Do you want your students to be enthusiastic about learning? Help them learn their emerging math and literacy skills by playing these games with blocks.
It's a fact: every child is unique, and as teachers we know that more than anyone else. So why do we often find ourselves trying to teach every child the same way?
While it is easier and more natural for us to make students sit still and feed them information, it is no longer a viable option. Children need differentiated instruction.
Children Are Hard-Wired to Learn By Using All of Their Senses
The four primary senses, or modalities, everyone uses to process information are the visual, auditory, tactile, and kinesthetic senses. In addtion, we all have talents, strengths, and intelligences in one or more of eight primary subjects (verbal/linguistic, visual/spatial, logical/mathematical, bodily/kinesthetic, naturalist, musical, interpersonal, and intrapersonal). Some people learn better using one of the senses than the others, and are stronger in some subjects than they are at others. And each child has a different mix of these strengths and preferences. Author and teacher Cindy Middendorf states the situation perfectly:
With children processing information in so many different ways (modalities), with so many different strengths (intelligences), at so many different rates (skill levels) and at so many different levels of maturity (developmental ages), what's a teacher to do?
MultiSensory, Active Involvement Grows Brain Cell Connections
By giving your students as many different ways as possible to learn and understand a topic, you are creating many different neurological pathways in their brains, so if they have a hard time processing information through one part of the brain, they can access it through another. It is a shame that subjects like music, art, and social studies are being tossed aside for more "academic" pursuits, despite the fact that they are clearly needed in a child's overall learning experience. You can easily reinstate these subjects in your classroom to create a learning environment that is holistic and yet still entirely academic.
Tailor Your Teaching to Meet the Needs of All Learners
The best way to do this is to provide a variety of activities related to your topic, being sure to include at least one for each of the four primary modalities and the eight primary strengths (there may be some overlap), and incorporating whole-group, small-group, and one-on-one instruction.
Since Mother's Day and Father's Day are coming up, we're learning about families this month. To give you an understanding of how a topic or unit of study can be explored in many different ways, I've listed some ideas below for differentiating while teaching a family unit.
The Modalities
VISUAL LEARNING MODALITY
Students can . . .
AUDITORY LEARNING MODALITY
Students can . . .
TACTILE LEARNING MODALITY
Students can . . .
KINESTHETIC LEARNING MODALITY
Students can . . .
The Intelligences
VERBAL/LINGUISTIC INTELLIGENCE
Students can . . .
VISUAL/SPATIAL INTELLIGENCE
Students can . . .
BODILY/KINESTHETIC INTELLIGENCE
Students can . . .
LOGICAL/MATHEMATICAL INTELLIGENCE
Students can . . .
NATURALIST INTELLIGENCE
Students can . . .
INTERPERSONAL INTELLIGENCE
Students can . . .
INTRAPERSONAL INTELLIGENCE
Students can . . .
MUSICAL INTELLIGENCE
Students can . . .
You Can't Get It Wrong
Keep in mind that the preferrered modalities and intelligences of very young children may not yet be clearly defined or developed. And don't worry about getting it wrong. All children take in information through all modalities, and have potential strengths in all intelligences. Exposing your students to different ways of learning will enrich them, not limit them. Just try to reinforce each child's strongest modality and most comfortable intelligence as much as you can.
To learn about some of my favorite resources for multisensory teaching, tune in tomorrow for my follow-up post, "Resources for the Differentiated Classroom." Also check out my families booklist.
Have a different weekend!
~Allie
It's a fact: every child is unique, and as teachers we know that more than anyone else. So why do we often find ourselves trying to teach every child the same way?
While it is easier and more natural for us to make students sit still and feed them information, it is no longer a viable option. Children need differentiated instruction.
Children Are Hard-Wired to Learn By Using All of Their Senses
The four primary senses, or modalities, everyone uses to process information are the visual, auditory, tactile, and kinesthetic senses. In addtion, we all have talents, strengths, and intelligences in one or more of eight primary subjects (verbal/linguistic, visual/spatial, logical/mathematical, bodily/kinesthetic, naturalist, musical, interpersonal, and intrapersonal). Some people learn better using one of the senses than the others, and are stronger in some subjects than they are at others. And each child has a different mix of these strengths and preferences. Author and teacher Cindy Middendorf states the situation perfectly:
With children processing information in so many different ways (modalities), with so many different strengths (intelligences), at so many different rates (skill levels) and at so many different levels of maturity (developmental ages), what's a teacher to do?
MultiSensory, Active Involvement Grows Brain Cell Connections
By giving your students as many different ways as possible to learn and understand a topic, you are creating many different neurological pathways in their brains, so if they have a hard time processing information through one part of the brain, they can access it through another. It is a shame that subjects like music, art, and social studies are being tossed aside for more "academic" pursuits, despite the fact that they are clearly needed in a child's overall learning experience. You can easily reinstate these subjects in your classroom to create a learning environment that is holistic and yet still entirely academic.
Tailor Your Teaching to Meet the Needs of All Learners
The best way to do this is to provide a variety of activities related to your topic, being sure to include at least one for each of the four primary modalities and the eight primary strengths (there may be some overlap), and incorporating whole-group, small-group, and one-on-one instruction.
Since Mother's Day and Father's Day are coming up, we're learning about families this month. To give you an understanding of how a topic or unit of study can be explored in many different ways, I've listed some ideas below for differentiating while teaching a family unit.
The Modalities
VISUAL LEARNING MODALITY
Students can . . .
AUDITORY LEARNING MODALITY
Students can . . .
TACTILE LEARNING MODALITY
Students can . . .
KINESTHETIC LEARNING MODALITY
Students can . . .
The Intelligences
VERBAL/LINGUISTIC INTELLIGENCE
Students can . . .
VISUAL/SPATIAL INTELLIGENCE
Students can . . .
BODILY/KINESTHETIC INTELLIGENCE
Students can . . .
LOGICAL/MATHEMATICAL INTELLIGENCE
Students can . . .
NATURALIST INTELLIGENCE
Students can . . .
INTERPERSONAL INTELLIGENCE
Students can . . .
INTRAPERSONAL INTELLIGENCE
Students can . . .
MUSICAL INTELLIGENCE
Students can . . .
You Can't Get It Wrong
Keep in mind that the preferrered modalities and intelligences of very young children may not yet be clearly defined or developed. And don't worry about getting it wrong. All children take in information through all modalities, and have potential strengths in all intelligences. Exposing your students to different ways of learning will enrich them, not limit them. Just try to reinforce each child's strongest modality and most comfortable intelligence as much as you can.
To learn about some of my favorite resources for multisensory teaching, tune in tomorrow for my follow-up post, "Resources for the Differentiated Classroom." Also check out my families booklist.
Have a different weekend!
~Allie