Published: March 25, 2021
Everyone learns differently. Students tend to excel at one type of learning more than others, and each type of learning comes with its advantages and disadvantages.
Certain styles of teaching suit different types of learners. At Prep Academy, we understand that for every students’ learning type, there is an ideal tutor. We play matchmaker to ensure your child is paired with a certified tutor who meets your child’s type of learning and allows your child to feel comfortable enough to take risks and flourish.
Challenges Different Learners Face Today
Pairing your child with the right tutor according to their learning type is even more important now than in recent years. Given the pandemic, teachers have been forced to deliver classes online, where they are less likely to identify what type of learner their students are.
As a result, students are not doing as well as they were last school year. The statistics are worrying. In Ontario, online attendance rates have decreased; so, too, have test scores. The Ontario School Board has reported that failure rates in courses are at 16% — nearly twice what they were last year. In Quebec, the statistics are even worse. Failure rates are three times higher than they were in 2019-2020.
Increased failure rates mean students are less likely to achieve high marks or the credits they need to graduate on time, and although school boards and teachers are making heroic efforts to adapt to the new normal as best as possible, students’ needs are not being met. The situation likely won’t improve until schools return to business as usual.
Our Certified Tutors Meet Today’s Challenges
Our certified tutors have the privilege of engaging with our students one-on-one, whether through online tutoring or in-person, and tailoring lessons according to our students’ type of learning.
Whereas school boards teach one size fits all curriculums, which inevitably benefit some types of learners more than others, our tutors help each pupil engage with schoolwork according to their highly individual learning needs.
In this way our certified provide tutors provide our students with a quality of education that schools, on their own, cannot.
The Four Types of Learners
As noted earlier, each student has their own unique way of engaging with and mastering a subject. Whereas one student is more likely to memorize a poem by turning it into song, for instance, another student is better off writing out the poem multiple times.
That being said, generally speaking there are four main types of learners:
- Auditory learners
- Visual (or spatial) learners
- Kinesthetic (or hands-on) learners
- Writing and reading learners
Auditory learners learn most about a subject by hearing someone speaking about it, and by speaking about it themselves (especially in groups). Visual learners, by contrast, prefer diagrams, graphs, and other visual aids. Kinesthetic learners learn by doing. And writing and reading learners learn by writing and reading (typically on their own).
There’s more to the story, of course; learning isn’t that simple. Auditory learners, for instance, don’t only learn most about a subject through speech. Auditory learners also tend to be linear thinkers and sociable people. Group projects and presentations are especially helpful, as is reading aloud.
Writing and reading learners, by contrast, tend to be more introverted and better suited to individual projects. This makes them particularly well-suited to traditional pedagogical approaches. A book, some paper, a dictionary, and a quiet room constitute a writing and reading learner’s basic learning needs.
Credit: Artem Podrez Via Pexels
Identifying What Type of Learner You Are
If you’re not sure what type of learner your child is, consider having your child take a National Learning Style Assessment.
It’s important that you understand what type of learner your child is. Doing so can increase your child’s learning potential, improve the ways your child studies, help them better understand who they are, and raise their confidence and grades.
Moreover, understanding what type of learner your child is should play a role in deciding what subject or field of study to pursue, as each learning style has its advantages and disadvantages. Writing and reading learners are often better off pursuing English literature or law, while kinesthetic learners are drawn more toward hands-on fields of study such as engineering or biology, or any subject that involves lab work or exercise.
Does your child excel at some subjects more than others? If so, this may indicate what type of learner your child is.
Understanding what type of learner your child is can also help him or her improve at a subject they struggle with by understanding the best ways for them to study it and providing the educational support they need to approach the material.
If your child is a visual learner, for example, having them highlight their notes with different colours can help them commit information to memory. Visual learners also tend to learn more in class when they sit near the front, where they can see their teacher better and not be distracted by other students in the room.
If your child is a kinesthetic learner, an uncomfortable chair can interfere with their studying more so than loud noises or people walking in and out of the room. Kinesthetic learners, unlike visual learners, are often better off sitting in the back of the class, where it’s more acceptable for them to move around.
A student’s learning type also depends to some degree on the subject they’re engaging with. Reading and writing learners may learn more about a piece of music by listening to it than they would by reading and writing about it. Auditory learners may learn more about the location of a country by seeing it on a map than by listening to a lecture about its geographical coordinates.
At Prep Academy Tutors, we understand how important finding the right fit is, which is why our tutoring services are designed to work with different types of learners to achieve the educational objectives outlined in the curriculum.
Our Tutors Meet Your Child’s Learning Type
Every student can learn with the right approach, and our math and English tutors in Toronto understand how important it is to understand your child’s learning type and employ a style of tutoring best suited to it.
Some of our English tutors employ Wilson Reading System, while others teach the Direct Instruction Reading Masters program, in order to improve reading comprehension for children of different ages. Some of our math tutors are schooled in JUMP Math, while others are trained in the Singapore Math philosophy. Our tutoring services offer the educational support your child needs.
Because everyone learns differently, and there is no one-size-fits-all approach, we approach tutoring with a personalized touch. Our certified tutors build personal bonds with your kids according to their unique needs. What matters most is that your child receives the best education possible, which is what our certified tutors do their best to provide.
If you want to learn about how our tutoring service helps different types of learners excel, get in touch with Prep Academy Tutors to find out more.