A Supervisory Teacher Whose Style Did NOT Work for Me.

Solution Preview

Reflect on a supervisor or teacher whose style did not work for you. Can you identify what in that person's style did not work with your learning style and needs? What supervisory competencies do you feel would compliment your learning style?

A supervisory teacher whose style did NOT work for me was:

This teacher was a strict disciplinarian. This teacher's style was definitely majority Logical/Mathematical. This problem solving and critical thinking teacher saw every action as a step by step decision making process. She possessed the ability to use inductive and deductive reasoning, to solve abstract problems; to understand complex relationships, mathematical reasoning, and scientific process. She was always attempting to be precise and accurate. She didn't believe her students should use calculators, and she required additional effort when teaching both math and science. Mathematics was her favorite subject to teach, and she was usually more focused on numbers, logic, and discipline than language, and the arts. She was more enthusiastic about control and order rather than chaos and confusion. This teacher was also focused on analytical thinking, using formulas, and mnemonic tools for memorizing information or understanding patterns and associations. She was matter-of-fact with no room for any play.
I could NOT relate to her at all! She was too strict with the students, and there seemed to be NO room for creativity in her room. She didn't tolerate any noise in her classroom, and students were rarely allowed to talk. She didn't do group work, or projects, or art, or music, or plays or anything creative. She didn't understand the Verbal /Linguistic learner, the musical/rhythmical learner, the bodily/kinesthetic learner, or the naturalist learner. She definitely didn't understand the interpersonal intelligence. Many students need to interact with one another in order to understand material. It simply frustrated me.
This teacher was very set in her ways, and never considered changing anything about the way she taught. As her student teacher, I had to introduce many of these ideas. She had a very difficult time with them and didn't really want her students participating. She was very concerned about control and was afraid that if I introduced these things during my student teaching, when I left she would NOT be able to regain control. It seemed that her fear of losing control dictated everything about how she ran her classroom.
It was a very difficult time for me as a student teacher; however, in your life there are always times when you have to work with people who are coming from a completely different place than you are, and it was a good lesson for me to find a way to work with this teacher. And, I eventually did. I just did all of my required assignments without worrying about her discomfort. During my last few weeks, I do think she was starting to consider some different approaches to her classroom practices.

A supervisory teacher whose style DID work for me was:

This teacher was a great balance of every type of learner. Ms. S. taught 7th and 8th grade Reading and Language Arts, but she was also logical, mathematical, musical, rhythmical, visual, spatial, physical, kinesthetic, and she loved nature. She was extremely good at being reflective and intrapersonal, which was demonstrated in her teaching and the way she lived her life. She was also very interpersonal. She was joyful and kind, caring and compassionate, loving and warm, and she really listened to what you had to say. Ms. S. taught me that you have to teach to the whole student. She taught me that you have to teach from your head as much as you teach from your heart.
Ms. S taught me about the intrapersonal intelligence. She taught me the importance of concentration of the mind, mindfulness, metacognition, awareness and expression of different feelings, sense of self, higher order thinking and reasoning.
Ms. S. taught me about interpersonal intelligence. She taught me the importance of effective verbal and non-verbal communication, noticing and making distinctions among individuals; sensitivity to other's moods, temperaments, motivations, and feelings. She taught me the importance of students working in groups, the ability to discern other's underlying intentions and behaviors, passing over in the perspective of another, and creating and maintaining synergy.
Ms. S. taught me about bodily/kinesthetic intelligence. She taught me the importance of control of "voluntary" movements, control of ...