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Testimonies and Interviews |
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Why study learning styles? The following personal testimonies and interviews from tutors, instructors, and students should help you to see the value this information can have in the business of tutoring. |
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Fellow Tutors: |
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Jim Wickenden: "Do I think we should impose our personality on [tutees]? No, but if we can "infect" them with enthusiasm, then surely it's a beneficial thing to do. That said though, how can our personalities not affect the way we tutor and how can that not be picked up by the tutee? It is somewhat harder to know our tutees' styles of learning, but try [a technique]. If that doesn't work then we should try something else. I'd like to say I have been successful to date, but I really don't know; I can only be honest to myself, adjust to try to accommodate the tutee, and hope for the best." |
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Zuby Pradhan: A fellow tutor in EWRT 97, Zuby created this excellent and informative PowerPoint slide show focusing on teenage development and learning styles. See it here. |
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Instructors: |
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Diana Alves de Lima: "I've seen several cases where a tutor and tutee are having a very hard time learning and working together, and they both get very frustrated. The tutor notices that the student never remembers anything from one session to the next, but the tutee thinks the tutor is very confusing and doesn't explain things well. In one case the tutor kept explaining things orally to the student and scribbling notes, but the student needed to see the information in a very neat, organized, color-coded way to understand it. Once they realized that their learning styles were completely different, they were able to joke about it and pay specific attention to how they communicated, and things got a lot smoother.
One simple question a tutor can ask a student is, "Describe a time when you were working on something very difficult, but you did a great job. What did you do?" That might reveal the student's learning strengths.
Another aspect of learning styles to keep in mind is that in many cases learning disabilities can be seen as a case of an EXTREME learning style: information learned in one way just doesn't get in, so the student learns to compensate in other ways. The whole trick of learning to learn is learning HOW you learn best and taking advantage of that." |
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Students (click here for my personal tutees' experiences): |
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Elaine Peach (a visual/non-verbal learner): "I have to have charts or diagrams to help me get the material, especially in math and science classes. They are the only way I can understand my teachers or the texts, so it would be great if tutors could provide extra visual diagrams!" |
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Robin Hellyer (an auditory learner): "Even though my teachers teach in an auditory style, it's helpful for my tutor to use this technique as well. What works for visual learners also often works for us, so tutors and teachers should try to incorporate both." |
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Chris Barnes (a kinesthetic learner): "I need to have something to do in class and when I study. It's hard to come and talk to teachers about extra help, so I think tutors need to find ways to help active learners. |
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Unfortunately, I could not find a student with a visual/verbal preference. As this is my personal style, all I can say is, please encourage notes and provide extra texts to the student so they can read multiple sources. |
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