What's your preferred teaching style? by Erick

As a Liberal Studies major at Chico State I have been fortunate enough to work one on one with children in elementary schools. I have been able to observe teachers’ teaching styles. The EDTE 255 required me to observe and assist in a classroom. This really opened my eyes to how an elementary teacher really works when under pressure. I never really paid attention to how much work an actual elementary teacher had to do until I was assigned to observe. It’s a lot different when you aren’t the one being lectured tor or yelled at. “Erick stop talking so much,” or “Erick stop getting out of your seat!” I remember my days in third grade. I now can tell how stressful it might have been for my third grade teacher.

One difference I noticed between the teacher I was assigned to watch and another teacher in that school was the level of comfort their students had with them. I observed my 5^th grade teacher Ms. Frizzle (name has been changed). She was an amazing teacher and she still is today. I was fortunate enough to observe her and her teaching methods. The other teacher though, that I sat in her class one day just to compare, was a lot different from Ms. Frizzle. I noticed she taught more directly, almost like a robot. She was boring and so blunt. She was a new teacher, to be precise; it was her second year teaching. Ms. Frizzle has been teaching for over 20 years and obviously has more experience with children.

One thing Ms. Frizzle did mention to me is how she notices the differences in the teaching style of the newer teachers. She isn’t saying that their teaching style is bad, but just different from hers. She remembers when she first started off teaching; she made sure she knew almost everything possible about her students. She wanted to make her students feel comfortable around her and be able to trust her. She believes trust plays a big role. A teacher needs to build that trust with her students. With trust a teacher is able to have the student open up and really let the teacher help them solve their problems, whether it’s school related or not.

I am looking for your opinion.  Do you think older generation teachers have a different teaching technique compared to the newer generation of teachers?  What have you observed in your field experience placements?  Comment below or on Facebook.