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Marissa Schmuhl
English 111
Christopher Wyman
November 16th, 2015
Students Adapting to Teaching Styles
There is a Chinese proverb that says A thousand teachers, a thousand methods.
Because there are so many different teaching styles, it can be difficult for a student adapt to
some of them. This failure to adapt is a big problem academically for both students and
teachers alike. Adapting to the teachers teaching style is very important for the students
success. It can cause frustration, bad grades, and possible even student dropouts.
Students might really like one teachers teaching style. When the student likes the
teaching style, they are more likely to succeed in that class. Theyll probably understand
what the teacher is saying. When students understand what is being taught, theyll do better
in that class. This could cause them to be optimistic about their other classes and this could
encourage them to do better in those classes. The students will probably get used to that
teaching style. This could make them more comfortable in classes with similar teaching
styles. A lot of students seem to like the transformative learning teaching style. In
Transformative Learning: Theory to Practice, Jack Mezirow says that this new teaching
style can help foster self-direction, the emphasis is on creating an environment in which
learners become increasingly adept at learning from each other (273). In these classes, the
students kind of discuss with each other what they read in a certain article (273). Barry
Alford, author of Freirean Voices, Student Choices, says that transformative learning is
allows students to hear their voice as part of a community of voices and is the first time it

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has mattered that they know the rules of a discourse community. Students seem to like this
style because they get to have some control of the discussion and talk about what interests
them instead of being told what to talk about. They get to lead the discussion and that can be
important and useful to the students academic success.
However, if the student gets too used to one teaching style, this might make it more
difficult to adapt to another style. Plus, students can have problems adapting to a new and
foreign teaching style. They might just not like the teaching style and if that happens, they
are less likely to succeed academically. This new teaching style might make it difficult for the
student to understand what the teacher is telling them. The student might get frustrated and
possibly get bad grades in that class. If they get too frustrated, they might just give up and
dropout of their classes. They might even end up cheating just to get bye in the classes. In I
Just Want to be Average, Mike Rose said that he ended up copying some assignments and
finessing the rest as best I could (308). Rose couldnt get used to the different teaching
styles, so he ended up cheating to try and keep up with the other students.
Students adapting to new teaching styles is very important because how well the students
like the teaching style can have a big impact on how well they do in school. This problem
occurs because teachers are all different and they have different teaching styles. Plus, some
teaching styles might work for some students and not for others. Rose even said that he had
problems adapting to the new teaching styles when his classes got switched (308). Students
have to work to adapt to the different teaching styles. Students could always study harder if
they dont like the teaching style or ask for individual help. The teachers could always verify
that the students understand what they are being taught. If the students dont try to adapt,
they will have problems in their classes.

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This is a very important problem. Students need to adapt to the different teaching styles
to succeed. They will need to work harder to succeed in the classes that they dont like the
teaching style. They have to get used to the different styles and work hard to do it. The
students need to adapt because all teachers cant have the same teaching styles. All teachers
are unique and it isnt realistic to expect them to all teach the same exact way.

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Works Cited
Alford, B. Freirean Voices, Student Choices. Exploring Relationships:
Globalization and Learning in the 21st Century. Mid Michigan
Community College. Boston, MA: Pearson, 2013. 279-282. Print.
Mezirow, Jack. Transformative Learning: Theory to Practice. Exploring
Relationships: Globalization and Learning in the 21st Century. Mid
Michigan Community College. Boston, MA: Pearson, 2013. 268-274.
Print.
Rose, Mike. I Just Wanna Be Average. Exploring Relationships: Globalization
and Learning in the 21st Century. Mid Michigan Community College.
Boston, MA: Pearson, 2013. 295-311. Print.