Differentiation Through Learning Styles and Memory

Create a learning environment that addresses the needs and learning styles of every student!

Traditional instruction and "paper and pencil" assessment are no longer sufficient for meeting the needs of our increasingly diverse student populations. Classrooms are packed with students possessing a myriad of educational backgrounds, cultures, abilities, and challenges. How do educators guide each student on his or her own individual path to educational success? Differentiation―by design!

Differentiation Through Learning Styles and Memory provides an essential overview of how the brain processes, stores, and retains information, and how teachers can guide students in accessing this information by utilizing their individual learning styles and strengths. This resource gives educators practical strategies and applications for accessing these "sensory pathways," connecting learned content to the real world.

This comprehensive resource includes:

• Suggestions and examples for creating a learning environment that addresses students′ diverse learning needs―physical, social/emotional, and cognitive
• Simple activities for helping students discover the best ways to retrieve information (e.g., mind mapping, debating, role playing, mnemonics, metaphors, rhymes, songs, repetition, and more)
• Practical instructional strategies that address different learning strengths―visual, verbal, and kinesthetic
• Memory profiles of sensory and memory pathways preferred by learners
• Specific designs for differentiation in the classroom―starting with strengths and expanding outward

The road to academic success begins and ends with differentiation. When students have the tools for understanding their individual memory lanes, they will learn how their brains work best

Marilee Sprenger is an adjunct professor at Aurora University, where she teaches graduate courses on brain-based teaching, learning and memory, and differentiation. A creative and compassionate educator, she began her career teaching prekindergarten and kindergarten. She has also taught at the elementary, middle, and high school level. As an independent consultant, her passion is brain-based teaching and best practices using brain research and differentiation. She also consults in the areas of learning styles, using music in the classroom, teaming, multiple intelligences, emotional intelligence, and memory. As an educational consultant with Two Rivers Professional Development Center, she worked for the Illinois Regional Offices of Education in the area of staff development associated with learning standards and testing. She speaks internationally, and her interactive and engaging style allows participants to make connections with their classrooms and their students. She is affiliated with the American Academy of Neurology and is constantly updated on current research. Sprenger is the author of several books, including Memory 101 for Educators and Becoming a Wiz at Brain-Based Teaching, Second Edition, published by Corwin Press. She has contributed to textbooks, and her articles have appeared in publications such as Educational Leadership and the ASCD Brain-based Education/Learning Styles Networker. Her dedication to education has won her many awards, but she cherishes most the wonderful students and teachers whose lives have touched hers.