Teaching Styles

As a student teacher, I have been given the opportunity to observe different styles of teaching. One thing I admire about K, the teacher that I have been placed with, is the relaxed attitude she has with her class. She is a seasoned veteran of teaching, which makes me wonder if K is that way as a result of her many years of teaching or if it is her natural style. I suspect it is just her personality. She doesn’t seem to let the minor things stress her, whereas some of the other teachers do just that. She starts the day relaxed and ends the day the same way, rather than stressing about what she might have done differently and burning out after only a few years of teaching.

K does stay alert to the status of her students, however. One strategy she recently implemented was to create a “most-improved” certificate on her computer. She called two of her students to come in front of the class to receive it and announced that though both had started the school year with questionable behavior, they had improved more than any of the other students in the class and were receiving a certificate in honor of their improvement. Receiving this caused much pride in these students and turned out to be a brilliant strategy in more ways than one. It showed the students that the teacher was now seeing them as a success, and the rest of the class was also aware of the new status they had been given. They received a brand new start five months into the year, also showing the class that change was possible in her class.

Another thing I continue to be amazed at is K’s class management. She told me that she will sometimes allow her class to be a little nosier than other classes at times, but what amazes me is that she can quiet them down in an instant. The other teachers that I have observed either need to keep a tighter rein on their students at all times so they won’t get too noisy, or they spend a lot of time quieting them when they do get too noisy. K’s strategy is to dim the lights when she needs to get their attention, and they immediately focus their eyes on her and go quiet.

She also holds her students accountable for their own actions, teaching them to be responsible. I recently watched a different teacher pick up her students’ things after class was over and put them back in their desk. K would never have done that. She makes them pick up their own stuff, and if they don’t do it and it gets lost, they lose it. She has a similar way with the other areas with her class, such as their daily snacks. They are responsible for bringing their own snacks, and if they forget to bring them, they do without. Likewise, this extends to their homework. They are held accountable in the same way for turning in their homework. She doesn’t call their parents. She holds them responsible for doing their own work. After I was gone for two months, doing my middle-school dyad training, I came back to find that they have adapted fairly well to this strategy and more are following through in these areas.