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Literacy with Kay McSpadden
Meet Wood Designs Literacy Consultant Kay McSpadden
Kay is an English teacher with a Master's Degree in English,
a published writer and an op-ed columnist for the Charlotte Observer.
She and her husband, Randy, have two sons;
Jamie, 20, a junior at Yale, and Will, 18, a freshman at Emory.
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Learning Styles
Kay McSpadden
Just as no two children look or act alike, every child has a unique learning style. Researchers have divided these learning styles, or preferences, into three large categories, and teachers are trained to tailor their lessons to appeal to every style. That way, each different learner will have an opportunity to grasp the skills and content being presented.
Parents, too, can help their children at home best if they know their child's preferred learning style. While many different tests can give a fairly accurate reading of a child's learning style, parents can get a good idea simply by observing their children.
The majority of school-aged children are visual learners. They remember what they see and prefer reading instructions and graphs to help understand new material. Visual learners are often bothered by noises or other distractions while they read, and though they love reading on their own, they also enjoy a cuddly bedtime story.
As many as a third of all children learn best by listening. They are eager to join a debate or discussion in class and sometimes have trouble waiting their turn to talk. When they do, they are exceptionally articulate and engaging. They prefer being read to or listening to audio-books rather than reading alone, but when they do have to read, they enjoy having soft music in the background to help them concentrate.
Physical learners (sometimes called kinesthetic or tactile learners) need physical movement to help them learn. They excel at projects at school that involve building or creating, though they often resist the quiet activity of reading.
Teachers and parents can foster literacy for each learning style easily.
Visual learners especially enjoy reading a book that is a companion to a current movie, since both activities are visual in nature. They find organizing and labeling photograph albums a fun activity, and they like keeping diaries or reading author websites. These children appreciate children's magazines and comic books, and with a little encouragement they can crank out their own.
Auditory readers can be coaxed to read more if they have a pen pal or phone friend who is also reading the same books. Their love of conversation can be channeled into book discussions with kid book groups or summer reading groups hosted by Scouts or the library. Even reading a cookbook with your auditory learner and choosing recipes to make together is a good literacy exercise.
Physical learners enjoy making things related to literacy such as their own family or classroom newspapers or bookmarks that they can illustrate and give to friends. Give your physical learner a notebook where he can write words he comes across that he doesn't know and call it his personal dictionary. Create a comfortable space in his room reserved for reading. When authors visit the library for readings, take your reluctant reader so that the enthusiasm of the event lights his own excitement for books.
Keep in mind that playing to a child's strengths is good, but pushing him to develop his weaknesses is also good. If your child strongly prefers to learn visually, pop an audio-book in the car's CD player the next time you run errands together. If your child is an auditory learner, keep a children's crossword or sudoku book handy for those times when he complains that he is bored. For your physical learner, cuddle at bedtime as usual but let him be the book reader as soon as he is able.
Most importantly, show your children that learning is fun!
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The aforementioned are professional opinions. All of these are the sole property of WDM, Inc.
Any use of the contents, above statements, or ideas requires the written permission of WDM, Inc. Violators will be prosecuted.
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