Teaching styles vary from teacher to teacher, allowing the class to flow smoothly. For Osbourn High School, teachers showcase differences towards teaching, what inspired their teaching, how their teaching varies from each class, their approach to assist students, how their style assists the students in learning the necessary material, the shifting of style based on certain factors, and how their style is unique from others.

A teacher’s style can vary based on what level that class is on. For more advanced courses, the style may be more fast-paced than regular classes to fit the overall level the students are on. For this teacher, after the lecture, she has a conversation with the student face to face, so that she can grasp their understanding of the topic that was presented to the student. She also presents a variety of strategies to get the same answer based on what the student is comfortable most with and also presents more details to further make the students grasp the knowledge of the topic.

“My style of teaching is instruction plus independent work, so I make my instruction clear and more straightforward, so everyone in the class can understand it. Also I try to make my instructions more detailed. Students have different kinds of solutions to solving problems, so I will allow them to come to the board. For example, in Algebra class, some of the students have different kinds of tactics in order to find the solution, so I make them solve the solution on the board. I also ask students to pick the way that makes more sense to them. After instruction, I will ask other students if they understood the unit today, and if they understand why we got that result when answering the questions. If I make sure everybody understands that, I will ask everybody to do their independent work on their own. I try my best to be more detailed, so I don’t overwhelm them with the independent work, so I ask them to do one question, but for more advanced classes, I will usually go through one or two questions. I let them do the rest of the questions on their own. If they are stuck on one problem, I can go up to their seat and help them figure out the solution,” said Algebra teacher Ms. Liu.

Many other teachers assist students, so they understand the material better. However, a teacher needs to have the knowledge of what the student needs help with in order for the teacher to acquire where the confusion is. For this teacher, he does not give the answers to the student but rather finds where the disconnection is in the material so that the student can be more successful in the class.

“I would attempt to figure out what they need help with. If a student just says they need help, to me it doesn’t mean anything. The word ‘with’ needs to come right after that sentence. What do you need help with? To me, my whole goal with helping is not to do the work for them, but to try to find where the disconnection is, whether it’s in instruction, prior knowledge, or maybe a tip to move forward. It really depends on the student, and it depends on the topic, and it really depends on the actual task they need help with,” said English teacher Mr. NeJame.

Some teachers dislike lecturing for the majority of the time, which is because the students can easily get lost in the material given to them. This teacher gives the required information for the reading to understand the topic so that the students are not off-track and missing the necessary knowledge to succeed in the class. From there, he would assist the students who need assistance with the reading.

“My style helps my students due to the fact that it is not me talking the whole time because students normally get lost when teachers do so. Whereas, I’m giving you the information required for the reading and from there, I answer questions to help clarify,” said World History teacher Mr. Johnson.

However, style can shift along with evolution over time. With evolution, certain teachers need to tweak their style to keep up with the evolution of technology over the years, and they need to constantly change their style to adapt and reach the expectation of what students need to know.

“My teaching style changed along with the evolution of technology, and the information that is available now. Earlier, it was textbook-based, but now because of the evolution of technology and knowledge, I have changed my teaching style to suit the expectations of what is required to learn today, and I try to reach that expectation by creating interesting activities for my students,” said Biology teacher Ms. Pathapadu.

A style can also vary based on what the class is. Required classes may need more lecturing to allow the students to grasp the knowledge required based on what the school board expects the students to know. However, for elective classes such as Journalism, the style may be more flexible and quieter. Other classes can also have different objectives that the students need to accomplish, directly changing teachers’ styles based on the class.

“Based on what I teach, I am quieter than other teachers. I definitely know that there are teachers who lecture for half the class, and they want their students to take notes along with doing a variety of activities. I have my students more on a singular path. We are here to write articles for the website, so our goal doesn’t drastically change as we go, but if I’m teaching in an English class, I might have a different goal every week that my students have to accomplish. If I taught English classes, one week we would be writing papers and the other we would be dealing with literature. It’s a different type of structure to the class in general,” said Journalism teacher Ms. Miller.

What do you think is the best approach to teaching? Tell us in the comments!