That is key, you must show you are interested in what they are trying to accomplish.
The techniques that I employ to further develop, refine and enhance my instructional style is continuous learning. I consider it my job as a teacher to make learning my full-time job. I learn new practices by collaborating with other instructors, taking courses, and trying new things in my instruction and facilitation.
I often look first at what worked for me in school, then try to look at myself as if I was a student in my own class - would my teaching style work for them? I need to work on class interaction more - I tend to lecture and show examples, but often don't solicit feedback during class as to how the students would use the material. This is mainly because I teach technical courses and, when I was in school, the students didn't usually understand the material well enough to say anything meaningful. Still,I think that class discussions - when I have them - take the students out of "observer" mode and help make them stakeholders in the class.
I am a new instructor, talented, but stll learning the ropes, a "diamond in the rough" so to speak. I am developing my own "style", but I am not sure what the finished product is going to look like. I want to give my best, but all this info seems overwhelming.
Iam a clinical instructor at a childrens hospital and i enjoy teaching . I agree that i must be a mentor ,manager and motivetor to enhace my instructional style. I believe I need to walk the path before I can expect the student to perforform any task or skill in the clinical area.
I observe other instructors and continually read articles and books about new teaching methods.
As an instructor, we all know our subject well. However, knowing the subject well is not enough. The instructor needs to present the content so the students could understand it. In module one, it states that "Instructional style involves wrapping together your personality and
competencies into a presentation format that will inform, encourage, and instruct your students."
So what is the correct instructional style? The answer is not that simple. It depends on the topic to be presented. First, the instructor must feel comfortably the way he/she instructs. Every instructor has developed his/her own style. We all have different personalities. You can observe their styles but do not try to copy them. Be yourself. Develop your own style.
The techniques that I can employ to further develop, refine and enhance my instructional style are:
· Use conversational style. Instructors need to simplify the theories, models, and concepts.
· Use one approach (more focus on textbook examples) for full time day students and another approach (more focus on real life situations) for evening adult students.
· When instructing the entire class, I will use lecture format.
· When conducting case studies, I will act as a facilitator.
Taking the time to sit in on another instructors class. It will give me me ideas about what is lacking from my own instructional style.
I try to ask as I go along whether I am being clear or not and whether the students are finding the material interesting. Why or why not? So I might adjust or enhance the material based upon responses. It might be worth noting that I am an adjunct at CTU Online so the courses are delivered over the internet. Unfortunately, I don't often get as many responses as I would like. Part of that I believe is the challenging conditions under which many students operate as some of the earlier postings suggest.
Hi Heather,
Whew, you made it through your quarter! This is always a big step in instructor development. Sounds like it went very well for you.
Your professional development plan is a good one. You have already done a self assessment of your personality skills and the ones you listed are essential in providing student support. Your willingness to observe others, talk with instructors and receive feedback from students are all great ways to expand your expertise as an instructor. I wish you the best in your teaching career.
Gary
Hi Wanda,
What are some strategies that you are using to get better in knowing your subject?
Gary
Since I am wrapping up teaching my first real quarter as an instructor, I am learning a lot as I go and am still trying to figure everything out. Having worked as an academic advisor in the past, I have focused a lot on what I heard from students about what they found most helpful and beneficial from their instructors. Aside from being knowledgeable and experienced in the subject matter, students with all different learning styles and backgrounds want an instructor who is supportive, encouraging, consistent, and responsive. Thankfully for me, these are things I am pretty good at! I will continue to listen to feedback from students on course surveys and communications directly with students in order to further develop my instructional style.
Also, I find it most helpful to connect with my colleagues on a regular basis. Especially since I am a fairly new instructor, I feel as though I have so much to learn and I am incredibly open to feedback and suggestions from colleagues that have been doing this for much longer than me. I constantly ask questions and seek advice. I might not agree with my colleague's suggestions or how they do things, but I am working to figure out what will work best for me and my students. I try to take as much in as I can and then sort through it to find what will enhance my style.
Getting better in knowing the subject I am teaching.
Sean - excellent point. Being relevant to the industry not only demonstrates to the students that the instructor is keeping his or her skills current, but it also demonstrates how well the instructor can adapt the knowledge to the environment.
Jason - I agree that integrating real world experiences can help to engage students. I like to give examples and then get the students to bring their own examples as well. Applying an example to my experience works, but if I can get them to apply their own experiences I find the learning "sticks." Good example!
I take a student-centered approach to any class I teach. I encourage students to share what they know about the subject so that we can build on that knowledge. For me the first assignment gives me a baseline to build on regarding the students knowledge, style of communication, and ability to apply the knowledge to that task at hand. Feedback is an important part of encouragement, and I use feedback to not only help the student improve his or her knowledge and application, but to give credit to accomplishments.
Hello Rodney: This is an excellent idea that I use as well. It's been an eye-opener for me when I look back on my old notes from classes of long ago. I can see growth in myself as I reflect on what worked and what didn't.
Hi Rodney,
I am a big fan of journals. They help you to recall what was successful and what wasn't. I was like you and tried to recall what occurred each time I taught the course but that soon got away from me because I had too much going on to recall everything accurately. So the journals now give me accurately recall from which I can make changes, additions or modifications as needed.
Gary
Hi Thomas,
Good idea. I have been teaching for many years and still enjoy observing other instructors because I can always learn something watching them work. Your point about different teaching styles is a good one. You are who you are so you need to take your personality and develop your delivery around that. By observing other instructors you learn about other strategies that you can try in your own classroom or lab.
Gary
One of the primary techniques that I have employed is to use keep a notebook for each class I teach. After each class meeting I take notes for what worked well and what did not work so well. This helps me for the next time I teach the material. When I started teaching, I tried to rely on memory, but this did not work.
