Kristine's Reading Notes 7

        In this weeks reading, I think Lang made an excellent point when talking about students as people. On page 184, he talks about referring students to the counseling center to get help. I think this is a very good idea because counselors are professionals and if the student is in an abusive situation, they know the best strategies to help them. While any professor can look back and change past decisions, our place is to educate and direct students to the resources they need. I guess I clearer line should be set up as to How do you handle a tough situation like this and refer students on, without coming across like you don’t care or you don’t have time to work through their tough situation?

            I also thought Lang brought up an interesting point about diversity in the classroom and how males and females learn differently. I guess I never really stopped to think about this as much as I think about visual and reading learners. I think the addition of adding a collaborative component into the classroom is an excellent idea. I know that with our class, students come from various backgrounds and by allowing students to work together, we understand more of each other and well as more about the topic at hand. For instance, the way I approach a written topic may be different from my male counterpart or someone of European descent. By working in groups, students are exposed to those different types of approaches to writing, and this also helps the professor save time when trying to explain an approach ten different ways. I am curious to wonder How much do we alter or tailor are teaching style to help accommodate for gender and race?

            In Davis’ chapter on Learning Styles and Preferences, I almost got overwhelmed by all the different types of learning. One page 274 she talks about learning styles then on the following page, types of intelligence and thinking styles. There are so many different levels of thinking which are encouraged by different methods of teaching, that it all becomes a little overwhelming on what to do to reach most of your students. How does a teacher take in and process all of this information and conform to different learning styles without overshadowing their teaching philosophy? I find all of these tips useful but at the same time how can a professor possibly accommodate all of these different types of learning?