How to Determine the Best Teaching Strategies

The academic success of a student is influenced by a number of factors. One important factor is the teacher. Another, is the methods used. This is why the quality of teaching is often assessed through various means, such as the statewide achievement tests, with the idea that the students’ scores reflect the quality of instruction received. Teacher assessment is also based on classroom observations, peer appraisals and teacher portfolios because these are thought to be testaments to the teacher’s accomplishments. Each of these are geared toward achieving better classroom instruction - but do these assessment tools help in determining the best teaching strategies? Not necessarily. In order make that decision, a number of factors must also be taken in to consideration.

Unfortunately, there are simply some teachers who repeat their same approach over and over again, despite performance on the part of the students. On the other hand, there are also teachers who go to the other extreme by jumping on every new and innovative teaching method presented - often using them out of context or with no real training. So just how does a teacher determine the best teaching strategies to use?

The BEST teaching strategy may not exist, but there are strategies which teachers will find are more effective than others. That is, a certain teaching strategy might be effective in one classroom but ineffectual in another. This is because there are several factors that influence the effectiveness of a teaching strategy. These factors include the subject, the students, and the teacher.

Subjects

Some subjects are skill-oriented and others are concept-oriented. Some concepts are best learned through inquiry while others are best learned through exposition. For example, skill-oriented topics such as laboratory tools in science are best taught by either demonstration or experimentation. Concept-oriented topics such as the history of ancient civilizations are more efficiently taught by exposition.

Students

Students have different learning styles. Some are visual, others are auditory, and still others are tactile. Thus, the teacher must find teaching strategies that will meet each of these learning styles. At the same time, the schema of students can make a particular teaching approach boring or exciting. Teachers should be constantly evaluating their own performance, and make adjustments accordingly.

Teachers

Finally, teachers have different personalities and abilities. Educators should honestly evaluate their own capabilities before engaging in a teaching technique that does not complement his or her personality.

With such factors involved, determining the best teaching strategies relies more on the results than the method itself. The only way to assess the effectiveness of classroom instruction is to assess the performance of students. While the assessment can be in many forms, it all should aim at improving the quality of learning.