The Skillful Teacher

Disjunction of Learning and Teaching Styles
Sometimes it is not learning new content or skills that students
resist but the style in which these are taught. If a highly oral or text-
based teacher like me is teaching a visual learner, it is hardly sur-
prising if that learner resists the tasks she is being set. Alternately,
an anal-compulsive, extremely organized learner who is taught by
an improvisational, intuitive teacher will resist that teacher’s ten-
dency to make changes in the middle of a planned activity because
of some change of classroom mood or teachable opportunity she
detects. Students who have been used to learning by conducting
web-based analyses, listening to lectures, and reading independently
may well be confused and irritated at the sudden prospect of hav-
ing to participate in a role play. Field-independent learners with lit-
tle patience for group process will strenuously resist case studies,
simulations, and debates and will view class discussion as a waste of
valuable time. So if we rely on only one method of teaching, we are
bound to engender resistance in those students who don’t learn in
a manner matching that method.