a27mom Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 I have been enjoying some other threads that refer to teaching styles. This is a topic I am just discovering for myself and have been pondering. I have definitely found that certain types of curriculum resonate with me more, and actually have been surprised. Have you figured out your teaching style? If so, what is it, or how would you describe it? Are different teaching styles actually defined anywhere? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coffeegal Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 I have been enjoying some other threads that refer to teaching styles. This is a topic I am just discovering for myself and have been pondering. I have definitely found that certain types of curriculum resonate with me more, and actually have been surprised. Have you figured out your teaching style? If so, what is it, or how would you describe it? Are different teaching styles actually defined anywhere? That's a good question. I've never seen teaching styles defined anywhere... As far as my teaching style, I'd describe it as tutoring. The kids' material is usually written to them. They read, study, and work the questions. I sit down with them to give further explanations, correct areas they misunderstood, and discuss concepts rather like I did when I was a tutor years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freeindeed Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 I would say that I'm a hands-on teacher. I like to discuss things with my kids, and I like for us to do things together-like projects, crafts, related recipes, etc. I have not seen a list of teaching styles anywhere, but it would be interesting if there was one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monica_in_Switzerland Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 I think teaching style can be two things: how the teacher interacts with the student, and how the teacher interacts with the content of the lesson. I find that I need to be able to "do my own thing" in a teachable moment. I have a very hard time using curriculum, because I feel a certain pressure to follow the plan (this is probably my own shortcoming in flexibility...). For example, if the time seems right to explain direct objects, than I do. I don't wait for a certain time or level. I would say my teaching is goal-oriented, but I leave the path open to daily inspiration. :-) I cannot go completely rabbit-trail or child-oriented because I want to hit certain self-defined goals by certain vague times, but I want to teach what feels right for each day. I am very no-nonsense. If my kids are fooling around, I will end the lesson, and they know that's not a good thing. I don't do whining, and make them get up and come back and try with another attitude. LOL I don't do anything "fun" to speak of. We do art, but it sure isn't fun for me! (They enjoy it though!) My goal is to maximize skill/knowledge transfer to time spent ratio. :-) I give genuine praise when earned, I give honest criticism when the work is done poorly due to poor attention, and I give any amount of help and clarification with patience when it's needed. I have lots of patience for true not-understanding moments. I have no patience for not-paying-attention moments. I take a lot of delight in seeing progress. I would be that stereotypical mean teacher whose respect needed to be earned. I know my shortcomings are in patience and loosening up over "messy" stuff- art, projects, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justamouse Posted March 13, 2014 Share Posted March 13, 2014 I am like Monica (I am very intense and very serious), but I I allow a LOT of art and music as my first love is art. I don't like curriculum. I like to teach. I don't leave anything up to the books/teacher's guide, I read them myself and then discuss. We talk a LOT in this house. About everything. Curriculum that gives me a script? My brain just starts screeching. Cannot do. I don't give grades, I assess their work. This makes a lot of work for me, but, that is my job right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abba12 Posted March 14, 2014 Share Posted March 14, 2014 I am a planner and an organizer. I love my little bite size lessons and my worksheets and my 36-week plans and my booklists. I like curriculum as a jumping pad but I NEVER stick entirely to it, and sometimes I use it as nothing more than another resource to add to my own plans (like math where we have lots of math books and I put the lessons together myself) or forgo it altogether (History/Geography/Social Studies here, atm, is almost entirely CM based and will be for a few more years.) Having said all that, I believe kids are capable of a lot if you expect it of them and guide them. It's my intention to keep my kids challenged as much as possible, whatever that means for them. As a teacher toward students, I see myself more like a mentor and facilitator. I encourage a lot of independence and responsibility (with appropriate amounts of accountability for the age) and there are rewards for rising to expectations. I provide the books, the assignments, the plans, and I am always available for questions, and in some subjects I will teach new concepts of course, like spelling and math, but I am not the type to actually sit down and 'teach' for hours on end, especially in the content subjects. I am more likely to assign 5 books to be read by friday and then sit down and have a discussion over lunch on friday about them and what was learned, and maybe do one or two activities. That doesn't mean I am hands off, I spend a LOT of time researching those 5 books and even pre-reading some of them and coming up with topics which the child may have missed when they read, and discussion questions, etc. But I am much more involved in preparing the best lessons I can from the best resources I can find than actually directly teaching them. I would rather spend our direct, one on one time on things which are not necessarily academic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twooakharborhicks Posted March 14, 2014 Share Posted March 14, 2014 Meticulous, mostly. I design my own history, geography, and music and add a ton of books to our science. I do videos to go with every topic and I go insane when we don't cover something thoroughly. It is time consuming, but my kids seem to get things :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IsabelC Posted March 14, 2014 Share Posted March 14, 2014 I like to discuss things with the kids and see what it goes. One of my pet hates, curriculum-wise, is scripted materials. I detest listening to a salesperson, charity collector or call centre employee talk to me from a script, so I'm not going to inflict a script on my kids (my ad lib lectures are quite bad enough lol). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lara in Colo Posted March 14, 2014 Share Posted March 14, 2014 I am more of a socratic teacher-- I like to discuss situations and ask questions. We do almost no paperwork. I am not super restricted to the method-- since I do use books and teach to the children (instead of just always asking questions) this method is very time consuming and requires lots of teacher time-- so we really learn well and go deep, but I almost never get through all the subjects in one day. My favorite curricula-- MCT, Sonlight, Critical Thinking Co, LOE, SOTW, -- I haven't found a science I actually like yet for Elem Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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