Korean Job Discussion Forums

[butter808fly]

Hello!

I'm being asked about my teaching style from a prospective employer. Since my formal education is in Psychology (hince this survey) and not Education, I had no clue!

Take the Grasha-Riechmann Teaching Style Survey at http://www.longleaf.net/teachingstyle.html and record your results here. The survey takes about 5-10 minutes. What do the results mean? Well, 1st take the survey then come back and read the meaning below.

Please don't guess your style.. take the survey and learn a little something about yourself in the process!

It will be interesting to see what the majority teaching style is!

READ BELOW AFTER YOU'VE TAKEN THE SHORT SURVEY
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http://members.shaw.ca/mdde615/tchstyles.htm

or

There are four basic types of teaching styles

Formal Authority: A instructor-centered approach where the instructor feels responsible for providing and controlling the flow of content which the student is to receive and assimilate. The formal authority figure does not concern himself with creating a relationship with the student nor is it important if the students build relationships with each other.

Demonstrator or Personal Model: A instructor-centered approach where the instructor demonstrates and models what is expected (skills and processes) and then acts as a coach or guide to assist the students in applying the knowledge. This style encourages student participation and utilizes various learning styles.

Facilitator: A student centered approach where the instructor facilitates and focuses on activities. Responsibility is placed on the students to take initiative to achieve results for the various tasks. Students who are independent, active, collaborative learners learners thrive in this environment. Instructors typically design group activities which necessitate active learning, student-to-student collaboration and problem solving.

Delegator: A student-centered approach whereby the instructor delegates and places much control and responsibility for learning on individuals or groups of students. This type of instructor will often require students to design and implement a complex learning project and will act solely in a consultative role. Students are often asked to work independently or in groups and must be able to effectively work in group situations and manage various interpersonal roles.

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When I started teaching I started at a hogwon that focused on NO games and teacher-centered activities. When I did my 2nd year in public school it was broken up half and half, student to teacher centered. The more I read the more I come across that students learn English better in active learning and student-centered activities. So, I can adapt both ways. Lucky me! I try to do my classes half and half now. That was the one good thing about the public school textbook.

My results:
Facilitator: 4.25
Delegator: 3.75
Expert: 3.625
Formal Authority: 3.5
Demonstrator/Personal Model: 3.37

[Yu_Bum_suk]

It says I'm a formal authority / delegator. However, taking that survey I realised that my ideals and my realities are two very different things.

[butter808fly]

Yeah, I think thats the same with me I first questioned the accuracy of the survey but it seems to be widely used. The first copyright is 1976!

So I'm curious, what is your reality then? if not "formal authority/delegator"?

[twg]

Delegator: Gives me more time to doodle in my notebook.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[butter808fly]

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[butlerian]

I rarely throw my students in groups because first, it's such a hassel to move all the desks around and then most of them sit around clueless, or perhaps the group leader and her friend do everything themselves while the other two or three sit around watching.[/quote]

So do you concentrate more on individual work? A problem I have is that I'm not really allowed to make photocopies for every student since it would consume vast amounts of paper, so group work is the only realistic option.

[poet13]

I got....

expert 3.375

formalauthority 3

personalmodel 3.75

facilitator 4

delegator 3.125


I have no idea if that's good or bad....

[butter808fly]

Yeah, there really needs to be a follow-up to that survey. I don't think that anything is 'bad' persay. Really, if a person was way unbalanced in some fashion then that is something that could be improved in his or her teaching. For example, if a person lectures all time or does demonstrations all the time, well there is a time and place for both of those in the right context.

From what I've read (and correct me if Im wrong) the student-centered approach is the approach that people feel students learn best from. Students can bounce their ideas off each other, the weaker students can learn from the stronger, and the stronger can make their own understanding more concrete by explaining things to the weaker students.

There are no unbalanced numbers in your results so looks good to me!

[poet13]

cool, thanks.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[cubanlord]

The results of your teaching style survey are as follows:


expert - 4.75

formalauthority - 4.13

personalmodel - 3.5

facilitator - 4.25

delegator - 3.25

[jajdude]

That seemed pretty much like a waste of time to me. So did courses in Education, come to think of it. The only good thing about courses in Education for me was having some profs who were cool and did a good job, and a few who were not cool and acted superior (same as in any subject maybe).

I can't think of any other field where people spend so much time on theories, and where theories are so divorced from reality that it seems like such a waste of time. More time is needed to practice teaching and get help from experienced teachers for those getting education degrees, not sitting in a classroom taking notes.

Um, we all know how to read and write and listen to someone who has read and written more about a specific topic. A few months (internship) is not enough, though that was really the only useful part of the program.

[Demonicat]

expert 3.1
formalauthority 2.7
personalmodel 4
facilitator 4.7
Delegator 4.2

I've always considered myself a humanistic teacher who focuses on the communicative approach. Meaning, I get the students to talk or write in the context that they will need to.
I don't know if this survey really applies to many people as it COMPLETLY misses the point of what most directors/principals want to know: which is what method do you use? Communicative? TPR? Audio-Lingual? Translation? Or the ever so popular "Hope-noone-finds-out-that-I'm-a-phoney", that so many use.