7 Signs That Strongly Indicate Your Need To Upgrade Your Teaching Style

Teaching is definitely not an easy job. It requires years of practice, patience and self-motivation to be able to stand in front of a classroom full of youngsters equipping them with information and knowledge.

And now, standing in the 21^st century, student wants more than just knowledge and information from teachers and educators because all the information and knowledge in the world is just a click away on the World Wide Web that can be accessed anywhere without any constraint of time and geography.

Knowing this, experienced and seasoned teachers need to upgrade their teaching style because if they don’t, their classes will automatically become redundant.

So, to be on their top of game, teachers need to reinvent themselves and adopt innovative teaching methods. Moreover, teachers need to inspire students to seek knowledge and learn more. Providing information is one thing, providing inspiration is altogether a different thing that is more valuable and fruitful for students’ learning.

To understand your efficiency as a teacher, tutor, or an educator, you need to identify the signs indicating your need to upgrade your teaching style. Some of these signs as recognized by subject matter experts at MyPrivateTutor are:

1. Your students find your classes uninspiring and boring

If you see some (or most) of your students absent-minded, or worse, giving an ostensible yawn while you are teaching in the class, you must get the idea that your students find your class dull and uninspiring.

Gone are those days when standing in front of a class and giving bland lectures was enough. It is imperative for a teacher to make his/her class interesting and interactive through different engaging activities and technology. 

2. Your students have a hard time understanding simple concepts

If you find that most of your students struggle to make sense of what you teach, you will have to seriously consider upgrading (or modifying) your teaching style.

You may understand the concept of the subject you are teaching but that does not necessarily point to your students grasping the concept as easily as you did.

For them to understand, you will have to tone down your teaching method and adopt a simpler approach. Complicated theories and topics are best understood when described in a simple manner. 

3. You have a hard time clearing the doubts of your students

If your students have queries that you are unable to address, you will probably want to upgrade your teaching style.

Students asking questions and doubts mean that they have read the subject(s) and are unable grasp some aspect of it. You should make sure that you thoroughly understand the subject you teach and address the queries of students individually. Failing to do so can put questions on your credibility.

4. Majority of students score low in your subject

If you find that a majority of your students score low marks in the subject you teach, you must try your best to trace the problem to its core.

Scoring low marks may be attributed to many other factors such as an increase in the difficulty level of question paper, out-of-syllabus questions, or for any other reasons. However, chances are more that the poor score is primarily due to the outdated teaching style of the teacher.

5. Students prefer to bunk your class

If you find low attendance in your class most of the times, you should reassess your teaching style.

Students skip classes when they don’t perceive any value addition to their education. This is a subtle message from students that they would be rather hanging around with their friends or study in the library than attend your class.

6. You find yourself giving the same old case studies and examples

If you find repeating yourself day-in and day-out, you should consider changing your teaching style and come up with fresher ideas, case studies, and examples.

If the same monologue or conversation in the classroom is making you tired, then chances are it is making the students way more frustrated.

7. Your students seldom ask you questions and get their doubts cleared from other teachers

In case you find out that your students are not asking you any more questions than they used to ask earlier, you should try and change your teaching style. Chances are high that they must be having questions, but they are getting those clarified from other teachers or the Internet.

So that’s more or less it. We hope the points highlighted above come in handy for you.