Teaching Strategies Integration - Research Proposal Example

Proposal for an Overview of My Personal Teaching Style in a an Adult Military Setting I recall in high school an abrupt change made by one of my teachers in mathematics. I was having no trouble at all following him, and I suspect most of the guys were like me. However, the girls seemed to just sit glassy-eyed and stare while he drew diagrams on the blackboard. Then one day, several weeks into the term he started to talk. He said he had had a visit from a parent the day before and that this parent had asked him to talk more while he diagrammed, because he child needed words to learn.

So he simply explained as he went and then asked questions. He told us that the parent was quite correct, and that he had failed to account for different learning styles. He went on to say that only the grade from then on would count, for that reason, since he felt it was unfair if he left out any of the students. This is how I try to teach my own adult students, both men and women. In this paper I will describe ten of my teaching strategies developed for this purpose.Even though I tend to favour teaching which addresses Kolbs Learning Styles , I am cognizant that there are, essentially five basic categories of learning styles.

These include:Visual, where the learners learn more by what they see;Auditory, where the learners learn more by what they hear;Kinetic, where the learners learn more by what physical action they take;Experiential, where the learners learn more by what they do to apply the learning;Discussive, where the learners learn more by discussing the subject with others.All of these now have different names. According to the researchers who theorized the latest research on them, but they basically represent the major methods for learning.

All learner use a combination of them all, with the exception of learners who are lacking the use of one or more physical senses. However, each learner learns more from one of these than the others. So the teacher who taught math using diagram was only addressing the visual learning style, and the students who favoured other learning styles were being left out. This diagram is the most useful for me when I am designing lessons, as it encompasses Kolb`s ideas very well, and includes all five of the methods I mentioned above.

However, it adds another dimension, that of procedure and interaction. So try to design each lesson so that it include opportunities to include all of this learning activity and all five learning styles.I do not always introduce the lesson in the same way, as each lesson requires something different to best communicate it content. However, at some time I present it in both visual and auditory fashion. Then I provide a way for the students to discuss the material before giving them an opportunity to apply the learning in some activity.

For every lesson I provide notes, though I do not always hand them out at the beginning. Some students take notes, while others just listen. All the students join in the discussion sessions and the hands on activities. Assessment follows using much the same pattern. I require the students to discuss the outcome, write something about it and then demonstrate their proficiency hands on.In the first ten pages of my report, I will discuss the following activities which address these learning styles:Activity based strategies: 1.

field trips (staff ride), 2. integrating technology (blogging and chatting), 3. oral presentation, 4. simulationCooperative based strategies: 5. direct instruction (lecture), 6. collaborative/cooperative, 7. peer teaching, 8. discussion, 9. community links, 10. conflict resolution In the last five pages I will describe the following theories and discuss how the lesson plans apply to them:Hills Cognitive Style Mapping; Kolbs Learning Styles; Dunn & Dunn`s Learning Styles; Grasha-Reichman Learning Styles; Gregorc Learning Styles.

In addition I plan to include the appropriate cognitive learning theory which applies. However, there is so much more than just these learning styles to consider, as shown in Dooley et al (2005 p63) I try to cover all which apply, according to the group of students, assessing as I go.ReferencesChapman, Alan . 2010 . http://www.businessballs.com/images/kolbs_learning_styles_businessballs.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.businessballs.com/kolblearningstyles.htm&h=675&w=859&sz=138&tbnid=VxAjWuMz-MtusM:&tbnh=114&tbnw=145&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dkolb%2527s%2Blearning%2Bstyles%2Bdiagram&hl=en&usg=__uZJYurIiNa7q59skEk2fzvPEGbc=&ei=tgWYS52FIZLaNan6rXs&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=1&ct=image&ved=0CA4Q9QEwAA Dooley, Kim E.

, Lindner, Larry R., Dooley, Larry M.. 2005 . Information Science Publishing . Hershey, PAJonassen, David H., Hopkins Barbara Louise, Grabowski . 1993 . Handbook of individual differences, learning, and instruction Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.. Hillsdale, NJ