Assessing Student Learning Profile

You can build momentum and reconnect with students by discovering or reaffirming how your students learn best; then offer learning activities that teach, support, and encourage your students. You’ll create momentum in your classroom when your students are actively engaged and interested in these activities. One option is to create or find formal inventories that assess for learning styles inventory and/or multiple intelligences inventory. (These links provide examples you can use with your students.)

Another option is to create activities that engage all learning profiles. One example would be implementing learning centers. Using sensory learning preferences as an example, you simply need to understand that students learn primarily through four sensory preferences—visual, auditory, tactual, or kinesthetic.

Students learn best when learning activities appeal to their dominant style(s). This doesn’t mean you have to teach the same lesson four different ways. In fact, doing so would definitely cause you to lose momentum. Instead, you can appeal to all four sensory styles and engage students with learning activities that offer meaningful experiences your students will remember, and that aren’t a drain on your time and resources.

Learning centers provide a way for you to address all four sensory preferences (for this example) in one activity. Learning centers are designated areas in the classroom where students do the work. These centers can help enhance, reinforce, or extend a particular skill or concept associated with a unit of study.

The first step is to profile your students to discover how they learn best. Once you have profiled your students, put them in groups of four to six. It’s best if you place students with a variety of learning styles in each group. Students  who are strong in one style can help those who are weaker, and comfort levels will vary at each center. 

Next, create learning centers around your classroom. In your subject area, you’d have at least four centers (one for each sensory style), and probably more than four since the average classroom has more than 24 students. If you need more than four centers, the additional centers can appeal to any of the four senses. If you have more visual students, you might want to create an additional visual center since that will be most appealing to them. On the other hand, they’d be encouraged to stretch their learning if the center were auditory, kinesthetic, or tactual instead.

The general characteristics you’ll want to keep in mind for creating learning centers for each of the sensory styles would be:

Kinesthetic	A kinesthetic learning center needs to be spacious and roomy. At this center, allow students to work lying on the floor or sitting on large exercise balls. Provide equipment that encourages students to use large motor skills, such as jump ropes, carpentry tools, sports equipment, props, or costumes.
Tactual	A tactual learning center is best situated in a quiet corner where students can converse and create. Supplies to consider for this center would be small objects or a variety of art and craft supplies, such as pipe cleaners, buttons, pens, paper clips, and stickers.
Auditory	An auditory learning center, like a kinesthetic one, will probably be noisy and might be disruptive to students in the visual and tactual learning centers. Consider situating an auditory learning center far from the other centers to keep them from interfering with one another. This center will focus on speaking and listening. You may want to have voice recorders available, an audio playback device, musical instruments, or scripts to read. You might also consider providing directions for this center on CD.
Visual	A visual learning center should ideally be in an area where students can quietly look at pictures or books. Supplies you might want to consider for this center are pictures, paper, pens, and pencils. Pictures can also be found on the Internet if you screen for them beforehand.

You can write directions for each center beforehand and make them available at the centers, or you can provide a verbal overview about each center to the whole class before they get started. Make yourself available to answer  questions once students are at their centers. Centers can be set up just for the day, or you can add new materials to centers throughout a unit or even all year. Centers can be used to introduce new material or reinforce something  you’ve been teaching. They are an excellent momentum or motivation boost whenever your class needs it.