Mythbusting: Learning Styles

Over the past two months I have really been thinking about the different ways that students learn. I have even had the great experience of being a middle years band clinician for students who are learning how to play their first instrument. These clinics gave me the opportunity to try a number of different techniques with students to see what makes and keeps students engaged, to learn how to develop a friendly and respectful atmosphere, to learn how to adapt very quickly to different class dynamics, to evaluate and understand what the needs of the students are, and countless other things. I had two goals in these clinics: 1) to meet the standard that had been set by the music teacher who had hired us clinicians and 2) to teach concepts and songs in an aural, visual, and kinesthetic way. My second goal was initiated to test a hypothesis that I had developed myself- I really don't believe that students have a specific learning type in which they learn best in. I most certainly think that by using all of the different learning styles any student will better understand the content simply because they will be able to relate to the content on a higher level or in a different way.

I recently saw a video clip about a school that had incorporated the arts into every class. In this clip there was a lot of advocating for the use of the arts in our classrooms. By incorporating the arts in the program this school had lowered its dropout rate, raised the literacy and numeracy of the students, improved their special education program, and made the teachers happier to teach tin the school. Yes, I agree the arts are great. However, I truly believe that the increase in the effectiveness of this school's education is simply because the teachers began to engage students by providing the students with more channels that they can relate to the course content through. In the video, when John Ceschini says, "[the arts] give us ways to engage kids, to get them involved, to have them be a part of what we want them to be a part of, which is learning the curriculum." he is sharing a dream of finding a way to reach all kids no matter what the circumstance are. The arts were able to provide many more channels for these students and this is why I believe that the arts belong in non-arts classes- they give an opportunity for students to engage in a wide range of ways.

Here is the referenced video

It's interesting that we don't usually see things the other way around though. I have heard very little about incorporating the sciences (or non-arts) in arts classes. I would like to think that this vice versa scenario would actually allow for more channels of relating to the subject material for students. Take for example the idea of using jumping jacks, jogging, or walking to teach a sense of pulse or implementing physical concepts to better understand why fingerings are the way they are and how instruments sound higher and lower although they play on the same clef- these things and many more allow for a better understanding of band instruments and musical concepts. Too often we overlook tools that can be used to help us reach that one student who is having a difficult time relating to the content. Even by just incorporating some kind of recording/mixing/arranging project you can engage more students and activate their learning.

In the end, the clinics that I had done seemed to be in agreement with the beliefs that I had beforehand. I tried to meet the visual, aural, and kinesthetic needs of the students and, although I didn't have the most innovative and effective ideas to try this, this idea seemed to help students relate to the material better. By breaking up the clinic into a cycle of smaller sections that included 5 minutes of visual, then 15 minutes aural and discussion-based, and then 10 minutes kinesthetic, the students seemed more engaged than I think they might have become with a single style of teaching. Some students were even able to put together a few deeper concepts on their own by relating the different areas that we were touching on.

Lesson for the week: We have to give students as many ways to relate to course material as possible whether this be through arts in the sciences or sciences in the arts we must make the effort to reach every student in as many ways as we are able to.


"We got to find a way to reach all kids, every kid no matter what. And the arts do that, they give us ways to engage kids, to get them involved, to have them be a part of what we want them to be a part of, which is learning the curriculum." 

- John Ceschini