I am currently taking Teaching for Learning 1 course,
which I am sure most, if not all of you, are taking as well. As part of our
assignment for this week we had to read a chapter in our textbook entitled, “A
Resource Guide for Teaching K-12”. In that chapter the author talked about the
two main teaching styles and how they are different. The two contrasting styles
are the traditional style and the facilitating style. The text went on to say
that in today’s schools teachers must use aspects from each, but with a
stronger inclination toward the facilitating style. I found this interesting
and wanted to share my views on this, as well as get your opinions on what
teaching style you might want to incorporate in your future classrooms.
I personally, agree with the text, in that it is
important to teach more in the facilitating style with a little emphasis on the
traditional. Students in our classroom may have been taught the traditional way
by other teachers and may not be familiar with the facilitating style. The text
also says that a teaching style is determined on the teacher’s personal
characteristics, experiences, and knowledge of research findings on how people
learn. This is a very valid point, because most traditional teachers are not
familiar with the new findings on how students learn nowadays. For example, a
lot of classrooms have smart boards and teachers are incorporating technology
into their lesson plans. In the traditional classroom you would not find that.
You would see a teacher at the front of class lecturing and instructing the
students to take notes and memorize things for tests. However, today, teachers
are encouraging group work, peer learning/teaching, and are less the instructor
and more of a guide to the students. I find that this is more effective for
students to better understand the material and engage more in the classroom.
In my future classroom I intend on incorporating both
teaching styles in my lesson plans. I think it is important to try new ways of
teaching and see what works and what does not work for the students. It is also
a good way to get feedback from students on what works for them and what
difficulties they might have with others. The traditional teaching style will
always serve as that “crutch” for us teachers, in that we always have it to
fall back on if our new style does not work. However, as we continue to learn
new things each day I believe the traditional teaching style will become a
thing in the past.
I
would enjoy hearing what your thoughts are on the contrasting teaching styles
and how you plan on incorporating technology in your classroom, if you intend
to do so.
Traditional classrooms vs. today's classrooms are two very effective teaching styles. However, each of them were for their time. Students now are more interested in technology and in moving around because it is what they have been used to. Traditional classrooms were great 50 years ago because it reflected the learning style of the people of the time. However, in order to tend to our students and ensure that they are learning, we need to involve them in a way that interests them. Therefore, you are right in bringing up this point. Technology must be incorporated into the classroom because it is what our students know. Group work is very important as well, because when students go out into the "real" world and find jobs they will be interacting with people.
ReplyDeleteNowadays, students tend to rely too much on technology and technology has replaced many active part of learning. For example, rather than physically writing notes in the notebook, many students prefer to take notes using their laptop. I am not saying that technology is bad, but I believe that the materials will actually be stored in your brain if you actually write them. It is also a good way to ensure that students are engaged and not distracted by technology. I think that we should just find the balance between both teaching styles. I believe the traditional way also has its benefits, otherwise, we wouldn't have come this far in our current education system.
ReplyDeleteI also find it more effective to include technology and group work in the classroom as you do. However, I also do see where you are coming from as having traditional teaching styles as a “crutch”. Some students could be so used to traditional classrooms that maybe they would not want the change, but I do not think that is the case for most students. Whether that is or not the way they learn better, I agree with you that student feedback is important. I personally do not like and will not have a traditional teaching classroom. I rather use technology and group work to my advantage. Some technology I plan to incorporate in my class is power points, online manipulatives like from the Nation Library of Virtual Manipulatives, and I would like to have many group work activities to allow students to explore and learn together.
ReplyDeleteAntonietta, I agree 100 percent with the fact that both strategies should be used in teaching! I think that many teachers who have been teaching for many years are so accustomed to their own practices and strategies that they completely block out the idea of a new and possibly better strategy for teaching their subject! Although I don't not think that their older strategy should be thrown away if it is effective, I think that new strategies should be incorporated too, to make sure that we are giving our students every possible chance to learn and grasp the material in our lessons!
ReplyDelete