Honoring Diverse Styles of Beginning Teachers

EDWARD F. PAJAK ELAINE STOTKO FRANK MASCI

FOCUSING QUESTIONS
1. How would you describe a teacher's style of teaching?
2. How does teacher style differ from teacher characteristics? Teacher behavior?
Teacher effectiveness?
3. How is a teacher's style influenced by his or her educational philosophy?
4. How would you describe a teacher's cycle of learning?
5. How does a teacher's professional learning differ from problem solving?
Critical thinking? Transfer of learning?
6. What kind of supervisor would you prefer to have observing and
mentoring your teaching?
Schools today face the responsibility of guaranteeing high-quality
instruction for every student, while simultaneously having to recruit and retain
unprecedented numbers of new and second-career teachers. This dual challenge
is achievable, we believe, only by supporting teachers in ways that are compatible
with how they most naturally learn and teach. In other words, those educators
who provide support to new teachers should strive to work with them in the same
way that teachers are expected to work with students-by recognizing and
celebrating a diversity of styles and responding to differences in ways that
enhance learning for everyone.
The standards movement in education has set for itself the admirable goal
of high expectations for all students. Because students differ in their styles of
learning, experienced teachers recognize the importance of providing alternative
paths for achieving these agreed-upon outcomes. Similarly, the time has come
for us to realize that new teachers do not all learn or teach the same way. Talk
to several new teachers about why they are teachers, what teaching means to
them, how they know when they are successful, and what gives them the most
satisfaction, and you'll discover that some teachers place great emphasis on
imparting knowledge to students, while others stress the importance of helping
students discover knowledge for themselves. Some teachers believe in getting
actively involved in their students' lives, while others prefer to maintain a more
distanced professional relationship. Some teachers dedicate them- selves to
social change and justice for all students, while others concentrate their efforts
on individual students who show promise of becoming leaders of their
generation.
These different perspectives of teaching reflect various experiences or
styles of teaching inventing, knowing, caring, and inspiring-that highlight
differences in how individuals perceive and process information (Pajak, 2003).
When in- venting teachers talk about teaching, for example, they tend to
emphasize the importance of "having students solve problems" and of "seeing
students apply their learning to real situations." Knowing teachers are more
likely to focus on "helping kids learn content" and to believe they are successful
when they "see students mastering the subject matter." Caring teachers often
say that "providing opportunities for student growth" is most important, and they
define success in terms of "building a classroom community." Finally, inspiring
teachers tend to view teaching as "an opportunity to shape the future" and derive
satisfaction from "seeing students make independent decisions." These four ways
of experiencing teaching are clearly evident in the literature on education. The
inventing perspective is expressed, for example, in the scholarship of Jean Piaget
and Hilda Taba; advocacy for the knowing viewpoint may be found in the writings
of Benjamin Bloom and Mortimer Adler; the importance of the caring attitude is
explained to us by Nel Noddings and Parker Palmer; and the inspiring stance is
articulated in the work of Paulo Freire and Maxine Greene.
The four styles can also be seen in depictions of teachers in popular
culture. Jaime Escalante, in the movie Stand and Deliver, is an example of an
inventing teacher. Marva Collins in the made-for-TV movie The Marva Collins
Story, represents a knowing teacher. Roberta Guaspari, in the film Music of the
Heart, depicts a caring teacher, and LouAnne Johnson, in Dangerous Minds, an
inspiring teacher.
A TEACHER-PROOF TEACHER?
Why do different teacher styles matter? Forty or more years ago, during the Cold
War and post- Sputnik era, some experts in education tried to develop what has
been termed the "teacher-proof curriculum," in the belief that if instruction and
curriculum were controlled to a sufficient degree, teachers would be forced into
teaching only what was prescribed by the experts. Today, we fear, the inflexible
enforcement of standards for teaching is moving us toward a "teacher-proof
teacher," one who is standardized to the point of being unable to think
independently or to act on personal convictions. Yet, we know from the study of
teaching styles that real teachers are more complex, as the following vignettes
demonstrate.

Inventing
Students in Ken Garry's eleventh-grade world history class have come to expect
the unexpected. Still, on one memorable day at the beginning of the Russian
history unit, even they were surprised to see a somewhat disheveled, unshaven
Mr. Garry enter the room. They were certainly not prepared for what happened
next. He took out a razor and began to shave. Then he posed a series of
questions, beginning with "What did my shaving have to do with an event in
Russian history?" A very lively discussion ensued around the fact that Peter the
Great, in one of his efforts to westernize the country, ordered his nobles, the
Boyars, to shave off their flowing beards. The students were likely not only to
remember this event but, as a result of the discussion, to place it within the
larger context of the modernization of Russia.

