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Running head: LEARNER EDUCATION PROFILE

My Learner Education Profile

Sara Solano

County College of Morris

Author’s Note

This paper was prepared for Behavior Observation in Education, EDU-211, Section

80320, taught by Professor Deborah Sullivan.

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Running head: LEARNER EDUCATION PROFILE

My Learner Education Profile

Teaching is a demanding task, that requires the orchestration of a wide array of

methods used to maximize learning. To effectively apply educational methods, it is imperative

that teachers consider students’ individuality, in order to form a personalized, student-centered

learning experience. As an aspiring teacher, I have been given the task to recognize my own set

of learning preferences. That entails: being able to pin point my strengths, as well as my

weaknesses and how those influence my inclinations toward specific learning activities and

studying methods. This knowledge of self, is meant to help me connect with my students in a

more personal level, by understanding the need for me to recognize their learning preferences,

in order to successfully achieve the highest level of learning possible. In this paper, I will

describe my learning preferences, and analyze how they were influenced by my cultural

background, personality, environment, and “intelligence”.

From what I can recall, even during the very early stages of my education, I learn best

with learning activities that are hands-on and give me a high level of autonomy. I am more

capable of staying engaged when I am in charge of the activity or at least highly involved in it.

For example, when it comes to reading, whether it’s a story or a set of instructions, it is easier

for me to grasp them by reading them on my own, versus listening to them being read. I also

prefer reading my-self because doing so, allows me to go at my own pace and go back to re-

read passages that I find interesting or confusing. Re-reading helps me immensely to learn in

depth. Although I prefer working quietly and independently, participating in a classroom

discussion helps me learn. For me, participating in a discussion can often help me clarify and
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Running head: LEARNER EDUCATION PROFILE

organize my thoughts, as it does, listening to other people’s perspectives. It is even better when

the discussion is in the form of a debate. The excitement that a debate causes is highly

motivational for me; which keeps me engaged and in more than one occasion it has awakened

interests that I didn’t have in the past.

When it comes to teaching styles, my preferred methods vary depending on the subject

matter being taught. For example, more liberties can be taken when teaching a subject like

literature and more autonomy can be granted therefore is difficult for me to single out a

specific teaching style. However, it is a different story when it comes to math. Although

creativity can and it should be used during math instruction, the teaching method that works

best for me is “direct instruction”. Direct instruction is the most accurate method to help me

learn math because it involves lots of practice and frequent assessments. Practice and

assessment are the most important aspects for me to be able to retain mathematical concepts.

As a young child, I felt math came easy to me because I was very good at memorization. It was

effortless for me to memorize math facts. As I got older, and lost a great deal of my

memorization abilities, I was faced with the harsh reality that math was hard for me. I realized,

that my ability to memorize facts so easily, actually hindered my learning. Later on, I was not

equipped with the basic knowledge required to solve more difficult math equations. During

direct instruction, learning mishaps like the one that happened to me can be avoided which is

why is my preferred method. The teacher spends relatively a short period of time explaining the

concept before engaging the class with questions to check student understanding. Then

practice begins, and the teacher helps along with feedback.

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Running head: LEARNER EDUCATION PROFILE

The least effective teaching style for me is lecture for any subject matter for me is

lecture. During lecture, it is almost impossible for me to remain focused. Unwillingly, my mind

begins to wonder and I often tune out the lesson. Like I mentioned before, for me to learn I

need to be actively involved in my learning, and lecturing is the teaching method that employs

very little to non, active student participation. For the most part student participation during a

lecture, is limited to specific questions about the material. It is difficult to ask a specific question

when a great part of the material is not being absorbed by the student.

Part of my self-discovery, entailed determining how my intelligence is categorized

according to Howard Gardner’s “Multiple Intelligences Theory”. Gardner’s theory was

developed as a contribution to the psychology community, but its enlightening ideas about

human potential was adopted by the education community as a guide to help create teaching

methods that can benefit the education of all students. The multiple intelligences quiz revealed

my top three intelligences, but the intelligence I favored was the “self” or “intrapersonal”

intelligence. It describes me as an introvert and a person that has a good sense of self.

It was interesting to find out what intelligence I favor. The result for the most part, can

be linked to my preferred methods of learning. However, I did find some discrepancies in the

results that made claims about specific learning methods that would not work me, when I

personally feel the complete opposite. What this tells me is that categorizing students, although

done with the best intentions, can be dangerous. I sustain my claim, that a student’s

uniqueness has to be considered to better help them learn. What I don’t agree with is that a

student learning is limited to a specific style. In my case, I do prefer to work independently but

that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t benefit from working in a group. The biggest difference lies on the
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Running head: LEARNER EDUCATION PROFILE

way it can benefit a person like me versus others. Another aspect that teachers need to keep in

mind when employing instructional strategies to benefit a specific student, is “classroom

equity”. A teacher can not neglect one student’s needs in efforts to help another. The best way

to maintain classroom equity is by creating lessons that include a variety of strategies that can

benefit all students. It is most definitely challenging to address unique needs without neglecting

others. Instructional strategies that can be used to cater specific needs is homework

assignments. Homework assignments can be created to address a specific student’s needs to

strengthen weakness, or add more challenge to the student’s that need it.

The key is to come up with the right balance, and understand and celebrate student

differences. Making an effort to understand student cultural differences can make a great

difference to a teacher’s ability to comprehend student uniqueness.