LauraEvans-StudentLearningStyles

This year I am student teaching in a kindergarten classroom with twenty students. The children range from ages five to six years and some have never been in a school setting; such as preschool, before. So, since this was most of their first experiences at school, it was very interesting to watch how they learn. Most of the students do not know their letters or numbers and cannot write their own names. My mentor teacher said that this is one of the lowest (learning level) group of students that she has ever had. There are several students in the classroom that seem to be ADD or ADHD and there are a couple who may be diagnosed with a mental illness in the future. There are only about eight students that I would consider are on level and where they should be, educationally and socially. For all of those reasons, there is a wide variety of learning styles that these kindergartners learn best from. Some of the students learn better if they are sitting in a chair as opposed to sitting on the carpet with the others. Most of the students need to see a teacher perform the task before they can comprehend it. There are a few students who need us (the teachers) to actually act out and motion to them what to do. I have found that group work and centers is great for this class because there are so many different styles that the children need and it is best for the students to work with those that are on the same learning level as them.