Self Advocating and Persevearance are the New Learning-Styles

  

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Math did not come easy to me throughout most of my K-12 life. There were many nights spent at my kitchen table, tears rolling down my face as my parents would try their best to help me break down word problems. Numbers would be pulled out of thin air by me, leading my parents to return to the mantra of “you cannot just make things up!” and then the yelling from me would continue. Word problems would take me hours to solve until the day my parents figured out I needed math to be more visual. Afterwards, all my word problems included stick figures, diagrams with arrows and numbers, and lots of boxy looking cars going x miles per hour from point A to point B. Although my parents knew I needed the visual learning, they never once told me I was only a visual learner, nor did they tell me I had to tell my teachers (the experts in their eyes) that visualization was the only way I could learn. Using pictures was my way of better understanding the material and one of many skills I could utilize to help me learn better, but it was never the only way. The concept of learning styles as a child was never over emphasized but instead “tried on” and placed in my toolbox of possible skills to use when the learning was difficult. In this way, I am lucky that my parents never bought into labels as a crutch for why I was struggling, and instead used learning styles as a way to overcome difficulties but never the only way.

Now, fast forward to me as an English/Language Arts teacher helping students fill their own toolboxes with various ways of learning for each content area, which occasionally utilizes the learning styles of kinesthetic, visual, tactile, and auditory. Unfortunately, early in my career I did utilize the quizzes and made informed decisions about how my students learn best while allowing them to label themselves as these kinds of learners. However, what I quickly discovered in my primarily English Language Learner classrooms, was that all students benefit from all learning styles, especially when learning how to read, write, speak, and listen. All students benefit from hearing how a word sounds, using the new vocabulary in a sentence, drawing pictures to represent the meaning of the word, and even acting how their interpretations of how the word is represented. All students benefit from listening to other students share answers, writing their own answers, visually drawing concepts from stories, and sharing their own learnings with the class. Learning styles should not be taught in silos, but built upon like Legos.

The most difficult students I have taught have been the ones who use their learning styles or educational labels (Gifted and Talented, 504 Plans, IEPs, etc) as badges of honor and crutches, instead of something that helps or hinders their learning. Obviously, I am more than accommodating for students who have these very necessary accommodations, but as a teacher my job is to help students achieve success by learning the skills that help them overcome their adversities so they can be successful adults, workers/employees, and/or college students. I appreciated the analysis of how learning-styles have been so popular by the authors Pashler, McDaniel, Rohrer, and Bjork, specifically regarding responsibility. They state, “If a person or a person’s child is not succeeding or excelling in school, it may be more comfortable for the person to think that the educational system, not the person or the child himself or herself is responsible” (p.108). I have encountered students who have approached me and said they cannot take notes or give a speech because it does not align with their learning-style. Students do not learn these words on their own! I know there are no Instagram, Tik-Tok, or Snapchat accounts they follow that reinforce learning styles like “Yo! You a visual learner bruh so you can’t speak in front of a crowd! You gotta go H.A.M with the drawings!” (Please know I just combined a ton of slang that may or may not be popular at the moment… I try to keep up but Urban Dictionary only allows me to be so up to date and most of it makes me blush when I look it up). Somewhere in their education, a teacher/parent/adult told them they could only learn and be successful one way, and honestly, that is really sad. That adult limited the student’s ability to see struggle and learn how they best can overcome it to be successful. Instead, that student now thinks they can only learn one way and often that one way is not a one-size-fits-all for every challenge. 

I believe advocating for individual needs is an extremely valuable skill for students, but not when it closes them completely off to a new way of being successful. The label does not always help students but hinders their ability to learn. My best students who have IEPs or specific educational labels have been the ones who advocate for their needs while asking for help on how to become better learners applying a wide variety of skills and tools to their repertoire. They want to succeed and refuse to limit themselves to one style. This to me is way more important to teach our students than what learning-style or personality they are; teach them how to advocate and apply skills so they experience their own success to struggles. Struggling is the core of learning; it is our jobs to help students see their full potential in those moments not pigeon-hole them.