Knowing
To an observer entering Pam Gilbert's twelfth- grade English classroom, it is
immediately apparent that each student has a clear idea of her expectations.
Daily objectives are posted; each student is given a detailed agenda of what is to
be covered during the lesson; and posters that describe rules, submission
requirements for papers, and assignment deadlines are prominent throughout
the room. Ms. Gilbert's lesson plans reveal that instruction is largely teacher-
directed and focused on the learning of factual information and key concepts.
Group work is also part of her instructional strategy; she typically assigns
students to groups, giving each student a specific responsibility within the
group. The classroom climate is one of efficiency and purpose.

Caring
Gloria Silverman loves children, and her eighth- grade mathematics students, if
pressed, would admit to affection for her as well. They would cite her keen
interest in their lives, her close contact with their parents (they might even give
grudging appreciation for this), and her willingness to "go the extra mile" to help
them understand the some- times bewildering intricacies of the rudiments of
algebra. Surprisingly large numbers of students attend her daily lunchtime help
sessions and are grateful for her tenacious insistence on learning the subject
matter, always couched in an almost parental concern for their well-being.

Inspiring
Second graders, at the very beginning of their educational experience, certainly
represent a wealth of untapped possibility. They are impressionable and usually
very eager to please. No one realizes this more and capitalizes on it better than
their teacher, Joanna Chakitis. To describe her classroom environment as a
wonderland is an understatement. The walls are covered with colorful and
stimulating instructional materials, stations for work on individualized
assignments, and job charts for student helpers. Even the ceiling contains
examples of student work. The students in Ms. Chakitis's class are the
beneficiaries of exceptionally creative and innovative teaching practices that are
carefully designed to promote their growth and development.
SUPPORTING NEW TEACHERS
Beginning teachers often find themselves facing expectations and advice from
university supervisors, mentor teachers, peer coaches, principals, and district
office supervisors. How should sup- port systems for new teachers that are
provided by universities and schools respond to these di- verse teaching styles?
Our fundamental principle is simple, yet powerful. Those who provide support
to new teachers-mentors, peer coaches, university supervisors, and principal
should make a deliberate effort to honor and legitimate perspectives and
practices that differ from their own preferred styles of perceiving and judging
reality. The starting point for helping new teachers succeed, in other words,
should be the development of the teacher's preferred style. Once that style has
been successfully developed, of course the teacher should be encouraged to
expand his or her repertoire of strategies and perspectives.
Teaching is much more than simply a job. For a great many people,
teaching is a way of living their lives. Teaching is closely connected, in other
words, to how teachers view themselves as people. Indeed, what teachers do in
their classrooms is tightly wrapped up with, and difficult to separate from, their
very identities. Support systems and mentoring practices that conflict with the
teacher's identity and core values are, at the very least, useless and, at the worst,
destructive. Although any one of the experiences of teaching-inventing, knowing,
caring, inspiring-can be a useful guide to practice, it is only a starting point. All
of these paths must be traced if a teacher is to become truly effective. Supervisors
(i.e., mentors, coaches, principals) are expected to ensure that new teachers
know their subject matter and can teach, but in reality the support that new
teachers need is much more complicated. An effective mentor is able to support
the new teacher's personal and emotional needs and to help the teacher become
an inquiring professional and reflective practitioner.
Each student that a teacher meets in the class- room requires different
things at different times- explanations and reliable ways of thinking, high
standards and understanding, nurturing care and emotional support,
inspiration and values-and a teacher ought to be able to provide them all.
Similarly, those who support beginning teachers should be able to offer
differentiated support as well. Un- fortunately, classroom observations and
evaluations in most school systems rely on instruments or standards that favor
only the organized and businesslike demeanor of the knowing teacher. The
innovation, creativity, and democratic goals of caring, inventing, and inspiring
teachers are usually de-emphasized or even implicitly discouraged.
Adult learning theorist David Kolb (1984) identified four types of learners
that roughly correspond to the teaching styles described here. Most people
develop preferences for a particular style of learning, he believes, as a result of
events in their lives, personality differences, environmental circumstances, and
education. No one style is necessarily better or worse than another, he insists.
The important thing is to recognize that differences among learners do exist. His
model portrays people as dynamic learners and problem solvers who constantly
respond to their environments by engaging in new experiences, reflecting on
these experiences from various perspectives, creating understandings and
generalizations, and applying these understandings to their lives and to their
work (Sims & Sims, 1995). Bernice McCarthy (1982, 1990) has long advocated
linking Kolb's work to our understanding of teaching and learning.
Integrating the wisdom of three great educators John Dewey, Jean Piaget,
and Kurt Lewin- Kolb (1984) proposes a recurring cycle of learning that includes
four phases. Teacher development can be understood as a recurring cycle of
growth that begins with (a) concrete experience, followed by (b) empathic
reflection, (c) construction of meaning, and (d) active experimentation. As
teachers progress through the learning cycle, they complement their initial
teaching style with functions that have lain dormant. Integrating the styles
allows them to recognize and enact a wider range of choices and decisions when
facing new situations. These phases of learning are best pursued with the
support of a mentor a team of colleagues. The descriptions of the four phases of
learning, which appear below, are followed by an example of a clinical coach, Ms.
Jeanette Greene, engaged in the process of observing and conferring with Gloria
Silverman, the caring teacher described previously.
The Phases
1. The concrete experience phase of learning requires the clinical coach to
actively engage the teacher in problem solving. Concrete data concerning
teacher and student behavior and their relationship to curriculum,
standards, objectives, methods, materials, or classroom artifacts are
