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Teaching StylesThere are four different styles of teaching that are recognized by most people; formal authority, demonstrator or personal model, Facilitator, and delegator. The four styles are separated by a number of positive and negative aspects about teaching a class, but the common thought is that a combination of all the four styles is considered the best way to teach. The formal authority style of teaching involves teaching focusing mainly on content. This type of style is mainly teacher centered. This means that it is the teacher that is controlling all aspects of the teaching process. They control what they teach, the pace they teach, and how they are going to teach the material. This can have a positive effect on the students because it shows them that the teacher knows the material and there is a time that a teacher needs to actually teach and let students listen. The negative side of this teaching style is that there is not usually any rapport with the students and teacher, or with the students to other students. This can lead to students not wanting to learn, not feel like they are learning anything useful, and in extreme cases a little resentment towards the teacher. The demonstrator or personal model teaching style is a style that involves the teacher using a lot of demonstration and modeling. This style of teaching is still very heavily teacher centered, but involves the students more than a formal authority style teacher might. The teacher with this style will act as a role model for the students through demonstrating the skills being taught and then guiding them through application of the skills. Teachers with this style encourage students to participate and will adapt their teaching to accommodate various learning styles. The teacher will expect students to take a certain responsibility to learn what they do not know and asking for assistance when they do not understand something. They teacher who utilizes the facilitator style of teaching is one that focuses a lot on activities. This style puts emphasis on student-centered learning with the teacher designing activities that utilize group interaction, problem solving and active learning. This style teacher will design activities that students will have to think out to solve. There is a lot of responsibility placed on the students in this type of teaching style because they are expected to take the initiative to meet the teacher?s expectations for different activities. The issue with this style of teaching is that students who are shy and not comfortable with class participation are not as likely to learn from this style. The last teaching style is the delegator style of teaching. Teachers who use this style put a lot of control in the hands of the students for their learning. This teacher usually acts in a consultant sort of role. They let the students design their own learning ideas and projects and observe and correct when necessary. Students in this teaching style are expected to work in groups maintaining their own motivation and be able to manage group roles. Every teacher has their own style of teaching, but whatever your teaching style is one thing that most people will agree on is that you need to be flexible in teaching. Even if you prefer one style over the other it may not be the best for the students you are teaching. After all the entire purpose of teaching is in order for students to learn, and if the style in which you are teaching is not appropriate for the style of learning the students possess then there is probably very little learning going on.
