As I mentioned in my previous post, I couldn't initially answer how people learned or what I considered my own learning theory. The project was very simple and easy to create really, but it was the content that I had to wait for and ponder. As I worked with my students in small groups, I realized that I didn't know how they preferred to learn. When students come to me for our brief intervention time, we are all business (some play, but mainly business). So, why would I ask them how they learn best when I already know how I have to teach them? Wow, did I really think that?!
I remembered a YouTube video with students asking to be engaged, so I watched it again. (You can too here: http://youtu.be/ZokqjjIy77Y) Then I took a walk around my school to see how learning was taking place, and if indeed students were engaged in their learning. No surprise...I saw very few students engaged in learning. So I wondered, how do we engage students so they are invested in their own learning? Well we start by asking them how they learn best...
That is exactly what I did, asked students. Some of my youngest ones needed examples of learning styles or ways in which we learn, but they were very quick to identify which ones they preferred. Then they wrote on whiteboards or papers and I captured it. Simple. Intense, considering that many had never been asked the question before.
My trailer took a serious tone because I wanted viewers to see how serious my students took the question. I actually trimmed a lot of my footage for time sake, but still went over the time limit. I felt that the message needed to be conveyed directly from the students themselves, and 2 minutes just wasn't enough to hear what students had to say. I think we managed to get the message across and I was able to fully develop my learning theory.
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