As a teacher, we have to develop our own teaching methods most of the time. But when it comes to teaching in different schools in different cities, do we need to adjust ourselves? I am a student from University Laval, studying to be an ESL Teacher and I am from Magdalen Islands. I know that when I did my second practicum, my teaching style was not the same as the one I used in Magdalen Islands during the end of last year when I did sub-teaching. When I was home and taught in my own high school (well, 6 years ago), I could use expressions of my own dialects and following the course plan I had from the teacher seemed really easy to me, as I even knew some of the students. Having two younger sisters and two younger cousins, the students in my classes in the Magdalen's would most of the time follow my instructions as they had some "pre-made respect" toward me already. They knew who I was so I had to make them understand I was the teacher, not a mere sub-teacher or someone they had heard from.

When I did my second practicum, the students saw me weeks after weeks as the teacher's "second in command". They knew I was studying at the same time to become an ESL teacher and when I had to give a full course, they complied to my course plan with ease. I did not have to find a way to make them listen to me. Was it because they knew teaching was really what I wanted to do? In the Magdalen's, did the fact that the students knew who I was helped me or to the contrary made me "force" students to respect me?

In regard to the different teaching methods, I am also a students studying at Laval University, and as a student-teacher, I don't really have a lot of experience in teaching. However, relying on the two practicums that I did and all the summer camps that I monitored, I can say that I think I pretty muck know my teaching style. I know myself and I know how to deal with children and teens. My teaching style has not change from one school to another. However I do adjust some 'disciple techniques' depending on my students. I am well aware that my teaching style might change considering that I am only at my second year of studies., but it does not scare me, I am open to change. Whatever works, I guess !

Great question!

From all of the teachers I worked with in the past, I can tell that there surely exists infinite methods of teaching. I don't believe you have to adapt or imitate a specific model of teacher. You simply use methods that you think are willing to stimulate students' learning. If you arrive in front of a group and have an automatic positive participation from the students, well, that means you already have what it takes to manage a challenging and enjoyable classroom atmosphere.

I am still a student teacher, but based on my four practicums experience and on some substitute teacher experience, I can say that you do not have "to change" your teaching method from one school to another. However, depending on the context of the school in which you teach, you will maybe have "to adapt" some aspects of your teaching. For instance, one year I was teaching in a private secondary school where there were only girls, and the year after I was teaching in a plublic school located in a multicultural and low socioeconomic area. Therefore, I had to adapt my teaching and my interventions because students had different backgrounds and different personal experiences. However, I did not have to change my teaching methods. For instance, I did the same cooperative learning activity in both schools, but I only had to modify some elements of the content in order to adapt this activity to the context in which I was teaching.

I am also a student teacher at Laval University and I don’t have much experience in teaching children and teenagers. However, during my practicums I could explore more deeply my teaching style although it has to be and will be perfected as I will teach. Unfortunately, in my practicums, teachers both had similar teaching styles and class management methods. Therefore, I couldn’t explore different types of teaching. The only thing that was different was that one teacher was more into the reform activities while the other still had some old school type activities although she was integrating activities related to the reform. Concerning the class management, the teachers had almost the same methods and required a certain discipline from the students (silence during individual work, tranquility, speaking English in class, etc.).

I believe that since all students, generations, schools and environments are different, we’ll adapt our teaching style to the class although there will be an underlying method that will lead our teaching. Our teaching style will improve and we’ll always have to adapt ourselves since we’re in a society that changes quickly and constantly.