Get Your Students Hired
Hi, all,
It is a great question because instructional style will maximize learning opportunity for students.
Instructional style is the combination of personality and competencies and to improve it, I will have to work on both areas. My goal is to keep good relationship with students. To develop and refine my instructional style, I will participate in professional educator organizations, attend educational conferences, and read professional literature to enhance my personal competence. Also, I will work on my subject area and expand knowledge there as well. I will also analyze the teaching style of my past instructors and observe other classes. All these will help me develop and refine my instructional style!!
Thank you,
Farooq Afzal
I have only been an instructor for two and a half years and I realized that every day is always an exciting day for me. I learned to be flexible in my class. A lot of things affect the students interest and so as soon as I get into class, I ask how they are doing, anything exciting that they would like to share to the class, or even how is the weather or the traffic out there?
I try to set the mood of the class so the students will be aware that there is something new that they will learn and also always do a recap of the previous lessons and see how it will apply "in the real world". My students love to ask me "In the real world" is it always so and so?
I do motivate them so they are looking forward into entering their externship and finally finding a rewarding job.
Hi David,
You make a good point about the composition of different classes. Not sure how this happens but does. As a result change is a constant with teaching. I am like you in my teaching in that I make changes in my course each time I teach it because I want to make it better but also to challenge me to bring in new strategies for more effective learning.
Gary
I have been refining my instructional style constantly since I've been teaching. Each group of students react differently to different teaching styles and if I stay consistant with one teaching style, the class tends to fade out if that isn't the style that works best for them. I have my first class to get to know the students and assess what I feel we be (in general) the best way to approach the class. Sometimes I have a very upbeat and peppy style focussed heavily on Motivation, other times it's geared more to the technical aspects of the course. For some reason students seem to be grouped together that way and they feed off each other as well. Not to mention that I have been teaching the same course for some time, it helps me by changing up the style as well. It's not always for the students!
Hi Ginger,
You make a number of good points about developing your instructional style. I would suggest that you are a motivator more than you think you are. You are motivating students when you talk with them, review their material or projects and just encourage them throughout the class time. Personal attention is a very powerful motivator.
Gary
I think the first step is to pinpoint the styles you already exhibit. Then you must cultivate the positive aspects of the individual styles.
I see within my own instructional style all three styles; motivator being the least used. I believe that is due to being an associate instructor; when rarely giving lectures, how do I motivate my students? I find myself mostly a manager and a model.
Making checklists that I can edit and revise might be a good way for me to be more efficient in my managing the classroom. I like the idea of having a clipboard with the resources I need to best organize the classroom.
I find that even after doing a class over and over again, it benfits me to do even more research to make the class as full and pertanent as possible
I definitely look back at my old instructors, and think about what they did that had both positive and negative impacts on my learning. I look at how I learned best, and try to give my students the opportunity to do the same.
I completely agree, Allison. Students definitely are a crucial part in developing and refining instructional styles.
I'm always on the lookout for "real life" examples that illustrate course material. It brings abstract textbook contents to life
I ask others that have been teaching longer than me how they would approach a certain matter.
I review current journals to stay up to date first and foremost.
Learn from previous mistakes.
The instructional style that I apply into my lessons is a combination of many components. The components consists of knowing the school's mission, using my past instructors' styles(which influenced or engaged me the most), knowing the dynamic of the students, hints and tips from my colleagues, and blending my personality, experiences and enjoyment of the subjects. Most importantly, developing options in case the first plan does not engage or motivate the students and knowing how to introduce the option without causing any disruption of the lesson.
I believe that you both develop and refine your instructional style by experience and by being open to trying new things and changing things that may not be the best for the course delivery or the students. I have tried something that has been very successful and tried something else that was not so successful. I have done something with one class and it worked well and tried it with another and it was not so good. So, while I know who I am and what I do best, I am willing to try new things and adapt to situations along the way. My basic style may be the same but the additions can change per situation.
Hi Thomas,
Well said! You make a number of very good points that I know will be of help to other instructors.
Gary
Hi Juan,
Good question about level of delivery development. You are moving from being a subject matter expert (SME) to an instructional development expert (IDE). You are right developing your skills in stages. Focus on developing your style. Seek feedback from faculty members you respect as see as being excellent instructors. Something I do is give my students 3x5 cards and have them write comments about how they see a demonstration or activity going. I have found their comments very helpful and have never had hateful or hurtful comments made.
The refinement process never stops. There are always ways you can see to improve your delivery, plus it keeps teaching interesting since you are trying new things each time you teach.
You are going to make an excellent teacher I am sure.
Gary
Experience is often the best teacher when it comes to refining your style. As you develop new skills and techniques your style will change naturally, however the trick is to constantly be working on something. This comes from being able to constructively assess your own performance as well as having others who can do the same. We must be able to accept instruction and be willing to try new things that may help us to improve. Then we will have plenty to work on. Work on these things and our instructional style will be in a constant state of positive development.
After going thru ED 101, (have not taken Final quiz yet), I think that developing and refining your instructinal style should be two seperate items to conquer. For me as a new instructor, I am jumping into new waters. Having come from a technical background the material is something I am extremely comfortable with, but the method of delivery is still a trying process. Once a style is developed, to what level of refinement should you strive for? Will it ever stop?
Hi Jerry,
Congratulations on surviving to this point. The hardest adjustment is behind you. Just keep all of your options open as you develop your skills as an instructor and you will do fine.
Gary
I am fairly new to the "formal" instruction environment and and came into my current situation shortly after (a couple of weeks) this phase had started. I didn't know the style of the previous instructor so had to learn (quickly) what was most effective for the class. I modified my style somewhat each day of the first week, noting reactions from the class until I determined what I felt was most effective.
I have tried a couple of different things every quarter, over the past 6 months. It has worked for most part. (1) using words from "their lingo" to explain a concept or mentioning funny and interesting examples from everyday experiences. (2)including a few anecdotes of my own studipity. (3) encouraging participation by working out problems on the board collectively and being able to beat the clock each time they solved a similar problem. (4) showing how they can solve a problem using their visual and mental faculties before putting pen to paper. (5) teaching them to pick out one word or concept and build on it layer by layer. I start off my mentioning a concept on the board and have all the students add to it. (7) have them state one example where they applied a concept(8) creating situations in the lab to force their creative and innovative skills.
I need to tweak my instructional style based on a plethora of suggestions made in this forum.