Teaching strategies - individual reflection

After viewing the presentations of all the groups the conclusion I have drawn is that one should not restrict themselves to a single strategy but should apply all of them from time to time in their course where appropriate.

All the teaching strategies hold their own ground with their own strengths and weaknesses.

Interactive lecturing corresponds to the level 3 teacher as not only are the students told at the start of the lecture what they are supposed to learn but are also kept engaged and active in a number of different ways.

Interactive lecturing provides high retention rates through student involvement and can also incorporate methods such as Think-Pair-Share which is also a method of Collaborative Learning. Basically, all these teaching strategies are interlinked with each other. The main disadvantage of Interactive Lecturing that I find is that it requires a lot of time and is hence not suitable for long structured courses. In contrast, Direct Instruction ensures no loss of time. However, Directional Learning does not present the students with the opportunity to analyse and evaluate. In Directional Learning only some students use their higher cognitive processes while others become passive learners. It falls into Bloom’s categories of ‘remembering’ ‘understanding’ and ‘applying’, but fails to reach the higher categories. However if DI is combined with other teaching strategies such as PBL it is possible to achieve the higher three levels of analysis, synthesis and evaluation in the Bloom’s Taxonomy. In other words, if students are given clear instructions about what to do and how to go about solving problems by applying the knowledge they have gained, the students will be able to analyse and evaluate the knowledge and will be able to apply it to unfamiliar situations presented to them in Problem Based Learning.   

Also, what I feel is that every student should know how to work in a teambuilding skills are essential for the students’ practical lives. This is why I feel that teachers should try to incorporate Collaborative learning in their scheme of work as it nurtures the students social and communication skills.  

In teaching my courses of Religious Studies although I use Interactive lecturing as my main teaching strategy, I do incorporate Problem Based Learning from time to time as it allows me to assess whether my students can apply the knowledge gained to other situations. I also try to use Collaborative lecturing where possible and give the students projects to do as a team, for example to create a presentation together.