Teacher Centered

Teacher-Centered

In the teacher-centered class, all power rests primarily with the teacher, as does the ownership for decision-making. In a teacher-centered class, the students need only to follow instructions. A teacher-centered classroom is built on lecture, direct instruction, demonstration and recitation. The underlying goal of a teacher-centered class is order. In the teacher-centered class, success is defined by how well the students execute their responsibilities and the level of efficiency that exists in the learning environment. The rationale behind this thinking is that in an orderly and obedient classroom, there is less wasted time, and more on-task behavior, which benefits everyone. So the view in a teacher directed class is that the ends - students who are more productive more of the time, justify the means - teacher direction.

At the heart of a teacher-centered approach is the assumption that students need to be managed or they will misbehave by nature. Therefore, in the teacher-centered thinking, it is desirable to take a teacher-directed approach because the students need it. As a result of these basic assumptions a teacher-centered approach is very comfortable with the use of extrinsic rewards. This approach finds rewards and punishments a very effective way to change behavior. Since the result is often more desirable behavior more of the time, the ends support the use of the means.

In a Teacher-Centered classroom students work to meet the objectives set by the teacher. By completing activities designed by the teacher to achieve goals, students respond to the directions and step-by-stem instructions as they progress through activities. All work and assignments are evaluated solely by the teacher.

Teacher Assisted

Teacher assisted strategies act as the link between teacher-centered traditional instruction strategies and independent peer-assisted strategies. Teacher-assisted strategies are described as drills, practice, discovery learning, brainstorming, and discussions. Teacher-assisted strategies have teachers being the catalyst in the classroom.

Peer Assisted

Peer assisted learning is an important strategy for all students, whether they are ELL, at-risk, high-achieving, or special-needs. There are a few types of peer assisted strategies that work in a classroom setting. They are: peer mentors and peer tutors, role playing, reciprocal teaching, and cooperative learning. Peer tutors and mentors can be used to help students in specific content areas such as math, social studies, science, or language arts. Peer tutors are usually students who either understand the particular question to mastery, or they are higher-level students overall. In order to help the students they must be advanced or proficient in all aspects of the question. Role playing ables the