Teaching 101: Explore Various Types of Teaching Methods

What is your teaching style?

This is a question that you may not ask yourself all too often, but it's important that you know the answer. After all, this will allow you to adapt your teaching styles and methods to provide your students with the best possible learning experience.

Teaching Types: Exploring Different Styles

Before you're able to identify which types of teaching styles you use within your classroom, it's important that you first understand what teaching styles are.

What are teaching styles?

Teaching styles refer to the way in which you lead your class and share knowledge with your students. For example, do you take a more hands-on approach or want to encourage students to think independently? Do you prefer to lead lecture-based lessons or create an open space for discussion?

Typically, there are five styles of teaching. This includes:

• Lecturer
• Demonstrator
• Facilitator
• Delegator
• Hybrid

Effective Teaching Methods: A Closer Look

While each of the types of teaching methods outlined above are effective in their own right, some work better than others depending on the environment you are working in.

For example, the 'lecturer' style of teaching is better suited to higher-education facilities, where students have the capabilities required to remain attentive for long periods of time and to take copious notes.

As such, before adopting a particular teaching style, it's crucial that you think about the following factors:

• Student skill level
• Student preferences
• The subject you are teaching
• The setting
• The classroom design/layout

What are the five methods of teaching?

The five key teaching methods that educators are encouraged to explore during their practice are:

1. Lecturer
2. Demonstrator
3. Facilitator
4. Delegator
5. Hybrid

Lecturer.

Teachers who adopt a lecturer teaching style teach through, as the name suggests, long speeches and Lectures. Though they do leave some room for questions at the end of each session, this teaching style does not include much student interaction. It is often used to share knowledge on complicated topics, hence its use in higher education settings, such as colleges or universities.

This style is sometimes referred to as the authoritative style.

Demonstrator.

Instead of simply giving verbal instructions or lectures, teachers who take on a demonstrator style of teaching find other, more hands-on ways to convey their knowledge to students. For example, science teachers can become demonstrators by leading practical experiments in class, and drama teachers can demonstrate certain practices or techniques to their students so that they understand what is expected of them. Quite simply, demonstrators are teachers who show through action rather than words.

Facilitator.

Teachers adopting a facilitator role will encourage their students to take charge during class. While they will introduce certain topics and offer direction, they'll allow much of the lesson to be led through peer-to-peer discussion and collaboration.

Delegator.

The role of a delegator is rather similar to that of a facilitator, as it is centered around the student’s own thought process. For example, they may ask specific questions to students in order to encourage them to think critically or find the solution to a problem, as opposed to giving them the answer directly. They will also encourage students to work together more often, such as through group projects.

Hybrid.

As the name suggests, this teaching style is a mixture of two or more of the above teaching styles and is often considered to be the best approach to teaching. This is because it allows teachers to adapt to a variety of different classroom scenarios or student’s needs, creating a more balanced learning experience for all.

Choosing the Right Teaching Style

As mentioned previously, different types of teaching styles are better suited to different environments. As such, it's important that you choose the right teaching style for the environment you are in or the needs of your students. For example, it's unlikely that you’d use the same teaching style in a university seminar as you would when working with middle-school students.

For example, students in middle school are unlikely to respond well to lecturer-style teaching methods. This is because it does not allow them to ask questions or for further clarification, which means they may quickly fall behind. As they have a lower attention span, it could also mean that they are unable to focus during lecture-style classes. However, they will benefit from more hands-on approaches that allow them to put their knowledge to the test.

Unveiling the best teaching methods

There's no saying what the best teaching methods are, as there are many variables at play. However, the best educators are able to adapt their teaching styles based on specific scenarios. For example, within a single class, there may be the need to adopt a range of styles in a single day or even an hour.

As such, it's important to note that your style should not be set in stone, especially when teaching larger groups of students or working with students who may have special educational needs.

Understanding teaching styles and methods.

In order to be able to support your students, it's important that you have an understanding of the best teaching styles and methods for each scenario.

Of course, this can be difficult in larger classrooms as Different students have different access needs. Regardless, being able to gauge what is needed from you and when you can ensure that your approach to teaching is the right one. For example, in situations where students are disengaged, chatting, or

This will help increase classroom engagement, improve test scores, and help your students put their best foot forward. As such, whether you tend to be a lecturer or a delegator, now is the perfect time to try out different teaching methods so that you’re able to better support your students in any scenario. In some cases, it may even be worthwhile to discuss with students which teaching styles they find the most useful so that you better understand their thoughts and perspectives.