Helping Colorado Students and Parents Understand Learning Styles

Your learning style is the way you acquire information. Students learn faster and retain more when information is presented to them in their learning styles of choice. Most people have a dominant learning style, but they can still learn when information is presented in another learning style. Teachers should present information in ways that appeal to all learning styles, but they may not always have the time to do so. When you know what your student’s learning style is, you can tailor information so that they can understand and process it better.

The Seven Learning Styles

Verbal (linguistic): Verbal students prefer using words to communicate, both in speech and writing. They like to read and take notes.

Physical (kinesthetic): These students prefer using their body, hands and sense of touch. They enjoy learning that is action-based like science experiments, making projects and working with their hands.

Visual (spatial): Spacially-oriented students prefer using pictures, images, and spatial understanding. They work well when information is presented in graphs, pie charts, infographics, pictures or video.

Aural (auditory-musical): These students prefer using sound and music. They like listening to lectures or talks.

Solitary (intrapersonal): These are independent learners who prefer to work alone and use self-study.

Logical (mathematical): These students prefer using logic, reasoning and systems. They are great with math and science.

Social (interpersonal): Social students prefer to learn in groups or with other people. They love organizing study groups and collaborative projects.

Consult your Teachers and Tutors

Ask your teacher or tutor to help to determine your student’s dominant learning styles. Most students use a combination of styles to assimilate information. While they will have a dominant style, it’s important to remember that styles are dynamic. That means that with practice, your student can adjust to any style of learning.

Once you know what your student’s preferred learning style is, you can teach them to arrange material to suit their style. For example, if your student prefers a visual learning style, organize information that they need to understand into graphs, infographics, mind maps and pictures. Let them watch videos on the subject and allow them to create videos and visually-oriented presentations for their projects. Presenting information in their learning style will help them to understand and remember.

Your tutor can help to teach your students how to arrange information into a more favorable format and how to tailor study skills to suit different subjects. Ask your tutor to give a brief test to determine learning style preferences.

Here are some resources for finding out your learning style online. Most of these resources are short tests which help you to see which learning style suits your student best. Do two or three to get a better idea of the learning styles that your student prefers:

NC State University

Vark

How to Learn

Education Planner

LDPride

Edutopia

Accelerated Learning

How to Encourage Class Participation in Shy Students

Shy students are often a teacher’s dream as they work hard to avoid drawing attention to themselves. While this may be easier to deal with, no teacher wants your student to miss out on educational opportunities. Participating in class, asking questions and being part of school activities will help your student to have a richer educational and social experience. Students who apply what they have learned in class exercises are more likely to reach a deeper understanding of the material and retain more of the information they have garnered.

Talk to your Teacher

If your student is shy, speak with your teacher about this and discuss ways in which to encourage participation. Teachers can ensure that shy students are seated at the front of the class so that they are more visible. Shy students may need a little longer to feel confident enough to answer questions or participate and teachers who understand this can be more accommodating.

Teachers can work to build a rapport with your student and can work one-on-one with them wherever possible. They can also encourage your student to participate and join in class activities.

Get a Tutor

The effects of student peer pressure are great and most students are shy because they don’t want to be embarrassed in front of their peers. Fear of failure may stem from the fact that they don’t know the answers to questions, feel overwhelmed by course materials or simply just don’t understand. You can overcome these academic issues by getting an in-home tutor.

An in-home tutor can work with your student one-on-one in an encouraging and safe environment. As your student fills in the gaps in their knowledge, their confidence will grow. When they understand what is happening in class, they will feel confident enough to ask questions and participate in activities.

Social Skills

Encouraging your student to participate in activities outside of the classroom will help them to gain the confidence to get involved inside the classroom. Sports, extra mural activities and social events are great places for them to mix with other students and form friendships. Social bonds are important in improving confidence.

Preparation

When students feel prepared, their confidence improves. Get your students to prepare some questions or read up on possible topics prior to class.

You can also role play with students so that they are more able to deal with possible situations that arise.

Be very encouraging and help to bolster their self-confidence by focusing on the positive rather than dwelling in the negative aspects of their social interaction and academic performance. You can improve their confidence by rewarding small successes and focusing on their achievements.

How to Choose the Right Tutor for your Student

Struggling academically or doing a little extra tutoring to bring up a grade point average is a natural part of growing up. Most students need a little extra help from time to time and getting a professional in-home tutor is the best choice for improving grades. One-on-one tutoring will mean that your student gets the all the help they need. There are so many benefits to tutoring, but you must find the right tutor to suit your student in order to for them to get the best out of the situation.