considered. A key question for the teacher during this phase is "How well am
I really doing?"
2. During the empathic reflection phase of learning, the coach displays and
models empathy. Multiple perspectives are considered for the purpose of
gaining insight into the subjective experience of students who inhabit the
teacher's classroom. A question for the teacher to answer during this phase
is "What is going on here for everyone involved, both for myself and for the
students?"
3. In the construction of meaning phase of learning, the clinical coach
encourages the teacher to raise theoretical and ethical issues, form
generalizations, and propose hypotheses concerning cause and effect
relationships. The central question for the teacher during this phase is "What
does all this mean?"
4. Finally, during the active experimentation phase of learning, the coach steps
back and empowers the teacher to take action. What has been learned is
applied to practical problems in the classroom, accompanied by the collection
of new data. The question for the teacher that guides this phase of the cycle
is "How can I do things better?" (Pajak, 2003)
The key to applying these phases of learning is to help teachers enter the cycle
at the phase that comes most naturally to them. When working with a caring
teacher, for example, the mentor or coach should pay special attention to
developing trust and a positive climate that will contribute to collaboration and
mutual learning. Beginning a conversation that asks a caring teacher to
empathically reflect on the experience of his or her students in the classroom
will both be nonthreatening and serve to engage the teacher in the learning cycle.
The Example
Jeanette Greene, as clinical coach, has done her homework. The day prior to her
observation of Gloria Silverman, who exhibits a caring style of teaching, she
scheduled a brief meeting for them to discuss the plan for the lesson. Having
this conversation in advance demonstrates to Gloria that Jeanette respects her
as a person and initiates the learning cycle by getting Gloria to focus on her
teaching. The meeting also provides an opportunity for Jeanette to learn about
the strategies that Gloria intends to use and how they relate to the purposes of
the lesson.
The next day, Jeanette observes Gloria, recording a descriptive narrative
of what is said and done by both the teacher and students, including some notes
describing the feeling-tone within the class- room. Following the observation,
Jeanette conducts an analysis of the data, looking for connections between
observed events and student learning that will reinforce good practices, as well
as patterns that relate to the interpersonal climate in the class- room. Later in
the day, Jeanette meets with Gloria for the post-observation conference. For
purposes of this example, we will assume that Gloria's les- son was generally
positive, but there were several issues that Jeanette felt needed attention.
The first part of the conference, which corresponds to the concrete
experience phase of learning, would be concerned chiefly with the data-in this
case, a detailed discussion of the lesson that was observed. Jeanette would show
Gloria the descriptive narrative she recorded along with specific events and
patterns that relate to student learning and interpersonal behavior.
As Jeanette shifts to the empathic reflection phase, she needs to remember
that caring teachers can be very sensitive and have their feelings easily hurt.
While offering generous praise for positive aspects of the lesson, Jeanette should
also tact- fully introduce the areas of concern and even offer some concrete
suggestions for Gloria to try. Since the major question of this phase is "What is
going on here for everyone involved, both the teacher and the students?" Jeanette
can tap into Gloria's intense concern for her students and ask how her actions
directly affect them as she encourages Gloria to expand her teaching repertoire.
Jeanette can begin the construction of meaning phase of learning by
restating the major issues and by inviting Gloria to propose some strategies for
modifying her instruction that are consistent with her personal values and
beliefs about teaching and learning. Either Jeanette or Gloria might also propose
concepts or theoretical perspectives that place their conversation within a
broader framework. Again, by keeping the focus on the enhanced learning of
Gloria's students, Jeanene honors Gloria's caring style, while facilitating her
movement through the adult learning cycle.
The active experimentation phase of learning necessitates Gloria's
implementing the recommendations collaboratively developed in the post
observation conference. Gloria's major motivation to carry out the
recommendations should be in response to the questions "How can I do things
better?" and "How can I become a better teacher? Jeanette will work with Gloria
to determine the focus of a subsequent observation to be conducted after Gloria
has had time to try out some of the strategies identified. She will then establish
with Gloria an appropriate time for the subsequent observation and follow-up
conference to discuss Gloria's degree of success in implementing these
innovations.
The intention is to gently nudge teachers out of their comfort zones and
change their behavior by exposing them to alternative learning environments
during each of the four phases (Rainey & Kolb, 1995). When Jeanette works with
an inspiring teacher such as Joanna Chakitis, construction of meaning would
be the starting point for discussion. In this case, Jeanette could begin with a
conversation about personal values and beliefs about teaching and its purposes,
and then encourage Joanna to move along to active experimentation by posing
hypotheses about specific relationships between her behavior and student
outcomes (How can I do things better?), with an eye toward the concrete
experience phase (How well am I really doing?), which then would lead to
empathic reflection.
 When embedded in the reality of classroom experience, alternative
learning environments structured around the four phases can allow teachers to
take greater responsibility for their own professional growth and gradually
develop a full range of teaching styles. Teams of teachers might be organized in
a school according to their style preferences, perhaps by grade level or subject
area, where they read and share instructional materials to more finely hone their
natural abilities. Individual teachers could rotate through different teams as they
gain fluency with different styles, or entire teams could explore different learning
environments together over a period of time. The purpose of such teams is not
to "track" teachers, but to create within a school "a cooperative human
community that cherishes and utilizes individual uniqueness" (Kolb, 1984, p.
62). An awareness and appreciation of different styles can be helpful, for
example, for improving communication, resolving conflicts amicably, selecting
team members, and identifying mediators and as a framework for professional
development.

