The Eclectic Breakdown

As I read through "Accommodating Student Learning Styles" I was struck with two things: how obvious I find the argument, and how I might never be able to figure out the perfect balance of my own teaching style.  If I'm being honest, I feel like the classes I have learned the most from have been "presentational" in essence. I listen to what an older, wiser professor has to say about a subject, digest it, then come up with my own opinion.  It's how I've always learned.  When I started graduate school, however, I noticed a change in many of my courses.  The professor no longer lectured for 40 minutes, asking for student input here and there, they listened.  They listened to me, they listened to the girl next to me.  They generally let their students draw connections and find meaning within a student-led discussion.  While I do like this in many classes, especially the Rhet/Comp classes I have taken, I find that I still crave a lecture here and there.  These people are my teachers for a reason.  They know more about the subject they teach than I potentially ever will.  So why should I spend the entire class listening to other students who know just about as much as I do?

While I do see the benefits of the "individualized" mode, I hardly think there will ever be a classroom consisting of just one student and one teacher.  Great model for tutoring though. 

The "environmental" mode, which the author argues is the most efficient, seems like it would not benefit me as a learner.  Group work has always been a struggle for me.  Not because I don;t like working with my peers, but because I don't necessarily like sharing very private aspects of myself with strangers.  Therefore, having to spend extended hours of revision and editing with others I may not be comfortable with seems extremely daunting.

I think the "natural" mode seems to be the best fit for teaching all around.  It consists of a healthy balance between student initiated thought and peer and teacher response.  However, I wonder if students look more to their peer's feedback for revision or their teachers.  For me, I would go to the teacher first.  Find out if they feel like I'm missing the mark in any way.  Maybe then I would feel more comfortable opening up my thoughts to the group.  If I was asked to show my classmates work prior to having it (even slightly) seen by the teacher, I'm sure my nerves would get the bet of me.

So I guess I'm going to try and build my teaching philosophy from both the natural and environmental mode.  Actually, a bit of all four. I think finding the breakdown is what will get to the most of us.  I realize that just because I learn a certain way doesn't mean everybody learns the same way.  But as teachers how do we decipher how many of each type of student we have in our class.  Should our philosophy change for each individual course?  Should we try to make it equal on all fronts, so as not to disclude anybody?