It was her first year of teaching. Tenth grade, no less, as her certification was for secondary education science. Arial really enjoyed teaching, loved the kids and they seemed to respond well to her. At least at first. Now she sat in the principal’s office, a sheaf of papers in one hand, her head in the other.

“Come, come,” said the principal, kindly. “It was your first parent-teacher conference. It can’t have been that bad.”

“Oh, but it was,” said Arial, sadly, handing over her sheaf of papers. “Worse than bad.
“I sent an evaluation form home, inviting each parent to evaluate how his or her child liked my teaching style. It’s depressing. . . ”

The principal quickly skimmed through the evaluations, then looked
up and said, “Asking these questions was a good idea, Arial. Both wise—and brave. You’ve been teaching for one term. Now you know what to work on to improve as a teacher. For starters, it’s obvious the students like you very much.”

“Yes,” Arial replied slowly. “It’s also obvious that they don’t enjoy my lesson plans.”

“They don’t enjoy some of the lessons,” said the principal, “and I may know the reason why.”

Arial sat up straighter.

“First question,” said the principal, “how do humans communicate with each other?”

“Through our senses, of course,” Arial answered promptly.

“Our eyes and ears and into our brains—our visual and auditory systems.”

“You’re definitely on the right track,” said the principal encouragingly.

“And how else?”

“Through the kinaesthetic system,” Arial continued after thinking for a moment.

“You know: taste, odours, touch, temperature perception, muscle movement and so on. I enjoyed learning about the sensory systems in anatomy class.

“Do you understand how the brain’s decoding process works with these systems?” asked the principal.

“I think I remember,” Arial said. “Visual data are sent to the two occipital lobes; sound data go to decoding centers in the temporal lobes; kinaesthetic data such as taste, muscle movement and temperature perception go to the parietal lobes.

And if there’s a glitch and sensory data are sent to the incorrect decoding centre, a person may see hallucinations or hear voices inside their head.”

“You have a great memory for the facts,” said the principal. “But did you also learn about sensory preference?”

Arial shook her head.

Auditory

20% more females than males

Visual

60% more males than females

Kinaesthetic

Equal numbers of males and females

The principal explained that each person’s brain likely has a s a sensory preference or bent. That means some data register more quickly and intensely in in one person’s brain and get its attention faster. Sensory bent impacts every aspect of a person’s life. It influences the type of sensory data the individual pays attention to and what is missed, how the person learns most easily, and the preferred style for interacting with other human beings.

“Do you know your own sensory bent?” asked the principal.

Arial shrugged. “ “How do I figure that out?”

The principal handed her a simple Sensory Preference assesessment [SPA] and suggested she do the asseessment carefully and honestly.Arial found herrself so fascinated by the questions, that as she left the principal’s office, forgot her sheaf of student evaluations.

Two days later Arial was back. Placing her completed SPA in front of the principal she pointed to the column that showed 18/21. “I have an auditory preference,” she said excitedly, “which makes so much sense.”
She turned the page over and pointed at a simple chart. “That’s me,” she said “Auditory. My other two scores were 11 for Kinaesthesia and 7 for Visual.”

“Remember, Arial, you use all of your senses most—if not all—of the time. Sensory preference refers to the type of sensory stimuli that registers in your brain most quickly and intensely,” explained the principal. “That type of sensory stimuli usually require the least amount of energy for your brain to decode.”

“Remember, Arial, you use all of your senses most—if not all—of the time. Sensory preference refers to the type of sensory stimuli that reg- isters in your brain most quickly and intensely,” explained the principal. “That type of sensory stimuli usually require the least amount of energy for your brain to decode.”
Retrieving Arial’s forgotten sheaf of evaluations, the principal read some of the comments aloud.

Arial’s eyes opened wide. “I never understood it that way,” she said slowly. “The visual and kinaesthetic students are forced to learn in my sensory style! Now I understand their comments. But how can I possibly teach to three different sensory systems?”

“It’s easier than you might think,” said the principal. “Your students are old enough to take the SPA.

Plus, you can pick up on a person’s sensory bent by paying attention to the words they use, for starters.

For example, visuals tend to use visual words and metaphors, such as:
I see what you mean . . . Picture this . . . The light just went on . . . It’s crystal clear to me.

They tend to feel affirmed through positive visual stimuli such as a person’s smile, paintings, sculpture, and whatever they see that is attractive—including nature.”

“Remember, Arial, you use all of your senses most—if not all—of the time. Sensory preference refers to the type of sensory stimuli that reg- isters in your brain most quickly and intensely,” explained the principal. “That type of sensory stimuli usually require the least amount of energy for your brain to decode.”
Retrieving Arial’s forgotten sheaf of evaluations, the principal read some of the comments aloud.

“Remember, Arial, you use all of your senses most—if not all—of the time. Sensory preference refers to the type of sensory stimuli that reg- isters in your brain most quickly and intensely,” explained the principal.

“That type of sensory stimuli usually require the least amount of energy for your brain to decode.

”Retrieving Arial’s forgotten sheaf of evaluations, the principal read some of the comments aloud.

Arial’s eyes opened wide. “I never understood it that way,” she said slowly. “The visual and kinaesthetic students are forced to learn in my sensory style! Now I understand their comments. But how can I possibly teach to three different sensory systems?”

“It’s easier than you might think,” said the principal. “Your students are old enough to take the SPA.

Plus, you can pick up on a person’s sensory bent by paying attention to the words they use, for starters.

For example, visuals tend to use visual words and metaphors, such as:
I see what you mean. . . Picture this . . . The light just went on . . . It’s crystal
clear to me.

They tend to feel affirmed through positive visual stimuli such as a person’s smile, paintings, sculpture, and whatever they see that is attractive—including nature.”

“So kinaesthetics would say things like: That’s not a good fit . . . It doesn’t feel right . . . My gut says . . .” said Arial with a growing sense of wonder. “They would feel affirmed through nice smells and tastes, gentle touch, textures, comfortable temperature or massages. “I suggest,” said the principal, “that you might want to give the SPA to all your home-room students.

Help them understand that they use all systems all the time, but may pay more attention to one system over another depending on the environment. For example, kinaesthesia while you are eating, visual when watching a movie and auditory when reading or conversing with others or listening to music or an audio book. You can read using your eyes, ears and fingers, you know.” Arial laughed.

“Maybe their parents could complete the SPA for them?” asked Arial.
“It doesn’t usually work very well to have parents try to complete it for a child,” the principal explained. “Parents tend to answer the questions the way they want their child to be.”

“That makes sense,” said Arial. “Parents have their own sensory preference and often expect their child to be like them.”

“Absolutely,” said the principal. “I have also known of parents who moved their child to another school because the teacher and the student had a definite sensory-preference mismatch.”

“Not on my watch!” exclaimed Arial. “I’m already working on lesson plans to present the information using all three sensory systems whenever possible—and it looks very possible.