MATCHING MENTORS AND TEACHERS

Honoring different teaching styles is not a technique to be used from time to
time, but instead an entirely new way of thinking about support. At best, we
typically offer teachers a "take it or leave it" form of support, because we have a
natural tendency to want teachers to teach their classes the way we would if we
were the teacher. But if a beginning teacher is forced to adopt a style of thinking
and teaching by someone who is unsympathetic or inflexible, the beginning
teacher is likely to become frustrated and discouraged and may never attain his
or her full potential.
In an ideal world, every beginning teacher would be matched with a
supervisor who shared his or her style, at least initially, to enhance
communication and minimize frustration. Another workable strategy, however,
may be to select clinical coaches who are knowledgeable about and sensitive to
different teaching styles and who are comfortable allowing new teachers to teach
to their strengths, while still understanding when and how to help the new
teacher move out of his or her comfort zone and into an exploration of other
styles.
Rather than advocating a particular way of behaving or thinking, this new
form of support facilitates learning by modeling alternative behaviors and
patterns of thinking. At each phase of the learning cycle, the supervisor or
mentor becomes a clinical coach who is (a) a colleague who models and supports
conscious awareness of the personal experience of teaching, (b) an empathic
listener and sounding board who facilitates an understanding of the effect that
teaching has on students, (c) a knowledgeable resource who helps interpret
subjective and objective information to arrive at moral and conceptual meaning,
and (d) a coach who empowers teachers toward action planning and hypothesis
testing.
Attending to teacher differences requires flexibility and an environment
that includes mutual respect, safety, shared responsibility for learning, and an
emphasis on personal growth. Such change requires the clinical coach to meet
teachers where they are and then build on their strengths, rather than relying
on a remedial mentality. At a mini- mum, clinical coaches should
 Reflect on their own beliefs about learning, teaching, and support
 Assess and reflect on the needs of the new teacher as learner
 Be sensitive to preferences for perceiving and processing information, on
the part of both the teacher and the coach
 Develop and use a variety of communication strategies
 Develop and use a range of supervisory approaches.
 Clarify the roles of supervisor and teacher Begin building an inclusive
community of learners that welcomes diverse learning styles and
preferences

It is true that schools are not structured for individualized supervision,

but then neither are classrooms designed for individualized instruction.
Honoring diverse teaching styles is worth the extra effort, we believe, because it
gives teachers greater choice and voice, which contributes to the coherence of
their individual goals for professional development, is consistent with other
reforms and classroom activities with which teachers are already involved, and
can help build a school wide learning community that respects differences.