Stand up and lecture teaching style!

EDITOR: Stand up at the front of the class. Sound out your voice in a commanding way! The students sit up as straight as can be, listening to you teach, being as quiet as lambs. Is the “Stand Up and Lecture, Stand and Deliver” teaching style the best, or a very good method of teaching?

Here is another scenario. Miss Jackson is a quiet teacher by nature, soft spoken. However, her lessons, when delivered, have a high level of student involvement. She uses flash cards a lot; she uses concrete materials to help children understand concepts; she has groups of children dramatizing to teach important lessons and points; she has her students singing at times to reinforce certain concepts. Further, the students shout: “Me! Me! Me!…” when she is about to invite a student or a group of them to demonstrate something to the class.

Which teaching style is truly better, “Stand Up and Lecture” (chalk and talk), or the one that involves the student?

Honest persons who know about teaching would admit that having pupils involved in their own learning process is better than the militant, filling empty bucket, “Stand Up and Lecture” teaching style. While discipline is important, good lesson delivery must not be sacrificed for it. When children are meaningfully participating in their lessons, they tend to remember more, motivation is greater, and the lesson is more interesting and enjoyable.

In the long past, I did the “chalk and talk” style of teaching too, but when I got to know better, I changed to the “more student involvement” teaching style. College tutors much prefer viewing lessons that have students motivated and actively involved in their learning.

So, as the April vacation is on, can we as teachers reflect on ways we can improve in our lesson deliveries and be resolved to do better when school reopens?

A Teacher