Are you aware of your Learner Style? Learning is a life skill. HOW one learns may vary depending on the task at hand: following directions to put a desk together, creating solutions to a problem, creating a budget, etc. Thus, the self- knowledge of understanding of how you best learn in different situations is invaluable.

Visual Learners connect to information through image and space cues. School Tools: paper, highlighters Kinesthetic Learners physically connect to information. School Tools: paper, pen/pencil Linguistic Learners connect to information through words and language. School Tools: classmates, teachers, people at home, study groups Intrapersonal Learners connect to information through self-discovery. School Tools: yourself

Written Response to Literature: Literary Analysis Summarizing: Concrete Analyzing: Concrete and Abstract Cause and Effect: Abstract Tools: paper, highlighters, writing utensils, classmates As you participate in these activities in the next few days, you might find that you elect to use different strategies depending upon the difficulty of the skill. You will have the tools above available to you so that you can choose the best way for you. Allow yourself to change strategies if you find one isn’t working well for you or if you wish to experiment and see if a different one works better. As we explore ways we learn, we will be creating a model that you can use later for an independent literary analysis exercise.

Summarizing: Written Response Concrete Purpose: to gain an understanding of concrete details, the “most important” details, that create the context Reading Strategy: Read the entire passage through once to gain an initial understanding. As a good reader rereads, read through a second time though with a different purpose: to identify most important details. As you think through this, compare and contrast details present to evaluate or place value on them. Select those that present the most value to the overall meaning and represent these in your summary in a chronological order. Those details that you judge as lesser or secondary in importance are not represented. Learner Style: Visual Learners (connection to information through images and space cues): You may tend to annotate valued details with circles, underlines, or stars. Kinesthetic Learners (physical connection to information): You may tend to jot down a list of the valued details. Linguistic Learners (connection to information through words and language): You may tend to discuss the value of details with another person Intrapersonal Learners (connection to information through self-discovery): You may tend to process information quietly within your own thoughts without other interaction. Writing Strategy: Initiate your paragraph by identifying the reading piece by title, the chapter, and the author to clarify for a reader just what you are describing. Apart from your paragraph, present a short reflection on the Learner Style you tried or that worked best for you.

Analyzing: Written Response Concrete/Abstract Purpose: to gain an understanding of the tools a writer uses to convey a message. Reading Strategy: After identifying the ironical passage, recount the three types of irony and by process of elimination, judge which best describes the passage. Then, analyze the passage in order to describe the two contrasting concepts that create the irony so as to explain the relationship. Learner Style: Visual Learners (connection to information through images and space cues): You may tend to find your irony chart and to annotate the reading passage with circles, underlines, or stars to identify concepts. Kinesthetic Learners (physical connection to information): You may tend to list the three types of irony for yourself so that you have something to judge from. You might also note-take the decisions you make as you make them. Linguistic Learners (connection to information through words and language): You may tend to discuss the types of irony, how they relate to the passage, and the concepts involved with another person. Intrapersonal Learners (connection to information through self-discovery): You may tend to process information quietly within your own thoughts without other interaction. Writing Strategy: Initiate your paragraph by identifying the author and the irony he/she uses as a writing tool by type and defining it for a reader who may not know. Following this, select one of the two contrasting concepts and describe it, presenting the other concept after this. Apart from your paragraph, present a short reflection on the Learner Style you tried or that worked best for you.

Cause and Effect, Author’s Purpose for Writing: Written Response Abstract Purpose: to gain an understanding of the author’s purpose for writing, the intentions behind using literary devices (in this case, irony) to convey a message to readers Reading Strategy: Read the ironical passage and infer a topic in the form of a word or a phrase that the writer addresses (Examples: religion, superstition, fine art, George Bush, NASCAR, etc.). This gives you a focus. Next, brainstorm universal messages that include this concept in some way that seem true to the reading passage and the context of the author’s writing. Formulate this as a sentence that does not reflect an idiom (Example: Don’t cry over spilled milk) or summary (Example: Huck and Tom stole a canoe.). Next, consider information you know about the author and brainstorm connections of similarity in a list why he/she would want to send this message to readers. Consider connections to the time period in which he/she wrote, issues that were important to him or her and why these were important to him or to her. Learner Style: Visual Learners (connection to information through images and space cues): You may wish to create doodle symbols that represent concepts with arrows to other visual cues that represent other concepts in order to formulate the relationship spatially Kinesthetic Learners (physical connection to information): You may wish to Linguistic Learners (connection to information through words and language): You may wish to discuss the types of irony, how they relate to the passage, and the concepts involved with another person. Intrapersonal Learners (connection to information through self-discovery): You may wish to process information quietly within your own thoughts without other interaction. Writing Strategy: Initially, identify the type of irony as the tool that creates a message on the topic you have determined. Then present the message you have constructed. Connect this message to the author’s life and times in sentences that follow. Apart from your paragraph, present a short reflection on the Learner Style you tried or that worked best for you.

Final Reflection: 1. What learning style did you tend toward when the skill was more concrete; connected to reading, this was a direct connection where information could be pointed at and seen? 2. What learning style did you tend toward when the skill required some abstract thought yet still connected to concrete concepts to which you could refer or look at directly? 3. What learning style did you tend toward when the skill required abstract thought; connected to reading, information that was indirect, not presented on the page but a relationship that developed as a result of information on the page? 4. Did you employ the same Learner Style regardless of the skill, or did you use different strategies depending on the nature of the skill as concrete or abstract or a combination of both?