What is Your Teaching Style?

5
Effective Teaching Methods for Your
Classroom
By Eric Gill • January 5, 2013
Every teacher has her or his own style of teaching. And as traditional teaching
styles evolve with the advent of differentiated instruction, more and more
teachers are adjusting their approach depending on their students’ learning
needs.

But there are a few fundamental teaching styles most educators tend to use.
Which one is yours?

You’ve Got Style

These teaching styles highlight the five main strategies teachers use in the classroom, as well
as the benefits and potential pitfalls of each.

The Authority, or lecture style

The authority model is teacher-centered and frequently entails lengthy lecture
sessions or one-way presentations. Students are expected to take notes or
absorb information.

 Pros: This style is acceptable for certain higher-education disciplines and

auditorium settings with large groups of students. The pure lecture style is
most suitable for subjects like history, which necessitate memorization of key
facts, dates, names, etc.
 Cons: It’s a questionable model for teaching children because there is little or
no interaction with the teacher. Plus it can get a little snooze-y. That’s why it’s
a better approach for older, more mature students.

The Demonstrator, or coach style

The demonstrator retains the formal authority role by showing students what
they need to know. The demonstrator is a lot like the lecturer, but their lessons
include multimedia presentations, activities, and demonstrations. (Think:
Math. Science. Music.)
 Pros: This style gives teachers opportunities to incorporate a variety of
formats including lectures and multimedia presentations.
 Cons: Although it’s well-suited for teaching mathematics, music, physical
education, arts and crafts, it is difficult to accommodate students’ individual
needs in larger classrooms.

The Facilitator, or activity style

Facilitators promote self-learning and help students develop critical thinking
skills and retain knowledge that leads to self-actualization.

 Pros: This style trains students to ask questions and helps develop skills to
find answers and solutions through exploration; it is ideal for teaching science
and similar subjects.
 Cons: Challenges teacher to interact with students and prompt them toward
discovery rather than lecturing facts and testing knowledge through
memorization. So it’s a bit harder to measure success in tangible terms.

The Delegator, or group style

The delegator style is best suited for curriculum that requires lab activities,
such as chemistry and biology, or subjects that warrant peer feedback, like
debate and creative writing.

 Pros: Guided discovery and inquiry-based learning places the teacher in an

observer role that inspires students by working in tandem toward common
goals.
 Cons: Considered a modern style of teaching, it is sometimes criticized as
eroding teacher authority. As a delegator, the teacher acts more as a
consultant rather than the traditional authority figure.

The Hybrid, or blended style

Hybrid, or blended style, follows an integrated approach to teaching that
blends the teacher’s personality and interests with students’ needs and
curriculum-appropriate methods.

 Pros: Inclusive! And enables teachers to tailor their styles to student needs
and appropriate subject matter.
 Cons: Hybrid style runs the risk of trying to be too many things to all students,
prompting teachers to spread themselves too thin and dilute learning.
 Because teachers have styles that reflect their distinct personalities and
curriculum—from math and science to English and history—it’s crucial that
they remain focused on their teaching objectives and avoid trying to be all
things to all students.

What you need to know about your

teaching style
Although it is not the teacher’s job to entertain students, it is vital to engage
them in the learning process. Selecting a style that addresses the needs of
diverse students at different learning levels begins with a personal inventory—
a self-evaluation—of the teacher’s strengths and weaknesses. As they
develop their teaching styles and integrate them with effective classroom
management skills, teachers will learn what works best for their personalities
and curriculum.

Our guide encapsulates today’s different teaching styles and helps teachers
identify the style that’s right for them and their students. Browse through the
article or use these links to jump to your desired destination.

 What is a teaching style inventory, and how have teaching styles evolved?
 What teaching method is best for today’s students?
 How does classroom diversity influence teachers?

Emergence of the teaching style

inventory
How have teaching styles evolved? This is a question teachers are asked,
and frequently ask themselves, as they embark on their careers, and
occasionally pause along the way to reflect on job performance. To
understand the differences in teaching styles, it’s helpful to know where the
modern concept of classifying teaching methods originated.

The late Anthony F. Grasha, a noted professor of psychology at the University

of Cincinnati, is credited with developing the classic five teaching styles. A
follower of psychiatrist Carl Jung, Grasha began studying the dynamics of the
relationship between teachers and learning in college classrooms. His
groundbreaking book, “Teaching with Style,” was written both as a guide for
 teachers and as a tool to help colleagues, administrators and students
systematically evaluate an instructor’s effectiveness in the classroom.
Grasha understood that schools must use a consistent, formal approach in
evaluating a teacher’s classroom performance. He recognized that any
system designed to help teachers improve their instructional skills requires a
simple classification system. He developed a teaching style inventory that has
since been adopted and modified by followers.

 Expert: Similar to a coach, experts share knowledge, demonstrate their

expertise, advise students and provide feedback to improve understanding
and promote learning.
 Formal authority: Authoritative teachers incorporate the traditional lecture
format and share many of the same characteristics as experts, but with less
student interaction.
 Personal model: Incorporates blended teaching styles that match the best
techniques with the appropriate learning scenarios and students in an
adaptive format.
 Facilitator: Designs participatory learning activities and manages classroom
projects while providing information and offering feedback to facilitate critical
thinking.
 Delegator: Organizes group learning, observes students, provides
consultation, and promotes interaction between groups and among individuals
to achieve learning objectives.
Although he developed specific teaching styles, Grasha warned against
boxing teachers into a single category. Instead, he advocated that teachers
play multiple roles in the classroom. He believed most teachers possess some
combination of all or most of the classic teaching styles.

How does differentiated instruction affect teaching styles?

