Things to Know About Student Psychology (Part 1)

I am going to start this write up with a simple question: “What makes a teacher successful?” Is it his/her knowledge of the subject? Or is it dependent on his/her ability to control the class? Nah! It requires something more. Empathy’s the thing that makes a teacher stand out among the crowd.

So, are you empathetic enough? You, as a teacher need to ask yourself this question every day to know whether you are doing your job the right way or not. Understanding student psychology and improving things on basis of the same are the only things that can help you out in the best possible manner. 

In this article, I have discussed these things in greater detail. Take a peek at these without further ado.

1. Every student learn things in his/her own way

Source- Flickr

Now this might look a bit obvious. You would say, “Of course, everybody’s unique.” But think of your classrooms for once. Think of the curriculum that’s presented to the students in general.

Are they flexible enough? Nah! They are designed with only one learning style in mind. Is it effective enough? Well, “X” might succeed from it, but will “Y” get the same results? Highly doubtful!

Different students learn in different manners. Some might respond well to visual information whereas some might respond well to auditory information and so on. 

You, as a teacher, need to understand these things and take appropriate steps to bring more flexibility into your classrooms. Only then you’ll be able to step out from the crowd and do something different that can benefit the entire community as a whole.

2. Reinforcement learning in 3 different ways

The first and the foremost thing that you’ll have to realize here is the fact that you will probably have three different types of learners in your class that are:

• Visual learners,
• Auditory learners,
• Kinesthetic learners (some who respond well to touch).

So your teaching session should be based on the requirements of each of these three individually. Now that’s exceptionally difficult indeed. But if you are able to do it the right way, your tutoring/teaching portfolio would improve for sure. 

Here’s how you can do it (an example’s provided for better explanation). 

Say, the subject being taught is Geography. The best way of teaching the subject is to use different maps as well as worksheets at the start. Now this tactic would highly benefit the visual learners.

The next step is to create some sort of a song. There should be a rhythm in it that should connect the state and the capitals respectively (just an example). Auditory 
learners will benefit tremendously from this tactic of yours.  

For kinesthetic learners, you should try to create some sort of a game or an activity. For example, a game of hopscotch where they will have to connect the states with their respective capitals. Your imagination is your biggest weapon. Use it.

3. Know about the different learning styles that work

Source- Wiki

I already pointed this out in the previous point that there are three important methods of learning for visual, auditory and tactile learners. 

To be honest, that point was made from a narrow point of view. If we take a bird’s eye view of the bigger picture, there are actually seven learning styles in general which is inclusive of the three mentioned above. These are:

• Visual learning
• Auditory learning
• Verbal learning 
• Tactile or kinesthetic learning
• Logical learning (This method is almost based entirely on mathematics. A more mathematical approach is made for specific explanations. It should be reserved for students having a strong sense of logic)
• Interpersonal learning or group learning
• Intrapersonal or learning alone

Your teaching tactics should take shape on basis of these seven learning styles highlighted above.

4. Connecting abstract information with the real world

Many students find it really hard to get into a topic because of the abstract nature of the concepts. 
If you can curb this barrier and connect the concept with the real world, you will definitely be able to create a more gratifying learning experience for the student in particular.

So what are you waiting for?

So that concludes our part 1 of this article for now. I’ll come back with a part 2 of the same as soon as possible. Ciao!

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