Try these tips
There are a lot of teacher tricks that parents
can use to facilitate this fall’s learning process.

For example, bringing in pop culture—and
pop songs—is a good way to engage your stu-
dent, says Sarah Brennan, a mother of two and a
middle school teacher at Immaculate Conception
School in Towson.

How does that work? Many middle schoolers
read “The Giver” as part of a curriculum. Parents can
reinforce the book’s themes by encouraging kids to
find songs about dystopian futures or even loneliness,
or the opposite, connectedness. This works easily
for other titles as well.

Students can create their own flash cards online
through Quizlet, or parents can help them go old
school and create paper versions. Parents also
should familiarize themselves with something
called Flipgrid, which is a common way that teach-
ers create presentations for their classes.

And, Brennan says, moms and dads should take
note of this hack: There are audio versions of many
commonly assigned books on YouTube. For the
kids who find silent reading to be tedious, this is a
great alternative.

Evelyn Wright, the director and owner of the
Towson-based tutoring service Wright Academics,
recommends creating a large tic-tac-toe review
board. The board can be set up on a spacious hard
surface—like a white board or even on the wall.

Each tic-tac-toe square contains different review
terms and concepts. Children can throw a sticky
ball at a specific term and then explain it in-depth
and in their own words.

Even though online learning environments
can take away the structural aspect of learning
and the interactive relationships between
students and their teachers, parents can still
compensate for those losses by evaluating
their student’s strengths and developing
activities that best fit their individual learning
styles, says Wright. T
16 Washington FAMILY SEPTEMBER 2020
What’s My Child’s Learning Style?
The four most common learning styles amongst children are visual, auditory,
kinesthetic and tactile, says Evelyn Wright, the director and owner of Wright
Academics, a Towson-based tutoring service.

Visual learners learn best by seeing things and receiving spoken instruction with
accompanying visuals. These learners struggle with information that’s purely provided
in a spoken fashion, which is a main characteristic in online learning.

“If you have a visual learner, you don’t just want to say the directions out to them,”
Wright says. “You also want to have some sort of visual that’s going to remind them
to do something, because they’re not going to take in information efficiently when
they’re hearing it.”
In contrast, auditory learners rely on their listening comprehension skills while
learning. These learners struggle when classroom instructions are entirely visual and
rely on visual aids.

Tactile learners rely on touch and sensation to aid their learning, while kinesthetic
learners heavily rely on movement. Despite the rigid distinctions in learning styles,
Wright adds that most students learn best with instruction that caters to a mix of all
four styles.

“But when you talk about the type of learner a person is, it’s usually about what
their predominant learning style is,” she says.

To help parents determine what their child’s specific learning style is, Wright
recommends they look at what the child is naturally good at doing.

According to Wright, children who are creative and artistic lean more towards a
visual learning style. Children who are athletic and enjoy moving around are better
kinesthetic learners.

On the other hand, children who enjoy being social need constant conversations
while learning and associate more as auditory learners. For children who are more
introverted and quiet, Wright says they could be a mix of auditory and tactile learners. T



A Classroom in the Living Room
Creating the best at-home learning space for your child
by Jason Fontelieu
As many school districts across the country
prepare to start the year virtually due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, the question arises:
How do we get our kids learning when the
living room is the classroom?
Chris Jones has a few tips for parents.

Jones specializes in creating “functional,
creative spaces,” which most of the time
finds him designing children’s spaces. He’s
the co-founder of Thinkterior, a company
that designs interior spaces, and Adaptiv
Design Concepts, where he does commercial
design work and sells his myWall pegboard
products. Both companies are based in
Ashburn, Virginia, where Jones lives.

Remember these five principles
JOHNNYGREIG / E+ ; FABRIKACR /ISTOCK / GETTY IMAGES PLUS; PINSTOCK /E+
Theme, focus, storage, growth and safety
are common design principles, and they’re
applicable to making effective learning
spaces, too.

Theme is key, but it doesn’t have to be
over-the-top. The theme can be your child’s
favorite cartoon character to something “as
general as ‘contemporary,’” Jones says
The focus? In this case, a space for learning.

Storage is necessary in keeping a space
organized (more on that below).

Growth means buying furniture and decor
that will be useful for your children as they
continue to grow.

And for safety, the basics: no sharp corners,
no materials that could hurt your child and
nothing they can jump off.

Keep learning separate
It’s important for children to mentally be able
to separate school time from play time, Jones
says. Since that distinction is lost with virtual
learning, keeping their desk or workspace
away from their toys and their bed is helpful.

Remember, some kids may benefit from
changing locations throughout the day.

Others prefer the routine of always working
in the same spot, he says. Also, younger
kids may need to work near their parents
or caregivers to remain on-task, so be sure
there’s room for an extra chair.

And for people in smaller living spaces,
Jones suggests taking the doors off a closet to
set it up like a mini-classroom with household
items such as sheets or string lights.

Stay organized
If kids are doing work for multiple classes,
they’ll need to keep their assignments
straight. Jones suggests having a different-
colored clipboard for each class—and maybe
even hanging them on the wall. Having a
whiteboard for listing tasks also can help kids
stay on top of their work.

And there should be minimal distractions
in the space. Remember: toys stay in the
playroom. Think ergonomically
It’s best to have a desk and chair fit for a
child, which means it should allow his or her
feet to touch the ground. A chair should be
comfortable, but not too comfortable in case
he or she loses focus.

Keep monitors at eye level so your child
doesn’t have to slouch over it.

Also, the more natural light the better.

In the end, the ultimate goal, according to
Jones, is for your child to look at the space
and think, “OK, this is my little school now.”
How did Jones get so excited about
spaces? His background is in graphic design,
but he has always been skilled at carpentry,
sculpture and painting. When he designed
his son’s room 17 years ago, he immediately
fell in love with the craft.

“What’s great about doing kids rooms, is
you can just have fun with it,” he says. T
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