Carol Ann Tomlinson, a professor at the University of Virginia, is an early
advocate of differentiated instruction and a pioneer in the development of
learning-based teaching styles. If Grasha laid the groundwork for 20th-century
teachers to adopt styles tailored to match their personalities and strengths,
Tomlinson has advanced this theme into the 21st century by focusing on
differentiated instruction.

In the simplest terms, differentiated instruction means keeping all students in

mind when developing lesson plans and workbook exercises, lectures and
interactive learning. These student-focused differences necessitate
instructional styles that embrace diverse classrooms for students at all
learning levels and from various backgrounds without compromising the
teacher’s strengths.

What teaching style is best for today’s

students?
Whether you’re a first-year teacher eager to put into practice all of the
pedagogical techniques you learned in college, or a classroom veteran
examining differentiated instruction and new learning methodologies, consider
that not all students respond well to one particular style. Although teaching
styles have been categorized into five groups, today’s ideal teaching style is
not an either/or proposition but more of a hybrid approach that blends the best
of everything a teacher has to offer.

The traditional advice that teachers not overreach with a cluster of all-
encompassing teaching styles might seem to conflict with today’s emphasis
on student-centered classrooms. Theoretically, the more teachers emphasize
student-centric learning the harder it is to develop a well-focused style based
on their personal attributes, strengths and goals.

In short, modern methods of teaching require different types of teachers—

from the analyst/organizer to the negotiator/consultant. Here are some other
factors to consider as teachers determine the best teaching method for their
students.

Empty vessel: Critics of the “sage on the stage” lecture style point to the
“empty vessel” theory, which assumes a student’s mind is essentially empty
and needs to be filled by the “expert” teacher. Critics of this traditional
approach to teaching insist this teaching style is outmoded and needs to be
updated for the diverse 21st-century classroom.
Active vs. passive: Proponents of the traditional lecture approach believe
that an overemphasis on group-oriented participatory teaching styles, like
facilitator and delegator, favor gifted and competitive students over passive
children with varied learning abilities, thereby exacerbating the challenges of
meeting the needs of all learners.
Knowledge vs. information: Knowledge implies a complete understanding,
or full comprehension, of a particular subject. A blend of teaching styles that
incorporate facilitator, delegator, demonstrator, and lecturer techniques helps
the broadest range of students acquire in-depth knowledge and mastery of a
given subject. This stands in contrast to passive learning, which typically
entails memorizing facts, or information, with the short-term objective of
scoring well on tests.
Interactive classrooms: Laptops and tablets, videoconferencing and
podcasts in classrooms play a vital role in today’s teaching styles. With
technology in mind, it is imperative that teachers assess their students’
knowledge while they are learning. The alternative is to wait for test results,
only to discover knowledge gaps that should have been detected during the
active learning phase.
Constructivist teaching methods: Contemporary teaching styles tend to be
group focused and inquiry driven. Constructivist teaching methods embrace
subsets of alternative teaching styles, including modeling, coaching, and test
preparation through rubrics scaffolding. All of these are designed to promote
student participation and necessitate a hybrid approach to teaching. One
criticism of the constructivist approach is it caters to extroverted, group-
oriented students, who tend to dominate and benefit from these teaching
methods more than introverts; however, this assumes introverts aren’t
learning by observing.
Student-centric learning does not have to come at the expense of an
instructor’s preferred teaching method. However, differentiated instruction
demands that teachers finesse their style to accommodate the diverse needs
of 21st-century classrooms.

The ‘sage on the stage’ meets the ‘tiger

mom’
The objective of blending teaching styles to leverage the teacher’s strengths
while meeting the demands of diverse students has become increasingly
difficult, as parents take a decidedly proactive role in child-learning
techniques.

The traditional authoritative/expert, or “sage on the stage” lecture style, has

come under attack by some parents—and contemporary educational
leaders—who emphasize that a more diverse approach to teaching is
necessary to engage students. This is compounded by the rise of “tiger
moms,” a term made popular by parents devoted to improving the quality of
education with laser-precision focus on A-list schools and a highly competitive
job market.

Age of the proactive parent

 Regardless of what style a teacher adopts, it’s important for teachers to
develop positive attitudes, set goals and establish high expectations for
students.

“Assume students can excel!” education authors Harry and Rosemary Wong
declare. As former teachers with a combined 80-plus years of educational
experience, the Wongs emphasize in their best-selling book, “The First Days
of School: How to Be an Effective Teacher” and their more recent, “The
Classroom Management Book” that successful teachers share three common
characteristics:
 effective classroom management skills
 lesson mastery
 positive expectations
All instructors, when developing their teaching styles, should keep in mind
these three goals, as well as the primary objective of education: student
learning.

How does classroom diversity influence

teachers?
It is abundantly clear that today’s teachers are responsible for students with a
diverse range of learning abilities. The 21st-century teacher does not have the
luxury of “picking the low-hanging fruit” and then leaving the rest of the tree for
experts who specialize in children with behavioral issues or learning disorders.

Today’s teachers must develop instructional styles that work well in diverse
classrooms. Effective teaching methods engage gifted students, as well as
slow-learning children and those with attention deficit tendencies. This is
where differentiated instruction and a balanced mix of teaching styles can help
reach all students in a given classroom—not just the few who respond well to
one particular style of teaching.

The wonderment of teaching, what author/educator Dr. Harry Wong refers to

as “that ah-ha moment” when a child “gets it,” is one of the most rewarding
and seemingly elusive benefits of becoming a teacher. This transfer of
knowledge from expert to student is an art form and a skill. Fortunately, both
can be learned and perfected.

Knowing how to engage students begins with selecting the teaching style
that’s right for you. And remember, even though you may prefer one teaching
style over another, you must find the style that works best for your students!
Try different styles to meet different objectives, and always challenge yourself
to find ways to reach each student.

Learn More: Click to view related resources.