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Lauren Long, MSC 331

Dr. Crosby
CAE 323
13 April 2017

Personal Teaching Style

I would describe my personal teaching style to be a balanced mixture of both Student

Centered teaching and Teacher Centered teaching. According to my results from the Principles of

Adult Learning Scale, my teaching style falls directly between the two. My results from each of

the seven categories addressed were either exactly in the middle between Student Centered and

Teacher Centered, or they were one to two points off in either direction. The categories, or

factors, considered by the scale were Learner-Centered Activities, Personalizing Instruction,

Relating to Experience, Assessing Student Needs, Climate Building, Participation in the

Learning Process, and Flexibility for Personal Development. When I first saw my results from

the scale, I was a bit surprised; however, after considering my personal philosophy of education

and thinking through the implications of the results on my actual teaching, they began to make

much more sense.

Teaching styles flow out of personal philosophies of education, which ultimately flow out

of deep rooted values. My philosophy of education is a Progressive-Behavioralist philosophy. I

believe that education is meant to help people learn the skills that they need to succeed in various

aspects of their lives. I place a great value on the learners because I believe that education is

ultimately for their benefit. I believe that learners needs, passions, and experiences are very

important and need to be utilized in the classroom. Because of these values, I have Student

Centered teaching tendencies in my teaching style. I also highly value the quality of what is

being taught because the learners will not benefit if they do not cover what they actually need to
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learn in order to succeed in any given area. Because students are not usually the experts on the

material they are seeking to learn, I find myself placing the role of providing quality content into

the hands of the teacher. This is the root of my Teacher Centered teaching tendencies.

For my out of class teaching assignment, I taught a lesson at a womens Bible study for

terrace residents here at Toccoa Falls College. The Bible study typically meets once a month, and

quite a few people have been coming consistently. I was able to take the lead on the Saturday

morning that I taught, and I led the entire Bible study that morning by myself. In reflecting on

this teaching experience, I can clearly see where my teaching style played a role in what took

place. In my lesson plan, there were times set aside for the learners to share their thoughts and

experiences to deepen the learning that was taking place. I think that this shows some of my

Student Centeredness because the learning during these times was focused specifically on what

the learners had to contribute. Their experiences were very important to the discussion, and the

discussion was focused on what they had to say, rather than everyone looking to me as the

teacher for answers.

However, there were other times during my lesson that I did have a little more structure

and control as the teacher figure. I had specific passages that I wanted to look at with everyone,

and I guided some of the discussion in order to keep the lesson in line with the concepts that I

was trying to communicate. I think that it is important to keep a balance in discussion. There are

times when much can be gained through free discussion, and I made use of that at certain points

in my lesson. However, there are also times that little is accomplished if there is no one to keep

the discussion on track. I believe that this line of thinking comes from the more Teacher Centered

aspects of my teaching style.

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There is a third teaching style that is not addressed in the Principles of Adult Learning

Scale. This teaching style is called Subject Centered Teaching, and I think that it is important to

consider in order to fully understand my own personal teaching style. Just like I am in the middle

between Student Centered and Teacher Centered, Subject Centered teaching also falls into the

middle ground. The primary focus in Subject Centered Teaching is neither the student nor the

teacher. Instead, the focus is the content being covered. I think that Subject Centered teaching

was perhaps the most evident teaching style present in my out of class teaching. In Subject

Centered teaching, the teachers role is to create a learning environment that engages the students

with the subject. This was my intent during the lesson that I planned for the Bible study. I did not

come into the lesson thinking that I had all the answers, but I did have a passion for the subject

that I wanted to share with those who wanted to listen.