Learning Styles

The students at Ace Elementary are encouraged to be hands-on learners. We see an increasingly need to teach in an engaging, interactive way. This stems from students' interest in technology and the importance technology plays in the lives of our youth these days. In some ways we teachers see the need to be entertainers to the students in order to hold their attention for more than 10 minutes! The students are motivated by using technology in order to learn.

I also see a reliance on rewards by our students. A number of the students expect to receive something when they are following the rules, or get their homework done, or are staying on task. This creates an extrinsic motivation by students in which ultimately devalues their education. We teachers at Ace have been moving away from extrinsic rewards in our classrooms. Rewards impede honest learning from our students and replace curiosity with passive learning.

Although there are some students who are merely motivated by rewards, many are truly motivated by their love for learning. These students are able to work on one subject for an extended period of time. They are offered advance classes in which the learning is student centered and at the student's own pace. The program resembles a Montessori approach in which students are mixed in grade level and specialized activities are available for each student.

At Ace Elementary there is a desire to change and develop our programs in order to meet the needs of all our students. We love to try new programs and modify our strategies when need be.