Diversity, Learning Style, and Culture

In this article, Pat Burke Guild identifies the contradiction of being aware that every student learns and thinks and does in his or her own unique way, and yet schools promote uniformity. The challenge is to have student achieve a “common mission” while supporting various learning and thinking styles. To create a valuable learning experience, teachers must have an understanding of every student’s style. Just as students have one or a few dominant learning styles, so do teachers tend to favor one type of teaching. Along with an awareness of how students learn, a teacher needs to be aware of how he or she tends to teach. This knowledge will provide “greater opportunities for success” for both students and teachers.
I learned last year that I am a very strong visual learner. I learn best by being able to see something in front of me, such as a diagram or picture. As a teacher, it is easy to try and teach in the same way that I learn. If I am aware and observant of my students’ strengths, I can then improve my own teaching strategies to meet the needs of my students. I look back on my own experience in elementary and high school and see signs of uniformity. No teacher ever made it evident that he or she had noticed my learning strengths. Instead, everyone was given the same assignment with the same parameters. If I didn’t do as well as my straight A classmates, I assumed I just wasn’t as smart. I have always noticed that I learn well when I can see something in front of me, but I never thought much about how we all learn differently. I believe that when a teacher cares enough to try to reach every student by using the various teaching and learning styles, it shows that the teacher cares about the student and wants that student to learn and to succeed.