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If everyone was like me…

   Published Date: March 10, 2015

…that’s a horrifying thought.

After taking the learning styles inventory, I discovered that I am a visual learner.

Duh.

I was that kid who stood at the ballet barre picking her nose (not really) watching the teacher demonstrate exercises before we were required to do them ourselves. I was also that kid who stood on the end because I was really good at remembering the combinations. #flipshair

Given the challenge of designing a lesson plan for someone who learns just like me, it would look like this:

CLASS: Instructional Techniques in Fitness

TOPIC: THE STAGES OF A MUSCULAR CONTRACTION

OBJECTIVE: BY THE END OF THIS SESSION, STUDENTS WILL BE ABLE TO RECALL AND ARTICULATE KEY STAGES AND ELEMENTS INVOLVED IN A NEUROMUSCULAR CONTRACTION, FROM BRAIN TO BICEP CURL.

ACTIVITIES:

  1. LECTURE/DEMONSTRATION FROM INSTRUCTOR USING POWERPOINT SLIDES TO ILLUSTRATE VERBAL INSTRUCTION
  2. WORKING INDEPENDENTLY, SEEK A RESOURCE IN YOUR TEXTBOOK OR ONLINE AND DRAW A PICTURE OR FLOWCHART OF THIS PROCESS
  3. IN PAIRS OR SMALL GROUPS, EXPLAIN YOUR VISUAL AIDS TO EACH OTHER, NARRATING THE PROCESS AS YOU EXPLAIN.

Basically, it also looks something like this (these videos save my life, btw):

But what if everyone wasn’t like me?

Ok, so that’s a rhetorical question, because, again, duh.

This is actually tough for me, because this particular topic is one that I love. I think I explain it well, I think I incorporate a solid degree of instructional diversity… I mean, I practically do a song and dance up there… and yet, plenty of students still find it quite daunting.

CLASS: Instructional Techniques in Fitness

TOPIC: THE STAGES OF A MUSCULAR CONTRACTION

OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES: DURING THIS SESSION, STUDENTS WILL:

  1. RECALL THE KEY STAGES OF A MUSCULAR CONTRACTION
  2. CONNECT THE MATERIAL TO PRACTICAL SKILLS FROM THE LAB, SUCH AS FATIGUE AND STRENGTH VS. ENDURANCE
  3. DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN “MUSCLE MEMORY” AND MOTOR CONTROL, AND EXPLAIN THESE DIFFERENCES.
  4. CREATE A FLOW CHART IN COOPERATION WITH TWO OTHER CLASSMATES. PRODUCE A VERY SHORT VERBAL PRESENTATION.
  5. REFLECT ON OTHER CLASS PRESENTATIONS AND EXCHANGE IDEAS ON HOW TO IMPROVE UNDERSTANDING
  6. RECEIVE VERBAL EVALUATION FROM THE COURSE INSTRUCTOR.

So, this lesson plan seems a bit lame (and highly unrealistic in a 50 minute class period), but it happens to cover every word within the Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy, could be split between a couple of class periods, and accommodates every learning style (as described by Kolb).

So, go me.

Author: Lauren Warnecke

Lauren Warnecke is a freelance dance critic, contributing to the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Magazine. She is senior editor of See Chicago Dance. Lauren covers dance across the Midwest and writes regularly for Dance Magazine and Pointe with additional bylines in Milwaukee Magazine, St. Louis Magazine and Dance Teacher. Forthcoming publications include essays on ballet training in Chicago (University of Illinois Press) and Shirley Mordine (University of Akron Press). In 2020, Lauren published an opinion piece on the impact of COVID-19 on the arts in the South African journal Agenda. Lauren holds degrees in dance and kinesiology and has presented research on dance training practices at the National Dance Education Organization and the International Association for Dance Medicine and Science. She has co-facilitated critical dance writing intensives in Chicago and Durban, South Africa, and participated in writing residencies at the National Center for Choreography, Bates Dance Festival and JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience. Lauren teaches dance history and kinesiology for dancers, with part-time appointments at Loyola University Chicago and Illinois Wesleyan University.