The Facilitator Approach

The characteristics of the teacher who uses the Facilitator Approach is one that the teacher is very concerned about her students lives. He/she wants to know everything about the child's life and then incorporate that into his/her teaching. The teacher wants to know the backgrounds of the students so that there can be material to teach about each of the children's backgrounds. All things will be incorporated into the lessons that the teacher teaches.

A classroom that uses this approach would be one kind of like a family. The teacher knows and is concerned about the backgrounds of all the students but the students also know about their peers. They treat everyone with respect and understand that we all come from a different place, whether that be somewhere desirable or not.

I believe there are some aspects of this approach that are difficult for me. For instance, how would one take all the information he/she has about all the students and incorporate all of that into the lessons. I think that you can do that throughout the year, but you will never be able to take everything from all students and put it into a lesson plan. I think that teaching something per week about each one of the students would make this successful.

Something that is effortless about this approach is the getting to know your students. I believe that is something that is extremely important when it comes to teaching. If you don't know your students, how are you supposed to help them?  

Over all I believe this approach has some flaws but to me, it is one of the best ones out there!

The Executive Approach

Most of the experiences I've had with the Executive Approach have been positive. As a student, I have enjoyed the teachers who used this approach. I do really well with in a classroom setting that has a lot of structure and routine. I don't really like things to change and when I was in a classroom with a lot of structure, I really liked it. I don't remember much of my elementary and middle school classes but I know in high school in my history class, I would know exactly what to expect and there was no question as to what material would be on the test. It was one of my favorite classes and history is now one of my favorite subjects. The classes that I attended in high school that didn't have as much structure weren't that bad but it was still harder for me to be in that class because of the lack of structure. There have been some classes that I have taken in college that the professor didn't use the executive approach and I found that I really liked it. I never really knew what to expect from the class except that we would always be having a discussion and they would be great discussions.

As a teacher, I think I would gear my teaching more towards the Executive Approach but I would also like to add in the other approaches when necessary. I don't think there can be a good teacher with out incorporating in all of the approaches. I am a person who needs structure, like I said. I also think that elementary aged children need that structure and those routines.

I think that it just depends on what kind of person you for what approach you use. I don't think that there is more of one in a school then the others. The benefits of this approach, to me, would be the structure part. I really think it is an important part of the school day and it is necessary for most students.

Three Approaches to Teaching

The three approaches to teaching are the Executive Approach, the Facilitator Approach, and the Liberationist Approach. When using these different approaches, you will find that they are all very different from each other.

The Executive Approach is one that the teacher is more of a dictator. The teachers classroom is very structured and the students know the expectations of the class. The rules are set at the very beginning of school and the students know what their expectations are and what the rules are. The teacher is quite strict all throughout the school year.

The Facilitator Approach is one where the teacher focuses on the backgrounds of all the students and uses that knowledge to make the lesson plans and to gear the lessons towards. This teacher has all of his/her students feelings in mind when doing things and there will always be something that ties to one of the students.

The Liberationist Approach is one which the teacher puts the information out for the students to learn and then has the students do what they want to learn that material. The teacher is there when the student needs help but the learning is based on what the students want to learn. The teacher is also there as a guide to his/her students.

I believe that the three approaches are all great and that some people may use one more than the other but I don't think that you can be a good teacher if you don't use all three of these approaches. There needs to be some sort of combination when it comes to being a great teacher.

Why do I want to be a teacher?

Throughout my years growing up, I knew I wanted to be a teacher. I was always playing house with my babies and barbies and I was always trying to teach them things. My mother is a teacher and she is the reason that I am going into teaching.

I want to be a teacher because I love working with children and I have a huge passion to make a difference in children's lives. I want the impact that I have on their lives to last a lifetime. I want to make my classroom a place where these children can go and know that it is a safe place. I my classroom to be a place of learning and success, not drudgery and failure. I want my students to have fun learning and to teach me as well. I have always been passionate about the future of children and I want to be part of the reason why my students succeed in life!

I'm really interested in Elementary Education. I would love to teach first to third grade. These children are still willing to learn and (most) are shorter than me. This age group of children haven't had the ideas instilled in them that going to school is boring and that they don't want to learn. They still have open minds and are willing to learn if you can teach them in the right way.

I am also interested in teaching Special Education. It intrigues me to watch these children as they go about their everyday life and what makes them tick. I would really like to learn more about the Special Education programs and how I would be able to be a part in those. That is why I am getting my minor in Special Education.