Teaching as an art: Importance of flexibility in teaching

By Cynthia Grimm
College of Education
Long Island University, C. W. Post
March, 2011

It is interesting to me how teaching styles can vary widely, yet impart the same knowledge. Our mini-lesson in class tonight also demonstrated how a lesson can seamlessly blend a cognitive, behavioral and humanistic approach. When we were discussing styles in our small group, in their totality, none of the styles seemed to fit any of us. We thought our approach would probably be more of a combination of the three. In my classroom, I’ve definitely had occasion to use a purely behavioral model for one portion of a lesson, but if the student is feeling frustrated and the information isn’t being retained, I switch to a cognitive approach to see if there’s a better way for the student to learn.

Of course, some humanistic aspects are usually employed in every lesson, especially at the Kindergarten level. This is probably the age level too where students will develop a particular learning style. If a teacher is too rigid and only uses one model, say the behavioral method, as in the video, a more cognitive student would become quickly bored and lose interest. He could start acting out and fidget due to boredom and start to be labeled as a difficult student. As teachers I think we should be open to any method that works in the classroom, and be willing to be flexible enough to change our approach as the day progresses.

In reviewing today, I think I actually moved from behaviorist (many token rewards for my student in the morning to get the day started on a good note) to cognitive (asking what he wanted his journal topic to be today and then modeling the words while we planned a good picture to go with it) and ended the day as a humanist (by the end of the day, he seemed on edge and I asked him how he was feeling and if he needed a break, so we took a walk). Sometimes what works in the morning doesn’t work in the afternoon, especially with young children tired from recess and ready to go home!