Here’s an interesting test.  Read the four different types below and choose the one which best describes your work style:

Structure

• Organized, detail-oriented
• Need a plan before proceeding

Action

• Hands-on learners
• Need to get going sooner than later

Meaning

• Sees long-term vision, big picture
• Does not get bogged down by specifics

Caring

• Focus on feelings of others
• Wants everyone to feel important

Some of you may be thinking that you fall into more than one category.  Fair enough.  Many of us have qualities that cross over from one type to another.  But do choose just one.

Now, think for a moment about someone close to you, such as a spouse, partner or sibling.  Someone on whom you rely.  Ask yourself which category they would most readily fall into.

If you’re like most of the 400 or so grandparents and special friends who did this exercise with me last week before the musical program, you and the person you’ve identified fall into different types.

The final step of this thought exercise is to consider the strengths and weaknesses of the two different types represented in your relationship, or the three or four different types in a family.  Or, as I said last week, think of the 18 different variations on those four types to be found in a typical classroom at MPA.

MPA teachers have historically been very effective at teaching to different learning styles.  This year, our collective understanding of different types has gotten even better.  Back in August before the start of school, we did this same exercise with all faculty by way of introducing the work of the Dr. Mel Levine.  A number of teachers had attended “All Kinds of Minds” workshops and were then asked to share what they learned with all of us.

Once you grasp the fundamental idea that your own favored learning style is not the only way to learn, you can become even more effective at creating a learning environment that is attuned to all different kinds of learners.

As for the four types listed above, they represent only one particular lens through which to view learning styles.  Anyone who has been teaching more than a few years can provide multiple examples of different constructs for understanding learning styles, from Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences, of which there are eight, to the duality of the right-brain left-brain concept.

And as teachers continue to broaden their understanding of different learners, parents can support that work by paying attention to the different ways children learn effectively, whether through caring, meaning, action or structure.

Mike Downs

Head of School