Tools to Help Me Learn My Students

What tools might provide me insight into the learners in my classroom and how might I use this information? The first step I took in my quest to find tools to provide insight into the type of learners in my class was to just review all about learning styles and perspectives. I found lots of sites with very interesting information. I bookmarked those I felt would be the most helpful to others in my Diigo library. Some I have posted links to on this page, as well as Twitter. Then I searched for tools (tests or inventories) that would be appropriate for my third graders. Of course, while doing this I took many of the tests. It was funny that my supposed learning style changed depending on the test that I took. I found some questions hard to choose an answer choice, because more than one answer fit me. Which probably explains why I got different results. In doing these, I did not find one that I thought would be appropriate for my class. In fact, I am having difficulty finding something that I felt would give an accurate insight into my students. Many of the questions I felt they either would not understand or would not be able to accurately answer for themselves. I did see one from the resources listed on our assignment page that my students could use. It was an interest survey. My students would be able to answer this accurately and I could get some useful information, if not an actual learning style inventory. http://teacherweb.com/IN/EagleElementary/MrsMoore/Interest-Survey.pdf From this survey, I could probably get an idea of which students are musical or kinesthetic. I could tell which ones are more social and which are more solitary. Learning their favorite subjects/activities could help me discover ways to reach them better in all areas. I did find however, that reading the articles I did find on learning styles, it did help me learn some ways to incorporate the idea of different learning styles into my classroom. I found not only articles that explained in many different ways what different learning styles are, but how to help students use their learning styles to their advantage.