Secrets of successful teaching: flexibility and matching styles

(excerpt from "The Power of Diversity" by Barbara Prashnig)

1. Matching students’ learning styles with the appropriate teaching styles will always lead to successful interaction between teachers and their students, and result in improved learning outcomes as we have seen in this chapter.

2. High flexibility for achieving genuine style matches is maybe more important, and teachers need to be confident in choosing their methods and strategies, and must be prepared to try something else when the usual methods don’t work. This ‘something else’ should not be trial and error, but based on a sound knowledge of students’ learning style needs. But isn’t that what teachers are supposed to do anyway, you might ask. Supposed maybe, but very few teachers are actually flexible enough to change their methods according to their students’ learning needs because most teachers have a very limited repertoire of teaching methods - remember, they have all been trained by the same analytical system - and when the few well-known strategies don’t work, they are soon at their wits’ end, blaming everyone and everything else for their students’ failure and finally give up on them.

Another reason for this unfortunate situation is the fact (again based on research findings and our own

experiences in data collection) that teachers are among the least flexible people of all professional groups. The majority have very strong preferences based on analytic, left-brain dominance, paired with very strong beliefs about what’s right and wrong in learning. They find it very hard to flex and adjust, prefer to stay with what they know, even when this knowledge is outdated, and generally resist change.

(...) It is quite obvious that educators need to become more flexible, and teachers who are now working

with learning styles realise that it is they who have to be the most flexible person in class. Highly flexible people usually get on well with others and you probably remember one or the other teacher who was well-liked by everyone, who always found a way to get on with others and were a great inspiration for the young ones.

(Purchase link: "The Power of Diversity" by Barbara Prashnig)

Santa Claus and his Learning Style

Whether you believe in Santa Claus or not, here is a fun puzzle for you: what do you think Santa’s Learning Style might be?

Let’s figure it out together.

First of all, Santa must have an amazing memory. Imagine remembering the Christmas wish list of every child in the world! Most of the letters to Santa come as text or pictures, so he has to be good at visual input! But you can also whisper your wish to him in the local supermarket, so his auditory memory should be pretty awesome, too!

Now consider all the toys Santa

makes through the year: that’s a job for a tactile person. But, but, but he also travels the world - by sleigh or surfboard or bike - to deliver presents. He must be kinesthetic!

He works well alone or in a group of elves. His preference is to get the bulk of the chores done at night, especially if you remember to leave milk and

cookies (intake) for him. He is very responsible and never fails to give you a present.

What other Learning Style elements can you th

ink of? Go on, have a try.

Do you know your own Learning Style?

Jobs, Career Choice and Learning Styles

Your Learning Style is important not only for school. The sport you play, the people relationships you have and the type of job you choose all depend on the preferences and non-preferences of your Learning Style. When talking about your unique style at work, we usually refer to that set of preferences and non-preferences as your Working Style.

Some elements of your Working Style have no bearing whatsoever on the career path you choose. Others are of paramount importance. It all depends on the job. Because the Pike River Mine disaster is still very much in the news, I can’t stop thinking about all the people involved and their Working Style profiles:

• Miners usually display a preference for teamwork, routine and kinesthetic learning.
• Rescue workers exhibit a preference for working style elements such as variety, responsibility and high perseverance.
• Security inspectors need to be analytic as well as holistic thinkers, with a reflective decision making style.
• Crisis managers often have to be comfortable making quick decisions, so their style should be impulsive rather than reflective. Their information processing should be a good balance of analytic and holistic thinking.
• If your job calls for working nightshifts, it’s a good idea to have a working style preference for concentrating in the evening hours.

Of course, some personality traits, such as bravery and compassion, cannot be classified using the Working Style Pyramid. And that’s as it should be. People are unique blends of their Working Styles, personalities and souls.

(For more information on determining your Working Style, have a look here.)

National Disaster - Flags at Half Mast

New Zealand and Australia are in mourning following the tragedy in the Pike River coal mine, in which 29 brave men have lost their lives. We at Creative Learning join in condolences for the victims' families and friends. For almost a week, we prayed for a miracle, encouraged by the uplifting story of the Chilean gold miners. Sadly, the conditions in the two mines were vastly different and the finality of the second explosion at Pike River ended our hopes.

