process-oriented than currently thought but we force them into a particular learning mode by presenting them with a teaching style that is more suited to the teacher than the student. Are children really more focused on the concrete rather than the abstract or is that the way they have been taught to learn?Perhaps this will be addressed later in the class (or maybe it has been and my antennae were not up!) but I also wondered whether there is validity in considering if learning styles can also be gender-based. I have heard that studies of early childhood education show that teachers tend to adopt their teaching style to fit preconceived notions of males and females. For example, teachers tend to make girls raise their hands to answer questions while boys are typically allowed to shout them out. Also there are stereotypes that say boys are good at science and math and girls are good at verbal and reading comprehension skills. In my brief experience in the world of adult learning I have also observed that men tend to be more black/white and right/wrong oriented whereas women are more apt to see the gray areas and the subtleties behind every question. Men understand that there may be a diversity of opinion on issues and even respect everyones right to their opinion but in the end feel that there is only one possible answer to every question. These differences may very well fit into the learning styles we have already discussed but I do question whether there are differences that need to be explored as it relates to gender.My overall first impression from the class is that I see that we as teachers need to understand the complexity of our responsibility as educators. Full engagement of students is critical to their success and ours. We need to get out of our traditional boxes and notions that teachers only teach. What I am learning is that we must consider student motivations and the way our students process information if we are...
