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| Featured Guest Writer is: Dan Johnson is a graduate teaching assistant and doctoral student at the University of Arizona. He has had over ten years of experience teaching music in public, private, and community-based schools. He has taught music education courses, applied lessons, and education seminars as an Adjunct professor at Keene State College and Franklin Pierce College. He has also taught Kindermusik® and other pre-school music programs. His stage experience includes productions with the Vermont Theater Company and directing numerous student musicals. A multi-instrumentalist, he teaches and performs on over two dozen instruments. As a composer, he has written several vocal and instrumental pieces, some of which can be heard on the CD recording A Season of Songs (2001) featuring the students of New Boston Central School where he was the music specialist for several years. |
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Teaching Styles:
What Are They?
and Why Do I Need Them?
In the world of learning and learners, there are many styles and types.
To teach effectively for each type, corresponding teaching styles are very
useful. In fact, teaching styles not only accommodate different learning
types, but also guide the teacher toward situations that best suit his or her
strengths. I have come to understand teachers, and learners priorities
using a theory called The 4-Mat System and to appreciate the diversity
and effectiveness of learning and learners on a deeper level.
Bernice McCarthy, an expert in the field of learning styles, has developed
The 4-Mat System as a model of four distinct learning styles. Dr.
McCarthy's work suggests there are both strengths and weaknesses associated
with each style. She originated the Mat System as part of her doctoral
research several years ago. Since then, her work has been adopted by
numerous school systems and companies as they seek to reach their students
and employees more effectively. McCarthy maintains that these learning
styles are distinct from the auditory, visual and kinesthetic modalities;
she suggests that each of these four types of learners have their own
priority for learning. Her work is available on the web at
at AboutLearning.com.
Using psychology and left/right brain research, McCarthy characterizes each
type of learner according to his or her priorities:
McCarthy maintains that each type of student has a different priority for
learning, and that each type is equally valid. Students inherently have
different styles of learning; for example, you may teach students who
peskily ask you, "Why must I learn this?' or 'When will I ever need this?"
These learners can be somewhat annoying, yet, have a keen sense for what is
important to them. McCarthy defines these learners as type 1, the
interpersonal learner.
Other types of students may love theory and
written notation. They may be fascinated by analyzing chord structures and in
knowing key signatures backwards and forwards. This type of learner is type
of learner is the analytic learner.
You may teach other students who love to practice
and practice, eagerly using the skills they've just learned to master regarding a
particularly difficult etude or passage. McCarthy defines this as type 3,
the common sense learner.
Finally, you may teach students who
constantly want to improvise and create, on their own. They are the ones that seem
unencumbered by the notation process and love to invent new chords and
melodies. McCarthy defines these as type 4, the dynamic learner.
In my weekly teaching, I have found these four different styles represented
throughout my studio. The interpersonal learners will want to sit next to me
and tell me their favorite activity. The analytical learners spend more
time watching my examples and need to understand the notation completely.
The common sense learners will respond best to specific directions in a
written or manipulative activity, while the dynamic learners will often make
up their own variation on any given exercise.
Whether you have analytic, common sense, inventive, or personal learners in
your studio, you need to be able to tailor your approach to include each
student's strength. Instead of merely teaching the same way you were
taught, you can alter your approach to address your students' strengths. In
fact, there have been studies done to indicate that most teachers teach in
the style they were taught, not their own preferred learning style. By
being aware of your students' learning styles, you can understand
his or her learning process and can more effectively facilitate and optimize your students' learning.
Beyond your students' strengths, you can gain access to your own strengths
as a teacher, using these varying learning and teaching styles. Each of the teaching
styles is uniquely geared to it's own role in music education. If you happen
to be a type 1 teacher, you are probably monitoring the student's interest
level and making sure he or she is enjoying your lessons. The type 2 teacher is
most concerned with what the student is actually understanding on a
cognitive level. The type 3 teacher is teaching skills and is most proud when
the student can demonstrate his or her progress and abilities. If you're a type
4 teacher, you encourage exploration and improvisation, letting the student
create and discover new music under your guidance.
Using this model, you as the teacher can use your strengths in numerous roles
to encourage and support each of your students on an individual basis. For
example, the type 1 teacher will check in with each student and is best at
explaining why they are learning this material. The type 2 teacher is
best suited for teaching theory and very attentive to the concepts being
taught. The type 3 teacher is most comfortable in drilling and enforcing
practicing as a rule. Finally, the type 4 teacher is more permissive and
encourages students to explore their own music, giving them the freedom to
create it for themselves.
As teachers, it is my belief that we have an important responsibility in respect to all
the various learning styles and to honor each student in respective style. In other
words, just because one student is having difficulty understanding the
theoretical part of a lesson, doesn't mean he or she isn't succeeding or capable of grasping the lesson.
Also, the student who invents his or her own way of playing an etude, may be just
as musical as the student who waits and mimics the teacher's example.
Perhaps, the success of each student depends not only on the quality of
teaching, but the match of teaching and learning styles.
Fortunately, we can address each type of learner by using a variety of
activities in our studios. While traditional school situations favor the
type 2 and 3 students and sometimes scold the type 1 and 4 learners, we can make room for all four learning types by paying attention to them in our lessons.
By distinguishing these four learning styles, the teacher can move beyond
the traditional modes of instruction to encompass all students in
their studio. As a musical expression of their student's development,
attention to each type of learner will produce measurable cognitive,
kinesthetic, and auditory results. When we recognize students as
interpersonal, analytical, common sense, and dynamic learners, we can bring
a more comprehensive approach to our teaching and even more success to all
of our students.
Dan Johnson
Instructional Design and Teaching Styles
Teaching Styles
Teaching Styles and Learning Styles
Learning Styles and the 4MAT System
4MAT - A Brain Friendly Model
of Instruction
© MusicStaff.com, 1999
Teachers tend to approach each class with a collection of ideas and techniques that, when coordinated,
become a teaching style. There are a number of models that characterize different teaching styles. This
web site uses the four teaching cluster's identified by Tony Grasha.
All curriculum plans need a process to reach our individual students. Don't miss Kathleen
Butler's current work on individual differences, ViewPoints, which has been hailed as the next
generation in understanding styles of thinking and learning regardless of your prior experience
with style.
Just as there are various preferred learning styles, there are many ways of
classifying teaching styles. Three frequently used categories are humanism,
behaviourism and cognitivism.
The
sequence used is modeled after the 4MAT System developed by Bernice McCarthy, author of 4MAT in
Action: Creative Lesson Plans for Teaching to Learning Styles with Right/Left Mode Techniques.