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Teaching Style and Philosophy
Critical to an advancing society is the need for teachers to recognize and utilize best
teaching practices. Teaching requires knowledge of the subject matter and the skills to
effectively engage learners. The best educators conceptualize teaching as anything that might
promote student learning; yet teaching styles and philosophies are as varied as personality
types. The various teaching styles traverse a scale from completely didactic (chalk and talk)
to completely inquiry-based (students construct their own knowledge based on a variety of
experiences in the classroom). Teachers from all disciplines have styles that fall somewhere
within that very broad spectrum as they use different styles for different teaching situations,
but usually they have a particular style that is present most often in their day-to-day teaching.
A teacher needs to be completely comfortable with the style they choose so most teachers
choose a style they know or have seen used. They choose a style and philosophy that is
familiar to them and one with which they have had success with in the past.
As a native German, teaching German as a foreign language is fulfilling a life goal of
teaching my native language—with all its variations—to those willing to learn it. As a
foreign language instructor, I have the opportunity to share with students the benefits of
learning a new language, its culture, and language variations as well as enhancing the
student’s sense of achievement. The classroom setting is a very important part of a student’s
ability to stay motivated and interested in the foreign language they seek to learn. It is my
belief that these interests can be managed with fresh ideas in teaching and making use of
technology, especially multi-media devices.
Student to teacher interaction is a very important aspect for learning a foreign
language. Identifying with the subject matter will deepen a student’s interest in the foreign
language and it will help them to develop an intimate relationship toward the German culture.
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Teachers should teach in the style that is best suited to student learning. The philosophy or
goal of the entire educational system should be to insure that all students will be able to
maximize their learning potential. I love to teach and interact with my students and my style
often makes them smile and relax so they feel no pressure to achieve but are anxious to learn
a new language. My goal is to create a productive, comfortable, friendly learning
environment that is conducive to higher achievement. A teacher’s style and philosophy often
correlates to a student’s passion and commitment to educational pursuits. My passion is also
critical in order to keep the students engage on a daily basis. The classroom should be a
place where the student loves to learn and be part of an interesting class where their
participation is important to others learning and they never lose their thirst for learning a
foreign language.
As a foreign language instructor, it is my responsibility to create an environment that
fosters creative learning by having the students participate in the lessons—writing on the
board, language role playing, and being unafraid to fail in front of their peers. After all, we
practice and fail in the classroom so that we succeed in industry, in life, etc. The meaningful
interaction with the use of technology, the Internet and German language movies are very
important tools from which the students can develop their personal world view and form new
pools of German language interest. The possibilities in teaching a foreign language are
endless, and I personally try to bring these possibilities into the classroom—like promoting
the popular culture and integrating it into the classroom via newspapers, magazines and
German music.
Dreams are free so I want my students to dream big. To keep the student interested in
enhancing their new vocabulary and grammatical concepts, I will take advantage of the
worldwide web, my German background, providing links to German friends and family still
in German, and implementing out of the box thinking and new ideas of learning. The
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rewarding part is that students can ask me questions without hesitation because I believe in
asking questions. It demonstrates the students’ interest in learning a new language and the
openness to the material I am presenting.
In the book ‘The Right to Learn’ (1997), Linda Darling-Hammond states that many
studies that have shown that teachers who use purely behavioral objectives and information
transmission at the heart of their lesson plans, are less likely to be able to adjust to students’
ideas and actions. As a result, less higher-level reasoning and incidental learning will take
place (1997). It is also important in learning a new language to teach students to respect each
other as well as other cultures. Different is not always a bad thing—it’s just different. It is
my goal as an instructor to share my experiences and knowledge with the students but I am
also open for the student to bring ideas, or feedback to improve the classroom experience. I
hope to communicate to each student that learning is a process that never ends—we are all
lifelong learners. For me, the learning process includes improving myself professionally.
Teaching is a great joy and it is very rewarding for me. Hope is not a strategy thus I
plan for the student to succeed and have their minds wide open to learning another culture
and respecting people who may speak differently than ourselves. To conclude, my goal as an
instructor is to use a style and philosophy that provides each student with an exceptional
education, prepare students for the future and at the same time—instill in each student a
passion for lifelong learning while providing them with an educational environment that is
encouraging and positive.
References
Darling-Hammond, L. (1997). The right to learn. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
