QTL News & Best Practices
A Project's Impact on Teachers AND Students
January 2006
DALEVILLE, VA -- Botetourt County Schools enters its third year of partnership with QTL™ in 2006. Some 85% of the district's teachers have been through the program, and the remainder will participate this year. Botetourt County will be a pilot site for a new QTL Level Two program.
The district's enthusiastic support of the program is one reason for its success. The creativity of its teachers has been another key factor.
QTL™ Instructor Trevor Ruble (left) shared details of one collaborative project that had a particularly strong impact on both students and teachers. A team of teachers at James River High School did a study of student learning styles, and involved the students themselves in the process. Trevor described the project to us:
How did this survey and project impact the teachers who were on the team?
"The James River group decided to examine learning styles and multiple intelligences in more depth. They gave 9th, 10th and 11th grade students an assessment to learn the students styles better and to raise the students' awareness of their own learning styles.
"Teachers concluded that they needed to incorporate additional learning opportunities that addressed more of the learning styles and multiple intellegences. The students responded well and appreciated the fact that the teachers were interested in learning more about them. The students concluded that they learn more over all, in 9th grade, by interacting with their peers, and they prefer more independent study opportunities in 11th grade."
From your perspective as an observer, what was the impact on students at James River?
"I think the students benefited by having the opportunity to discover their personal ways of learning. Teachers tend to teach through their own style of learning or through a method that is perceived to be the "best" practice or method.
"I think the students realized that they can also take some ownership for their own learning by looking for or creating opportunities to learn the material in their own unique way. This project has tremendous implications for clearing up the misperception that the SOL's can only be taught a certain way."
Will the project’s results impact Botetourt schools beyond James River?
"This has tremendous implications for the county and perhaps education as a whole. The majority of the teachers I have worked with confess that they don't place much empahsis on discovering their students' learning styles because of the "pressure" and time constraints the feel regarding the SOLs.
"The SOLs tend to create the perception, because of the way they are presented through the blueprints and because of the emphasis on test scores, that students can only master the SOLs through one or two ways of teaching. However, I believe that this project could be the spring board to a more indepth look at how teachers and students can evaluate and address learning styles and intelligences.
" After discovering these new insights, activities or strategies can be developed. The exciting thing to watch is teachers coming to realize that students can accomplish the same goal in different ways. I look forward to the time when ALL teachers incorporate a variety of methods and strategies to teach the standards, so all students can achieve. QTL is moving us closer to that time."
Request more information.
Share the QTL website with a friend or colleague.