How a child learns is very closely related to his or her personality. In addition, how a person teaches is also personality related. One’s likes and dislikes can affect how he or she processes information.
Knowing that all people learn differently has caused educators to begin paying closer attention to both learning styles of the students and the teaching styles of the teachers.
Administrators and supervisors encourage and praise various types of teaching styles used in a single classroom setting. The more types of teaching styles that are used means the more students that are being reached. Educators also try to match learning and teaching styles when placing students into classrooms.
In many cases a child is thought to be acting out or misbehaving due to lack of control or discipline. Often, the child’s personality does not match the teaching style. Once the teacher recognizes and reaches the child’s preferred learning style, more desired behaviors occur.
When parents and teachers understand and identify the personality type of a child, they can work more closely together. Lesson plans can be adjusted to better fit the needs of the child.
Knowing the personalities types of both the educator and the learner can be very beneficial. One instrument has been useful in determining personality and learning preferences. The Myers-Briggs Type Indictor (MBTI) was designed to determine how one thinks, feels, and learns.
The test was first used with high school and college students. In addition, it can also give a lot of information on adult personalities.
In the next few articles, I will describe each of the personality types described by Myers and Briggs. I will then discuss an ideal learning setting for a student with each specified learning type.
It is my hopes that you will determine the personality type of your child. You can then use the information when meeting or requesting, if you choose to do so, your child’s next teacher.
Teaching Your Auditory Learner