Elementary Teaching Methods

Improve Your Teaching

 Elementary Teaching Methods

One of the most difficult parts of developing as a teacher is learning how to pick the correct
teaching methodology for your classroom. Before deciding which method(s) to use, teachers
should start from the end of the lesson and work backwards. Teachers can mold the lesson’s
mission easily by establishing what students should take away from the lesson and how they will
be assessed. Teachers can further reinforce these skills and/or ideas by developing plans for
hands-on activities, lectures, and collaborative learning.

Of course, there are many different methods that can be utilized in teaching students. Here are
some of the best and most used:

Direct/Traditional, Teacher-Centered
The direct or traditional method of teaching has long been the standard model. In this method,
the teacher acts as an anchor, hitting all the points of a specific lesson, while students listen and
respond to the lecture. It is the teacher’s responsibility in this model to keep the student’s
attention and convey the main learning points of the lesson.

A direct/traditional approach is most commonly used as beginning instruction for a new subject
or skill. For example, an elementary teacher explaining basic sentence structures may want to
begin by explaining what a period is, what it looks like, and where it goes in relation to the
sentence. Teachers using this method must be cognizant of their students’ abilities to pay
attention for long stretches.

The direct/traditional model is excellent for those who need to hear or read a lesson to learn, but
it is not usually the most conducive method for verbal learners. It also usually requires note-
taking, a skill often not developed until later in life (teacher-centered lessons are for this reason
very popular in adult education, particularly at colleges and universities). Here are some other
pros and cons to direct/traditional teaching:

Pros Cons
 Teacher can be sure that all  Measuring success of the lesson
lesson points are made cannot be made while teaching
 Quiet and structured  Students are not directly involved
learning environment and cannot give feedback
 Lesson plans are more of a  Non-verbal based learners may
script rather than a list of struggle to keep up
activities
 Less appropriate for younger
 Easy to prepare students who cannot take notes

Hands-On/Inquiry, Student-Centered
The rise of Montessori-based education has led to the adoption of hands-on instruction methods
in many classrooms. This type of student-centered activity creates experimentation, exploration,
and self-discovery, helping engage learners in a more active classroom.

Hands-on lesson plans are often developed as “experiments,” such as multi-day (or -week)
projects or various “learning centers” throughout the classroom. For example, an elementary
science teacher might use a hands-on hypothesis-experiment lesson to explain soil erosion,
allowing students to see and experience the changes rather than reading about them from a book.

Despite the engagement, hands-on lessons can also be somewhat chaotic. Without having a set of
learning points, experiment-based lesson plans can make it more difficult to ensure that all
students are taking away the same points from a lesson. Teachers using an inquiry-based method
must be extraordinarily organized and plan lessons far in advance to plan for the extensive work
that it takes to implement longer learning activities. Here are some other pros and cons to
inquiry-based teaching:
 Pros Cons
 Students are constantly  Classroom management with many
engaged in their learning hands-on lessons will be difficult
 Students must be more  Planning lessons and preparing
responsible for their materials in advance is more
education necessary
 Hands-on lessons are more  All important learning fundamentals
memorable and can be may not be covered in the process.
incorporated with past
 Transferring from hands-on to
lessons
traditional teaching in a given lesson
 Feedback on student can be difficult
progress and engagement is
instant and in-the-moment

Collaborative/Cooperative, Shared-Centered
Collaborative and cooperative teaching can be a great way to get students to interact with their
peers and their instructors. Cooperative lesson plans include projects that involve group work,
partner learning, or teacher-student work. This method can be extremely beneficial for struggling
students; it also gives the teacher the ability to identify and target students that need extra
attention.

However, not all students respond positively to group work; in fact, early elementary teachers
often find that enforcing positive group skills can be more difficult than ensuring a project is
completed. Secondly, having a one-on-one teacher-to-student experience may mean devoting
less time to other students. Additionally, those students that truly do need extra attention
sometimes feel singled out, leading to anxiety in the classroom. Here are some of the pros and
cons associated with collaborative learning:

Pros Cons
 Encourages discussions and  Not as effective with students who
do not respond positively to group
 revisiting of lessons learning
 Allows for student-student  Group learning places more
teaching responsibility on students
 Identifies different levels of  Singles out struggling students
learners
 Assessment of group work can be
 Teacher can work directly more difficult to implement
with struggling students in a
sharing capacity

Deciding on the Right Method