How Online Middle Schools Support Different Learning Styles

June 17, 2025

The best online middle schools offer the same important educational features that the best brick and mortar schools do: experienced faculty, rigorous academics, enriching class discussions, strong community connections, extracurriculars, student leadership opportunities, academic support, and comprehensive college guidance. 

The list above is not complete without another vitally important feature: teacher knowledge, awareness, and support for all types of learners. 

Supporting different learning styles is a specialty of Dwight Global Online School faculty and is, in fact, a foundational tenant of the school’s pedagogical mission. 

Supporting personalized learning and “igniting a spark of genius in every child” has been a goal of the Dwight Schools since the first Dwight School was founded over 150 years ago, and many happy students and families can attest to the success of its mission and methods.

In what ways do experienced online middle school faculty support their students who have a wide array of learning styles?

Balance asynchronous and synchronous content

Dwight Global combines real-time online video conferencing seminars, Oxford-style tutorials, and a college-style schedule, to provide students with the intimacy of an independent school coupled with the freedom to pursue their passions. Veteran online teachers are masters of lesson planning for online teaching.

“Teachers at Dwight Global plan extensively for live lessons and know what material to reserve for asynchronous lessons,” said Renata Nikolayev, Director of Curriculum and Instruction at Dwight Global. “Planning for both live and asynchronous work takes more time and organization, and our faculty have measured experience, professional development opportunities, and the school support to ensure they succeed,” Nikolayev said. 

“At Dwight Global, teachers’ deep planning leads to meaningful lessons that meet all students’ needs in creative, engaging, and pedagogically impressive ways,” she said.

Communicate and provide daily feedback

Both verbal and written communication are key to supporting online students of all learning types. Students learn best when they receive immediate feedback on skill development, homework, papers, projects, and class participation. Providing daily academic feedback is a hallmark of good teaching.  

Verbal feedback boosts student confidence and trust, while written feedback gives the student concrete ways to improve when revising or working on a new assignment. 

Supportive private online school teachers communicate regularly with the student’s family through parent-teacher conferences, emails, notes, and school management platforms. 

Offer choice 

Choice is critical for maximizing different student learning styles. It allows for differentiation and provides for all students’ needs. Dwight Global’s experienced faculty provide a variety of assessment choices, prompts, projects, and research topics allow students to delve into areas they are most interested in, vastly increasing engagement. 

Providing choice also includes technology. Online teachers are masters at learning about new technology for teaching and learning, testing it out for themselves, and incorporating it into their classes. 

“Students in the middle school have begun to use Canva as a presentation medium,” said Head of Dwight Global Middle School Sara Crucet. “Canva has AI graphic features such as photo editing, design tools, and a library of infographics to help students unleash their creative choices.”

Promote self care

Unsurprisingly, the best and most experienced online teachers have their favorite tips, tools, and strategies to maximize online learning, taking into account the way each student learns best: visually, auditorily, kinesthetically, or a blend of these and other learning preferences. 

Dwight Global’s faculty encourage students to take care of themselves, and they model good self care, too. They support online students in getting enough exercise and taking breaks between studying sessions. Journaling, practicing mindfulness and meditation, and getting enough sleep are all integral aspects of self care.

Set clear goals and develop self-management 

Starting from the first day of the school year, Dwight Global online middle school faculty set clear goals and expectations for their students in ways the student can understand and absorb. Comprehensive and easily understood rubrics, class overviews, book lists, syllabi, and classroom expectations are all key to online student success, of course. On top of that, online middle school students also work closely with their teachers and deans to develop social and emotional skills, too. Dwight Global middle schoolers participate in extracurricular clubs, after school activities, school House meetings and events, and one-on-one support.

Model self-care

Dwight Global faculty formally set their own goals, as well, to gain new strategies on differentiating lessons and incorporating all types of learner preferences into assessments. 

Online teaching and learning requires multifaceted skills, and, just like anything else, excellence comes with practice and dedication.

Teachers invested in teaching all types of learners set goals for their own teaching and continually work to improve. They learn new platforms and technologies, expand existing lessons, and create new ones. They self assess on a daily basis: What is working well? What needs tweaking? 

Prioritize human connection 

The best online teachers know that prioritizing human connection is essential, both between teacher and student, and between students themselves. They maximize collaborative technologies to promote student interconnectivity within all learning spaces. They notice how students connect with the material, too. 

Checking in frequently with students during class, and outside of class in tutorials, extracurriculars, and study periods goes a long way toward deepening and increasing human connection and meetin

g each learner where they are in order to help them move forward.

Dwight Global faculty know their students and use real world examples, which deepens learning and increases connections.

Adapt curriculum and assessments

Dwight Global online middle school faculty don’t simply transfer their in-person lessons to a digital format; they redesign them for maximum impact keeping in mind the learning styles of all students. They apply lessons to the real world and use formative assessments to inform understanding. They remain focused on learning differences within each class and within the school community, and give all students the best chance to succeed.

For more information on Dwight Global Online School, visit Dwight Global Admissions or go to the FAQs page.