Why+create+learner+profiles

My answer goes something like this

__Introduction__

It takes between four and five hours per student to collect, analyse and prepare profiles that provide information about a student’s preferred intelligence, preferred learning style, views about the teaching and learning process and preferences for the classroom environment in which they learn. If one wished to one could also carry out some tests to determine the level of learner ability. However, with the purple pages available to us, there is little need to do so.

Why spend so much time on this?

I believe that if I am to be a successful teacher and each of my students is to be a successful learner, then I need to know them. I need to know their strengths as learners. I need to know their weaknesses. I need to know how they prefer to learn. Then I can develop tasks for my classes that can be adapted and suit the majority of my students. But there are aspects one needs to be aware of when working with this information with students.

__ Collecting the Data __ I involve my students in the collection of this data. As part of the first term of Year 7, my students learn about working scientifically and complete a project into collecting and analysing graphs in Maths. This gives me a context with which to collect the information, but also allows me to teach about types of graphs, planning fair tests and analysing data.

The main pitfall in the collection of the data is that the students are self reporting. To be able to do this successfully they need to be self reflective and aware of their own preferences, strengths and weaknesses. They also need good language skills as the surveys are all based on responding to statements that the student must read. I’ve attempted to make the statements easier to understand without changing the meaning being assessed. This has not always been easy and I’ve not always been as successful as I would like. These two aspects may skew the students’ results.

There are easier tests available, but I have found them to be less informative and less reliable when working with secondary students. I do use these, reluctantly, when Support Services suggest that a student will struggle with the language levels of my standard tests.

__ Analysing the Data __ It is easy for students to assist the analysis process by taking the raw data and preparing graphs from them. It is also part of the educative process in my class as we are using this process to teach about data collection, analysis and presentation. However, it is important to check that they have completed this task accurately as you wish to use the data throughout the year.

__ Using the Data __ The data is invaluable. I now have a profile for each child. It tells me: · Their preferred intelligences · Their preferred learning styles · How they view the role of the teacher and the learner in the class · How they would like the classroom environment to operate. Combined with the purple pages I now have a rich level of detail about each child and I also have graphs showing me the averages for the class.

I can now use this information in a number of ways: Group work – I can put together groups of students with a variety of skills that will give the group a greater chance of success. Individual work – I can now produce tasks that are flexible enough to give each student a way of negotiating the details so that they can plot a successful pathway through the task using their preferred way of learning. However, more importantly, I can cause students to work outside their preferences and develop new skills, so that they are more likely to achieve success in the future.

One of the main dangers when sharing this data with the students is that they will see the profile as an endpoint. This is who I am, I can’t change. They are half right. Yes, this is who they are and these preferences will always be their strengths. Having highlighted these strengths, we can now develop their weaknesses or non-preferences so that they become stronger.

I often use a sporting analogy when I discuss this with my students. I explain that as a Soccer coach, if I have a player who only uses their right foot, I give them lots of drills for their left foot and their right foot. My goal is to make their right foot great and their left foot strong, so that they can be two-sided players. It is the same with this learner information. I can give my students tasks which reinforce their strengths, but I also want them to work in areas that are currently their weaknesses so that they can be more successful in more situations.

__ Sharing the Data __ I discuss my pedagogical plans and my methodology of teaching with my students all the time. I always talk them through the process of developing a learner profile for them. They get to see my first draft and make comment on it. Then I give them the ‘final’ copy and encourage them to take them home and talk with their parents about what the profile displays.

I also send the information to the other teachers of that class and put the profiles on Norman. I tell the students that I have done this. So, they know you have access to the data.

I also refer back to it throughout the year in conversations with individual students or with the whole class when we have a new task to tackle.

__ A Final reflection __ As I am measuring students at the start of Year 7 these profiles can change; they are never a final copy. As we age and become more self aware and self reflective our responses to the statements in the surveys become more sophisticated. We are also able to distinguish between different learner situations when we approach challenges in different ways. Therefore, I would like to see our Year 10 students repeat these surveys. Then we can use the information to help them develop study techniques based on their intelligence and learning style preferences that are more effective for them. Why have a visual learner make lists? Why have a global learner make lists? Why have sequential/verbal learners prepare concept plans? It is important to match the students’ strengths to the most effective learning activities. However, it is also important to develop weaknesses so that they can be more flexible and therefore more successful as learners.