I was afforded the opportunity to present my lecture on “How You Learn Best & Learning Styles” to 28 students during the summer, “New Student Boot Camp” hosted on West Campus, August 10 – 15th, 2014. Over the summer I have been researching the effect of "Healing the Child Within," by Charles Whitfield, M.D. and its impact on learning. So, it was my pleasure to deliver this first presentation to these engaged students who committed to a full week of eight-hour days to review and reinforce mathematics, literacy, and student success skills.
I opened my 40-minute session with the
question, “How can you connect the words
fun and responsibility?” After a
moment of pause, students needed some encouragement and were partnered with a peer for 3 minutes to reflect on my question.
The answers from the audience were astounding.
“Well, life is fun and full of responsibilities,” said one student partnership.
To dig a bit deeper I asked the student speaking to elaborate on their explanation.
“You know, you kind of have responsibilities and such with life, but it also is a lot of fun.”
Another engaged student partnership shared, “We thought that a requirement is something that you have to do, and to have fun you have to do something.”
Wow!
The connections were starting to bubble up. So, I blew some bubbles for them – and the
student who bravely shared with the group was encouraged to go around the room
and receive their high-fives from the participants.
It appeared that quite a few of the students were still
muddy on the concept of fun and responsibility being linkable. So, I returned to the
white board to capture individual feedback from students collecting their
excellent responses.
I shared, “You know I think college is both full of fun and responsibilities. I mean, you are responsible to come to class, take and pass the tests, pay your tuition, fees, and such, but it is also fun because you get to meet new people, learn more about yourself and your world, decide on a career pathway, and engage in civic and cultural experiences.”
To make this concept real for the students I
moved to the computer, logged into “Pandora” and asked them to join me in a
dance celebration for our hard work. It
was a hoot! Now they were starting to loosen up a bit and let their mind, body,
and spirit start to connect with the lecture.
After a brief moment to collect ourselves from the dancing
break, I invited the students to watch the following video clip and answer the
next question, “What evidence do you see
in this video, which proves this individual used their strengths to achieve their
dream?” They were encouraged to use
their recently warmed-up critical thinking engines (brains) and their new fun
friends (buddies).
While
students watched the 5:50 minute video I drew the following on the board to
collect their responses, see below.
Again students were partnered with peers to reflect on the video and
formulate a response to the question. However,
this time the original student partnerships were matched with another set of
students creating a group of four minds focused on this concept and they were
offered five minutes.
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| Montez Bates, Manager of Learning Support Services (West Campus) |
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| Amanda Da Giau, Tutorial Support Center Specialist, (West Campus) |
Students were requested to return to their seats, log in to
their computer and access the website www.vark-learn.com
to complete their Learning Styles “Questionnaire”. While the students were working I drew the
following double-bubble on the board, see below.
As students completed their inventory to find
their personalized learning style Montez Bates circulated the handout “Contract with the Universe - Sample List of Basic Human Rights”, by Jacy, see below
scanned document, and were asked to leave their V.A.R.K. (Verbal, Auditory, Read/Write, Kinesthetic) learning style
result results on their computer screen. 12 minutes later I asked students to slowly bring their
process of completing their inventories to a close and to draw the above double-bubble
on the back of their “Contract with the Universe - Sample List of Basic Human Rights”. Next, I instructed the students to write
down their on dominate learning style on the back of their paper (the V.A.R.K. which was the highest scored).
To conclude my lecture I shared, “We all have unique strengths and skills, which make us learn best and study without stress. Hopefully, you have just you're your personalized learning strength and will start to integrate the tips and tricks for your unique style and successful learning experience in college. Unfortunately, in our society many students believe that learning only happens in one way - when you are sitting straight in your seat, quiet, and take lots of notes. However, there are all sorts of ways individuals learn and function in our world. Today I hope to have challenged your mindset on learning styles through an immersed experience. I request you to answer my final question on your own, and we will not complete the intersection of the double-bubble as I leave that to your wisdom. "How will you be a success?" It has been a true pleasure to spend time with you, today, and I wish you success in college at Valencia.”
At the end of my presentation it was a complete surprise to have a roaring round of applause from the audience, but most importantly it was a pleasant comment from a student in my lecture, while entering the women's restroom, which made my heart happy.
"You did really good," said the student.
"You know, I agree. I had fun and completed my responsibility. It is the joy of being at Valencia College. Hope you enjoy it, too."
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