Benefits of tutors

• Tutors are able to identify the gaps in your student’s knowledge and fill in the building blocks for them.
• Tutors focus on teaching the skills your students need to excel, rather than just disseminating information.
• Each student has a learning style. Tutors are able to identify the learning styles of each student and then present information in ways that your student understands.
• The one-on-one tutoring gives your student the opportunity to answer without fear of embarrassment which helps them to build confidence and improves performance.
• Tutors teach students study methods that work for them. They can help students to study for exams and tests, help with homework, help them to effectively manage their time and compile study schedules that leave enough time to study for each subject.
• In-home tutors come to you and fit in with your schedule, so you aren’t inconvenienced.
• Confidence gained through tutoring will help reduce the anxiety your student feels in academic situations.

Choosing the right tutor
Start by talking with your student and their teacher. This will help you to ascertain exactly what difficulties your student is having. Knowing exactly what the problem is will help you to find a tutor that is the right fit.
The success of a tutoring program depends on your student, so get their opinions and input so that they are part of the process.
Once you have established your student’s needs, contact your local Tutor Doctor for a list of tutors in your area. Ensure that the tutors have the right qualifications to teach your student. Ask about their experience levels and what experience they have with the grade your student is in and the kinds of problems they are having.
Work with your student, teachers and tutor to set very clear goals. Ensure that the academic goals are realistic and achievable.
If the tutor isn’t a good fit for your student, feel free to ask for a different tutor. Getting the right tutor will exponentially improve your student’s performance.
In-home tutors are able to give your student their undivided attention, but there are alternatives like extra classes which are given at the tutoring center, online courses or phone tutoring which reduce the costs of tutoring for families.

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Choosing the Right Tutoring Program will Ensure Success

It’s back to school now for millions of students and vicariously for their parents. And as they hit the books, virtually all have the same goal: raise grades and test scores substantially to get into a good college and have a chance in an increasingly competitive job market. But the bad news is that many students are falling short of their academic goals.

“Low or failing grades produce shame, frustration, helplessness, hopelessness and peer group rejection,” says Larrie Reynolds, Superintendent of Mount Olive Township Public Schools. “This allows the student to convince even themselves that their lacking success in school is actually a personal lifestyle choice, rather than an inevitable fate.”

The good news is that through an effective tutoring program, students can overcome the academic and resultant social difficulties.

There are many causes of poor academic performance, but it almost always leads to negative consequences for the confidence of the student. “They may be upset with parental pressure, have no strong drive, lack confidence, have learning problems or face other apparent barriers. So to simply start ‘tutoring’ them so often backfires, turning out to be an exercise in futility,” says Frank Milner, president of Tutor Doctor, a global network of academic coaching companies.

“That’s why our academic coaches begin with what our process refers to as a personal discovery. Our people find out what is in the student’s heart and mind before we begin to deal with English, mathematics or history. If we know that there is something working against the learning process, we can address it quickly and effectively,” says Milner.

As an example, we look at a sophomore in High School and a competitive swimmer who failed most of his classes during his freshman year. Family stress reached a boiling point and his parents reached out to a tutor for help. Sophomore year, the student went through the personal discovery process and was seen by an academic coach for both English and Math. The student proceeded to get A’s and B’s and his parents couldn’t be happier.

The personal discovery looks for five key issues that can be blocking the student’s academic success:

• Working parents have little time to help students with academics.
• Students that “struggle in silence.” These students are too embarrassed to reach out for help at school.
• Too many extra-mural activities impede the student’s ability to perform academically.
• Gaps in educational fundamentals.  These gaps need to be filled in while working on current studies.
• Situations where moving is involved. Moving from state to state, elementary to middle school, middle school to high school, public to private and vice-versa.

“We know that by conducting the personal discovery first and also by filling in gaps in the student’s knowledge before trying to go to the next level, “says James Zazeski of Tutor Doctor, ” our system proves that it is highly effective in accelerating the trajectory of learning.”

“Dakota has only been with her academic coach for two months and already her test scores in grammar, science and history have gone from D’s and F’s to high A’s,” says  Tracy Healey, a Tutor Doctor client. “Your careful selection in matching the right tutor to the student was spot on. Dakota’s confidence level is through the roof and she now feels that she is very capable of achieving great success as a student. As a parent, I’m thrilled!”

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