The increased use of technology in everyday life has also found its way into today’s classrooms. Although adding modern technology into your classroom is a step in the right direction, that’s not all it takes to teach to your best ability and help your students succeed. Achieving the right teaching style so that your students can thrive in the classroom is the ultimate goal of every teacher. This brings about the question, is there a “right” way to teach?
The questions about teaching styles that arose in my New Literacy class this past Monday brought up some controversy between my classmates. I jotted down some of the questions that were causing debate so I could come back and address them with my own thoughts and opinions.
What is multimodality?
How should a teacher pace a class?
Should a teacher split the class into groups?
How does a teacher allow for all students to be on the same level of learning?
First off, multimodality does not just mean using different types of technology in the classroom, but any modes, technological or not, that will engage the students, get them involved, and keep their attention. When it comes to the pace of the class and splitting the class into groups, I believe this all depends on the type of students in the classroom. If all of the students in the class learn at about the same level and have similar learning styles, then there is no problem with a quicker pace and little group work; however, this is often not the case.
Most classrooms have an array of students at different learning levels and contrasting learning styles which is when group work is highly important. I know some people may think putting students into different groups is unfair, but it is actually to the students advantage. It gives students the option to work with peers or individually, allows for peer teaching, learning information in different ways, and more one-on-one time with the teacher. Having group work in the classroom along with individual work for those who work better alone allows for different students to go at different paces.
This brings me to the next question that I stated, how does a teacher allow for all students to be on the same level of learning? I believe incorporating group work into the classroom, allowing for individual work, and using a multimodal approach will eventually lead all students to achieve a similar level of learning. This is because offering multiple opportunities to students, also known as multiple intelligences, lets the students pick the option that best helps them succeed.
Overall, I think these are all great questions to ask yourself when trying to figure out a teaching style for your classroom. I also believe that the answers to these questions can vary depending on the type of students that are in the class. So no, there is not one “right” way to teach a class, but there is a “right” way to teach your class!
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