The Complete List of Teaching Methods

Academic Director, Master of Education

USD complete list of teaching methods

Whether you lot're a longtime educator, preparing to commencement your first teaching job or mapping out your dream of a career in the classroom, the topic of instruction methods is one that means many dissimilar things to unlike people.

Your individual approaches and strategies to imparting cognition to your students and inspiring them to learn are probably built on your academic education as well as your instincts and intuition.

Whether y'all come past your preferred teaching methods organically or by actively studying educational theory and didactics, it can be helpful to have a comprehensive working knowledge of the various didactics methods at your disposal.

You lot'RE INVITED! Sentinel Costless Webinar on USD 'south Online M .Ed. Program >>

Teaching Methods: Non every bit Simple as ABC

The teacher-centered approach vs. the pupil-centered approach. High-tech vs. depression-tech approaches to learning. Flipped classrooms, differentiated instruction, inquiry-based learning, personalized learning and more.

Not just are there dozens of didactics methods to explore, it is also important to have a sense for how they oft overlap or interrelate. One extremely helpful await at this question is offered by the instructor-focused education website Teach.com.

"Education theories tin be organized into four categories based on two major parameters: a teacher-centered approach versus a student-centered approach, and loftier-tech material utilize versus low-tech material use," according to the informative Teach.com commodity, which breaks downwards a diversity of influential educational activity methods as follows:

Teacher-Centered Arroyo to Learning
Teachers serve as instructor/dominance figures who deliver knowledge to their students through lectures and direct pedagogy, and aim to mensurate the results through testing and assessment. This method is sometimes referred to every bit "sage on the stage."

Student-Centered Approach to Learning
Teachers still serve as an potency figure, but may function more as a facilitator or "guide on the side," as students assume a much more active role in the learning procedure. In this method, students larn from and are continually assessed on such activities as group projects, student portfolios and class participation.

High-Tech Approach to Learning
From devices similar laptops and tablets to using the net to connect students with information and people from effectually the globe, engineering plays an always-greater role in many of today'southward classrooms. In the loftier-tech approach to learning, teachers utilize many different types of technology to help students in their classroom learning.

Low-Tech Arroyo to Learning
Technology obviously comes with pros and cons, and many teachers believe that a depression-tech approach improve enables them to tailor the educational feel to unlike types of learners. Additionally, while calculator skills are undeniably necessary today, this must exist counterbalanced against potential downsides; for example, some would argue that over-reliance on spell check and autocorrect features tin inhibit rather than strengthen pupil spelling and writing skills.

[RELATED] Edutainment in the Classroom: How Technology Is Changing the Game >>

Diving further into the overlap between different types of pedagogy methods, here is a closer expect at three teacher-centered methods of educational activity and five popular student-centered approaches.

Teaching Methods [Teacher-Centered]

Straight Teaching (Depression Tech)
Under the direct instruction model — sometimes described as the "traditional" arroyo to teaching — teachers convey knowledge to their students primarily through lectures and scripted lesson plans, without factoring in educatee preferences or opportunities for hands-on or other types of learning. This method is also customarily low-tech since it relies on texts and workbooks rather than computers or mobile devices.

Flipped Classrooms (Loftier Tech)
What if students did the "classroom" portion of their learning at habitation and their "homework" in the classroom? That's an oversimplified description of the flipped classroom approach, in which students watch or read their lessons on computers at home and so complete assignments and do problem-solving exercises in class.

Kinesthetic Learning (Low Tech)
In the kinesthetic learning model, students perform hands-on physical activities rather than listening to lectures or watching demonstrations. Kinesthetic learning, which values movement and creativity over technological skills, is most commonly used to augment traditional types of instruction — the theory being that requiring students to do, make or create something exercises dissimilar learning muscles.

Teaching Methods [Student-Centered]

Differentiated Instruction (Low Tech)
Inspired by the 1975 Individuals with Disabilities Education Human action (Idea), enacted to ensure equal access to public education for all children, differentiated instruction is the practice of developing an understanding of how each student learns best, and then tailoring instruction to meet students' individual needs.

In some instances, this ways Individualized Educational activity Programs (IEPs) for students with special needs, merely today teachers utilise differentiated instruction to connect with all types of learners by offering options on how students access content, the types of activities they exercise to master a concept, how educatee learning is assessed and even how the classroom is set up.

Research-Based Learning (Loftier Tech)
Rather than role every bit a sole authority effigy, in inquiry-based learning teachers offering support and guidance as students piece of work on projects that depend on them taking on a more agile and participatory office in their own learning. Different students might participate in unlike projects, developing their ain questions and then conducting inquiry — oft using online resources — and and so demonstrate the results of their work through self-fabricated videos, web pages or formal presentations.

Expeditionary Learning (Low Tech)
Expeditionary learning is based on the idea that at that place is considerable educational value in getting students out of the classroom and into the real world. Examples include trips to City Hall or Washington, D.C., to acquire near the workings of government, or out into nature to engage in specific study related to the environment. Technology tin can exist used to augment such expeditions, but the chief focus is on getting out into the community for existent-world learning experiences.

