STEP TWO: METHODS OF TEACHER PRESENTATION
Once the underlying concepts of the lesson are established, it is clear that the lesson cannot be presented in one way to all students, if all students are to be sucessful. Therefore, the idea or concept to be barned must be presented in such a way that all students are able to gain varying degrees of knowledge based on their level of understanding.
Learning Styles of Students The teacher must remember that a class is made up of students who learn visually, auditorially, and kinaesthetically. Most children tend to use one perceptual style more than the others. Teachers need to plan instruction which addresses each student’s dominant perceptual mode. Although eighty to eightyfive per cent of students are visual learners, teachers tend to teach most often in an auditory fashion. Teachers could meet the needs of visual learners by using the blackboard more and incorporating filmstrips, films, pictures, charts, and overhead transparencies into their lesson presentation (Wood, 1984).
Teachers should obtain more information about perceptual learning modes, observable behaviours connected to each mode, and teaching techniques for each mode (Wood, 1984; Schulz and Turnbull, 1984).
To return to the example of teaching elements of a story or novel, in using the multi-level approach to teach the idea of setting in stories a variety of different modes could be used. The idea of setting could be introduced by getting students to discuss their own lives. This would allow each student to express orally, perhaps to a partner, the setting of his or her life. A student with limited verbal ability might be asked specific questions by a student who has been coached in what to ask. Another approach might be to discuss the setting of a picture, a television show, or a story chosen by the student.
