My Teaching Style

We're learning about different teaching theories in one of my classes at Stockton. There is the Traditional Method of teaching, where the teacher stands at the front of the class and lectures and instructs. Students take notes and memorize facts, and are graded based on what they remember. The other teaching theory we're learning is called the Constructivist Learning Theory. That is more hands-on, cooperative learning with many projects to assess student's learning.

Our assignment was to think about what your teaching style would be based on your own personality and style. I had to really think about that and the following is what I came up with:

I grew up with the Traditional Teaching Style Theory. I made flashcards as a kid. I memorized dates and vocabulary words. I highlighted, and even rewrote my notes to keep reinforcing the information to my brain. That is how I studied for every test I took in college (the first time... 20+ years ago) and it's how I studied for the Praxis I exam. It's still how I study. But I realize it's not how some (ok, MOST) kids learn. I am very disciplined when it comes to setting time aside to make myself study. It's important to me, and I will myself to remember what I need to.

I also have issues working with people. I'm not a collaborator. I'll be the first to admit, I don't relinquish control very easily. I can remember in grammar school we didn't have traditional A, B, C, D or F report cards. We had O for Outstanding, S for Satisfactory, and N meant Needs Improvement. And we had many sub-categories besides the typical Reading, Writing and Math... I was mostly an O student except for one little category called, "Works Well with Others" where I consistently received an N. If I had a vision, I really preferred MY vision to be the way it was. (I'm working on that though.) I would rather do it myself, than take a chance that someone wouldn't do it the way I would do it. That's just the way I've always been, and it's something I'll probably struggle with for a long time.

But that's not the kind of teacher I want to be!

Because even though I was taught using the Traditional Teaching Theory, I can't say school was the most exciting place I wanted to be. But I want my students to feel energized and excited in my classroom. I want them to learn to LOVE getting lost in books and discovering new ways to solve old problems. I want them to research answers because they want to put a video together, or put on a play and they want it to be authentic. I want them to care about the grades they get and make themselves proud, and have the self confidence to believe they can do anything!

I want them to come to a classroom that is safe, and where they believe their opinions will not be dismissed and discarded. I want them to know that their teacher is trying every possible way she knows to reach them and teach them.

As an elementary education teacher, I know that I will have to teach children the fundamentals. I will probably have to do some lecturing and demonstrating, but I hope I can also provide some hands-on learning activities along with the traditional instruction. When we learn some basic grammar facts, maybe I can find a cute little song to go along with it. When we practice math drills, I hope we can also play Math Bingo (a great app for the iPod Touch by the way).

I want to arrange the desks in tables, so the children can work with their "across the street neighbor", even if it's just getting feedback for work they did on their own (such as writing workshop stories).

I can't see myself leading a group of students standing on their desks yelling, "O Captain My Captain", but I hope they can look back and say, "Mrs. Kees was a great teacher!"