Module 2

One thing that caught my attention from this week reading was the topic of different learning and thinking styles. I found this very interesting because of the course of my education, I struggled to find what type of learner I was and thus my education suffered. According to Woolfolk (2016), learning style can be defined as " the way a person approaches learning and studying (p. 132). The text mentions that we should not label our students with a certain category of learning (i.e. visual, audio, etc.), but instead we should focus on each student's learning preferences such as learning environment,  lighting, individuals in the environment, time, music, etc. (132). I think that it is important for us as educators to know what of learning preferences each and every one of students like so we can make their educational experience the best it can be.  Also, each school or classroom should have different types of environments for students to choose from such as music vs earplugs, quiet areas, bigger tables for group work, bright vs dark lite rooms, etc. As I mentioned previously, I struggle to find what type of learner/learning preferences that constituted me as a learner, thus this made my education suffer. Growing up, we were told as students that we each were a different type of learner such as visual, audio, verbal, etc. and that should figure out what type we are so that we could excel in all aspect of our education. I felt that this really hinder my learning because my of my peers had found their so-called style and yet there I was just trying to understand the information being presented to me. As a future educator, I hope that I will be able to have the one-on-one individual time with each student to create a learning environment that benefits each student diverse learning preferences.

Another topic that was covered in the readings this week was diversity. As teachers, we will be faced with students who come from many different types of backgrounds. Again we as educators must be able to make all of our students feel safe and welcomed. In chapter 6, Woolfolk mentions how some teacher may treat their students different and set lower standards because of their backgrounds such as poverty, etc. According to Woolfolk (2016), "these lower expectations, along with a lower-quality educational experience, can lead to a sense of learned helpless" (p.218).  I believe that we should treat all of our students regardless of what their backgrounds are or what may be going on in their personal lives. Also if we treat all the students the same then we may have a better chance of getting our students engaged in their learning.