Chapter 2a: Professional Responsibilites of Teachers of Young Adolescents

               Part of this section of chapter two focuses on two different teaching styles—traditional style and facilitator style.  To not confuse what a teaching style is, it is the manner in which teachers will go about influencing the learning of their students.  A teacher’s style will reflect the behavior, attitude, and personality of the teacher’s methods. 

                Typically, in the middle school level, a teaching style is determined the characteristics and experiences of the teacher.  As I mentioned above, two teaching styles that are commonly found are the traditional, or didactic, and the facilitator, or constructivist, styles.  These two methods both attempt to promote student learning, but they go about it in unique ways.

                Traditional teaching styles involve the use of lectures, competitive learning, teacher-centered discussion, and linearly structured classroom.  The characteristics of teachers who usually follow this method are labeled as direct, formal, informative, prescriptive, and dominative.  As we can conclude from these factors, the traditional teaching style is one that emphasizes learning directly from the teacher, as the classroom is set up to face them, and it involves a one-way channel of communication.

                Facilitating teaching styles involve the use of discussions, peer-to-peer learning, student inquires, reciprocal teaching, and problem solving.  The characteristics of teachers who usually follow this method are labeled as democratic, indirect, informal, inquiring, and reflective.  This teaching style is different because it focuses more on the student, as it looks to promote learning through the interactions of the students.

                With any dichotomy, I always like to find a happy medium.  I can see how a lecture from different can be beneficial, and I can see how promoting learning through group discussion can be as well.  I believe the incorporation of both strategies would provide for the most successful environment.