Learning Styles of Creative Minds

If you went back in time to, say, 30 years ago, and tried to tell people that:

• you read newspapers and watch TV on your computer...
• ... in fact, a few months ago you witness the rescue of 34 Chilean miners from 700m below the ground....

If you said:

• you talk your friends and family across the oceans via a personal computer...
• ... or via a phone you carry around in the street....

If you told them you watched the latest soccer World Cup live at the cinema in 3D, have an opinion on cloning and genetically modified foodstuffs, that night-time lenses can correct myopia and you can fit an entire library into your pocket...

... then people would call you very creative indeed. Creative with the truth, that is. And yet, this is precisely the weird and wonderful world we live in.

It takes a creative mind to imagine things that don't exist yet. What Learning Style would you expect such a creative person to have?

• Integrated with a tendency towards holistic
• Non-conforming
• With a preference for change
• Multi-sensory
• High perseverance

How creative are you? Find out what your Learning Style is.

Picasso put it best: "Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist when you grow up."

The 3 Levels of Literacy

Adult literacy is an emerging issue in highly developed countries, one that will have to be addressed within the next few decades. Although most school-leavers can read and write, and can figure out 15+24 without the aid of a calculator, their education had failed them nevertheless.

Workplaces have encountered a huge gap in the adult work literacy arena. Employees are unable to follow written instructions, estimate measurements or use computers for anything other than games. And yet, in today's workplace, we are expected to think critically, create procedures and possess elementary IT skills.

Many adults can read a newspaper yet cannot read a technical document such as a safety manual. Also, because of the global-village syndrome, many production lines employ people from diverse cultures, whose schooling system did not focus on what we see as core skills, or whose home language is different from the language spoken at the factory.

All these aspects make Working Style Analysis (WSA) an absolute must-have tool for any employer. (Please note that if language or reading skills are a challenge, you may require a translator to ensure accuracy of the analysis. You may also use the LSA Mini tool, which caters towards English-As-A-Second-Language adults.)

The Learning Style of a Bully

Bullying is a problem in schools worldwide. Whether it has grown since our own schooldays, or is simply only now receiving the attention it deserves, is still being debated. One thing is clear, however: 20 years ago teenagers did not send threatening text messages, they did not post demeaning videos on youtube, nor did they impersonate the victim on social networks. Technology has changed the face of bullying behaviour...

... and yet the face of the bully remained the same.

It is the face of somebody who does not fit in.

While there is no excuse for bullying behaviour, it is a sad reality that once somebody is labelled a bully (or indeed typecast as a victim), it's usually too late. Children yearn to understand themselves and to be understood, and the bully-label is all too neat an excuse for venting their frustrations. "I'm a bully, so I'll just punch your face whenever you annoy me."

The solution is to be proactive...

... and to identify children with bullying tendencies before they get a chance to display bullying behaviour.

Many children become rebellious at school because they feel bored, stifled and misunderstood. The secret to their successful integration into the school system lies in satisfying the needs of their unique Learning Style.

The way in which a bully absorbs new and difficult information might not vary from his non-bullying peers when it comes to the VAK (visual, auditory and kinesthetic-tactile) needs. His or her bullying potential will come out in their non-conformist attitudes, dislike of authority and their non-preference for external motivation.

(To check a student's learning style preferences, you can start here.)

With the Anti-Bullying Week upon us (15-19 November 2010), many people make a point to speak out against the problem. This is fantastic. Four in every five pupils are not involved in bullying incidents, i.e., they are neither the bully not the victim, yet they seldom have the opportunity to do something constructive.

You don't need to analyse a bully's Learning Style to realise they are already a bully. Anybody who hurts another person:

• through a physical act,
• with shouting, intimidating gestures, pulling mean faces,
• by saying hurtful things about them,

is guilty of being a bully and should be reported.

What anti-bullying policies exist at your school? Do they use Learning Style Analysis to identify early warning systems that could imply bullying tendencies?