not too bare.

·        The displays are functional and aid the learning process for visual students.

·        Children’s artwork is displayed in the corridor outside the classroom for the whole school to see: this makes the children feel proud and it keeps the classroom’s walls free for study aids.

·        Tony uses the findings of the class Learning Style Analysis (LSA) profiles to control the temperature and light in his classroom according to his students’ needs.

 

 

The Magic of Music

 

·        Tony knows that soft background music helps some of his students learn better - and he knows how many because of the free Learning Style Group Profile report.

·        He also plays his guitar in class and encourages students to make up songs that help them memorise difficult material.

 

 

The Magic of Motivation

 

·        Motivated students learn better. Motivated students behave better. That’s what Tony got when he scrutinised the summary of his students’ attitudes (found in the free Learning Style Group Profile report) and learnt how they responded to external motivation.

·        He also told his students that this was their classroom and negotiated with them what kind of class they want to be. Together they defined the behaviours and rewards they were acceptable to all.

 

Tony is well aware of the 10 Most Common False Beliefs About Learning  - are you?

 

 

 

1 comment:

Classroommng1 said...

The article is very useful for teachers. The tips provided for better teaching are very useful. I know of a wonderful website which promotes classroom management. The amazingly simple methods of gaining class control, building relationships with difficult pupils and de-escalation strategies are shown here.