How to Approach Teaching

There are four different models of teaching: 

• Social Interactive
• Information Processing
• Personal
• Behavioral 

Social interactive is when students help each other with their learning. This can be through peer tutoring, cooperative learning, reciprocal teaching, or project-based learning. This model helps students develop their own understanding without the teacher getting in the way, and possibly trying to teach a concept in only one way. 

Information processing promotes creative and critical thinking about different problems that are linked to class concepts. This can include concept formation, inquiry learning, or synectics. 

Personal is based on the students as individuals. Each student is different and has different ways of learning concepts. Because this is such an individualized model it focuses mostly on individualized instruction and nondirective teaching. 

The behavioral model uses mastery learning, direct instruction, and computer-assisted instruction. These are based on observable objectives that the teacher can track for each student. 

The examples for each model are not nearly all of the different approaches to getting information across to students. There are so many different approaches and so many different ways to handle each approach. I believe it is important for teachers to not get too stuck on one model or approach. If a teacher only uses one approach (for example lectures) the students will get bored of it before the year is over. By providing students with variety in the ways that they are being taught they are more likely to be engaged the whole year as opposed to getting stuck with just one method. This also helps because of what I said earlier about how all students are different. Each student might prefer a different teaching method, and by using a variety instead of just one or two, and this way the information you are trying to get across will get into more students.