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In your math tutor job you will come across students of varying learning styles. Being sought-after and successful in your math tutor job will rely on you knowing about the different learning styles and how to work with them. Psychologists agree on seven specific learning styles, and more may be discovered. Knowing the type of learning your student does best will help you to maximize those learning advantages by tailoring each lesson to each student’s learning style.

Here is a basic list of the most common learning styles. Following the list will be a description of each.

1) Linguistic
2) Logical
3) Spatial
4) Musical
5) Bodily (tactile)
6) Interpersonal
7) Intrapersonal

1) Linguistic: These learners remember audio information well, being able to repeat back what you’ve said. They love to read, write, and tell stories. They learn best by speaking, hearing, and even seeing words. Encourage them in creative writing, and in excelling in spelling. They can memorize trivia very easily, including places, dates, and names. This could be a Shakespeare in the budding.
2) Logical: This is a mathematical person who enjoys solving problems, especially math-related ones. They are very logical and straight forward (think Dr. Spock on Star Trek.) They love to ask questions on how things work and how things relate, even why things are here. This person may become an engineer. They learn best by classifying, categorizing, and working with relationships and abstract patterns. They are good at making charts and showing relationships between different items. They may enjoy explaining process and development of the stages of problems.
3) Spatial: These people love to visualize. They may seem like day dreamers, and love to watch movies to stay away from reality. They will do better by drawing about a problem rather than trying to explain it. They learn by developing their senses and also through their natural artistic abilities. They have an eye for color and pictures and do well with educational computer games. Although they are very artistic, they may have problems expressing it. Encourage any and all creative endeavors. This person may become something like an international theme park.
4) Musical: Does this person like to hum a lot or always needs music to study by? This type of learner does well when noticing details, pitches and rhythms that may elude the normal listener. They keep tune and are talented at turning abstract into concrete ideas and objects. They learn through the rhythm. To memorize, they might want to write a song or rap to memorize the information. Try to incorporate music into lessons as much as possible.
5) Bodily: this basically means always on the move. Can’t sit still, needs to touch everything, and constantly walking around or fidgeting. Sports and crafts are chosen over sitting to read a book. This is active education in action. Keep them moving. These learners can do more than one thing at a time and may have been labeled as ADHD. However, many are misdiagnosed. Allow them to use all that extra energy to learn. Keep lessons short and change subjects frequently. Incorporate touch and other senses along with interaction in the space around them. These types of learners also do well with interdisciplinary lessons.
6) Interpersonal: they would be the “social butterflies.” They have many friends, are excellent leaders, and adapt easily in any type of social situations. They are favorites among playmates because of the patience, understanding, and empathy. Often referred to as the “peacemakers.” Encourage their love of people. These learning types do best in group situations so that they can compare, relate, share with and even interview other people.
7) Intrapersonal: those strong willed people. This learning style is just as unique and important in our diversity as all the others are. Sometimes they are seen by others to be snobby but in reality they are independent; the strong and silent types. They have a deep understanding of themselves and work best alone. They may stand out from the crowd even though they may not try to. They need their own space but they also need encouragement to develop socialization skills.

Whether in your math tutor job or just in life in general, you will discover that most people have elements of several or even all of the learning styles. Usually, one or two learning types will be strongest for each person. Try to incorporate your tutoring, whether it be in math or another subject, into the style that your student is strongest in, so that learning is more enjoyable and successful for both you and your student.