Discuss how an individual's style of teaching can change

according to the type of activity, group dynamics and / or

environment.
Individual teaching styles depend upon a variety of different external circumstances, aswell as the
teacher or coaches personal preference. The style chosen could be one of: command,
demonstration, reciprocal or problem solving, and could change throughout the lesson or training
session depending on the objective and the pupils responses. For example, "if it is clear from a
childs response or action that they have not understood instructions or explanations it often helps to
use a different method when re-explaining". (A Crabtree conversation 2000).

Command style is based on the behaviourist idea of stimulus response, where the teacher takes
complete control for every aspect of the lesson, leaving students with no individual choice. Reciprocal
style is based on cognitive theories of learning,where the students work with each other to improve
their individual performances by comparing, contrasting, concluding and communicating. The teacher
however decides on themes or aspects of performance. Problem solving takes cognitive theories
even further as the teachers set open ended questions, and all answers which meet the general
success criteria of the problem are considered to be a success.

Some sports are restricted to being taught primarily in one style, "When you are teaching sports
which are set in a potentially dangerous environment, such as swimming,or require dangerous
equipment, for example javelin, the teacher is restrained to the command style. "(I Belham
conversation 2000). In other sports this style would be appropriate for specific parts of the lesson
such as how to hold a badminton racket correctly or to give instructions on running technique in
Athletics Potential discipline problems can be minimized using command style as the student has far
less opportunity to disrupt the lesson, due to the teacherclose supervision and the narrow options
available for the children.

A reciprocal style of teaching can prove beneficial to encourage students to analyse and improve their
own and others performances. I have observed this in dance lessons, when pairs of students
watched each others performances and then offered their opinions on how the presentations could
be improved. This style of teaching is reliant upon a mature and tactful approach by the students. It is
therefore essential that the teacher ensures groupings are such that childrensself esteem is not
lowered but at that the same time suitably high expectations are achieved depending upon the
varying abilities. In this type of approach,"the role of the teacher moves closer to that of manager,
advisor, guide,supporter and improver." (Brown and Wragg 1993).

The problem solving style requires that the students have basic background knowledge of the sport
and some basic skills, to provide a starting point from which to progression. An example is giving a
doubles pair in badminton the decision of who should take a shot straight down the centre of the court
and how the players should position themselves for the next return. Brown and Wragg 1993
considered that"children should be involved in, rather than being the passive recipients of an
explanation." This style also depends upon the ability of the children to negotiate with each other,
their behaviour and the size of the group to ensure that the teacher has adequate oversight of the
groups whilst working.

It is not just the style of teaching that varies; it is also the method, for example whether a skill is
taught in whole or part. Whole is favoured when part of a whole skill is performed at once for example
the front crawl swim stroke. Part is favoured when discreet skills are performed sequentially e.g. the
basketball lay up, the dribble, the approach, the take off and the shot, all these components are
practised separately. However these methods change to fit in with the type of group being taught. For
example if you attempted to teach primary schoolchildren a complex skill such as the lay up in the
part method they would find it difficult to link the individual components together to form the overall
skill

The environment will also affect the style of teaching chosen. For example if a football session is
taking place in the cold and wind it is not ideal to teach in a problem solving or reciprocal style as it
can involve less physical activity. This may result in the students being more susceptible to injury as
the decrease in body temperature would lessen stretch in the muscles and joints. Command style is
much more appropriate because people can be actively involved the whole time. Another
environmental factor is space; for example a large group in a small space would not be able to work
by problem solving.

It is clear that the style of teaching an individual uses will vary dramatically depending upon the type
of activity, environment and group in question. However normally a combination of all three above
styles will be used. In my opinion I learn better when I am taught in this way, for example in a PE
lesson, I learn and understand the theory much more thoroughly if I am taught command style. This
said I tend to benefit more in practical lessons when a combination of all the styles is used

758 words (excluding quotes)

Ella Reeve

References

Pollard, A. and Tann, S. (1994) Reflective Teaching in the Primary School.

Brown and Wragg (1993) Explaining.

I Belham and A Crabtree, physical education teachers at middle school.