Spencer

Freeman
ID 251
Spring 2015


Assignment 2 : Reflection

As I reflect on learning styles as well as my teaching styles I have different

opinions. As a learner I prefer the old style of lecturing coupled with a spattering of
technological forms of instruction. Multiple forms of stimuli keep me engaged and
ready to absorb what is being taught. Online courses are a form of instruction that is
new to me and difficult for me to get engaged in, possibly because of my learning
style of preferring to be instructed rather than self taught. It is my opinion that
online courses are a cumbersome form of learning that has students spending more
time searching for what and how the instructor wants an assignment completed
rather than accomplishing learning. In the inverse I have been in courses in my
collegiate career that have left me wishing I had slept all day than have attended
some horrible lectures. All of us have different learning style and reaching a student
body as diverse as the Community College system is difficult at best.

For three years I was an adjunct instructor in a construction management

program at SJVC. In my first few courses I mostly did lecturing and I quickly realized
that I needed to step up my game to aid in the learning process of my students. I did
not totally abandon lecturing but rather supplemented various additional learning
opportunities such as videos, YouTube clips and I would assign chapters or topics
for each student to do a 5 min oral presentation in front of their classmates. With
this lesser version of the flipped classroom I noticed an increase of interest from my
students. Jobsite field trips became a usual practice to show the application of what

we were studying about in the course. I was lucky enough to have a few projects
going on during that time to easily facilitate these site visits. The classroom effort
that my students responded with as I upped my effort was apparent. They enjoyed
the different learning opportunities and they gave much more effort into their
course work than I had noticed previously.

It is my opinion that there is not a better way of teaching. There are rather

different ways of teaching and stimulating your students to learn. I have heard a
quote before in regards to teaching youth, teaching youth is like throwing mud at a
fence. You dont know when its going to stick so you have to just keep throwing
(Rendell Pratt, personal communication, June 1997). The same holds true with
teaching styles. Not every teaching style will work for each student but rather we, as
educators, should attempt a variety of styles to reach our diverse audience of
students with their different learning styles.