Personalized Learning (High Tech)
 In personalized learning, teachers encourage students to follow personalized, self-directed learning plans that are inspired past their specific interests and skills. Since assessment is also tailored to the individual, students can advance at their own pace, moving forward or spending actress time as needed. Teachers offering some traditional instruction as well as online textile, while also continually reviewing pupil progress and coming together with students to make whatever needed changes to their learning plans.

Game-Based Learning (Loftier Tech)
Students love games, and considerable progress has been made in the field of game-based learning, which requires students to be problem solvers as they work on quests to accomplish a specific goal. For students, this approach blends targeted learning objectives with the fun of earning points or badges, much like they would in a video game. For teachers, planning this blazon of activity requires boosted time and effort, so many rely on software like Classcraft or 3DGameLab to help students maximize the educational value they receive from within the gamified learning surroundings.

What About Blended Learning and UDL?

Blended Learning
Blended learning is another strategy for teachers looking to introduce flexibility into their classroom. This method relies heavily on engineering, with part of the education taking identify online and office in the classroom via a more traditional approach, often leveraging elements of the flipped classroom arroyo detailed above. At the heart of blended learning is a philosophy of taking the time to empathize each educatee's learning fashion and develop strategies to teach to every learner, by building flexibility and selection into your curriculum.

Universal Pattern for Learning (UDL)
UDL incorporates both student-centered learning and the "multiple intelligences theory," which holds that different learners are wired to learn near finer in different ways (examples of these "intelligences" include visual-spatial, logical-mathematical, bodily-kinesthetic, linguistic, musical, etc.). In exercise, this could mean that some students might be working on a writing projection while others would be more engaged if they created a play or a picture. UDL emphasizes the idea of teaching to every student, special needs students included, in the general teaching classroom, creating community and edifice knowledge through multiple ways.

[RELATED] Career Options Expand, Salaries Spike with a Master of Pedagogy Degree >>

Teaching Methods: A to Z

In addition to the many philosophical and pedagogical approaches to teaching, classroom educators today utilise diverse and sometimes highly artistic methods involving specific strategies, prompts and tools that require petty explanation. These include:

  • Appointments with students
  • Art-based projects
  • Audio tutorials
  • Author'southward chair
  • Book reports
  • Bulletin boards
  • Brainstorming
  • Instance studies
  • Chalkboard pedagogy
  • Class projects
  • Classroom discussion
  • Classroom video diary
  • Collaborative learning spaces
  • Creating murals and montages
  • Current events quizzes
  • Debates
  • Designated quiet space
  • Discussion groups
  • DIY activities
  • Dramatization (plays, skits, etc.)
  • Educational games
  • Educational podcasts
  • Essays (Descriptive)
  • Essays (Expository)
  • Essays (Narrative)
  • Essays (Persuasive)
  • Exhibits and displays
  • Explore different cultures
  • Field trips
  • Flash cards
  • Flexible seating
  • Gamified learning plans
  • Genius hour
  • Grouping discussion
  • Guest speakers
  • Hands-on activities
  • Individual projects
  • Interviewing
  • Journaling
  • Laboratory experiments
  • Learning contracts
  • Learning stations
  • Lecturing
  • Literature circles
  • Making posters
  • Math games
  • Mock conventions
  • Motivational posters
  • Music from other countries/cultures
  • Oral reports
  • Panel discussions
  • Peer partner learning
  • Pen pals
  • Photography
  • Trouble solving activities
  • Reading aloud
  • Readers' theater
  • Recitation
  • Cogitating discussion
  • Research projects
  • Rewards & recognition
  • Role playing
  • School newspapers
  • Science fairs
  • Scrapbooks
  • Sister urban center programs
  • Spelling bees
  • Storytelling
  • Pupil podcasts
  • Student portfolios
  • Student presentations
  • Student-conceived projects
  • Supplemental reading assignments
  • TED talks
  • Squad-building exercises
  • Term papers
  • Textbook assignments
  • Think-tac-toe
  • Time capsules
  • Timelines
  • Utilize of customs or local resources
  • Video creation
  • Video lessons
  • Vocabulary lists
  • Web quests
  • Word walls
  • Workbooks

For the Love of Teaching

So, is the instructor the heart of the educational universe or the student? Does strong reliance on the wonders of technology offering a more productive educational experience or is a more than traditional, lower-tech arroyo the best way to help students thrive?

Questions such as these are food for thought for educators everywhere, in part considering they inspire ongoing reflection on how to brand a meaningful deviation in the lives of one's students.

[RELATED] Academy of San Diego Online M.Ed. Plan Offers vi Areas of Specialization >>

Joseph Lathan, PhD

Bookish Director, Chief of Educational activity

Dr. Lathan has 20-plus years of feel in College Education Administration and Online Education Administration. His areas of expertise include online learning pedagogy and online teaching and learning all-time practices.

As an advocate for quality online education, Dr. Lathan earned all his advanced degrees at notable fully online programs. He received his B.S. in Psychology from Empire State College, his Chiliad.S. in Education Administration from Michigan Land University, and a Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership from the Chicago School of Professional person Psychology.

Top Online Teaching Myths & Best Practices for Educators

Use online learning platforms to your advantage

Sentinel On-Demand Now