Unit 5 - Choosing Approaches

This last unit covering historical methods and more current approaches got me thinking about how adapting a method fully would be easier, in a sense, especially to a beginning teacher. If I had fully adopted a method, it would eliminate so many complex choices. If my approach was Grammatical-Translation, I’d know exactly
what to prepare and do in class. That’s attractive in the beginning! If I am not quite clear on how to approach things, it dictates what I do. I think that’s why wholesale adoption of methods were so popular before evidence-based reasearch was available. 

As a newer teacher, I was employed by a school whose leader was a major proponent of “Whole Language Theory”. Although I was teaching math and science, the expectation in the school was that every teacher integrate reading and writing skills within their subject as well as the subject content. We got a lot of training on how to do this. 

I think that I was lucky early on to be at the school that had a unified approach, because it actually simplified and guided some of the decision making at a time when it could have been overwhelming.  I just didn't have the experience to be an informed eclectic. The school did a good job of using as much evidence-based research as possible. 

Being an “Informed Eclectic” is a harder approach to take than simply adopting a method wholeheartedly. I hopefully have knowledge of many evidence-based approaches, a selection of many tools in my tool box so to speak.  I have some idea of what tool to employ in certain situations. But after I select that ideal tool, can I just go ahead?

Well, maybe. There are also a few practical considerations. Do I have the time and resources to employ the tool I’ve selected? Do I have the support of your administration and colleagues? Is it the right tool for the class, the space, temperament and behaviour? All these things Are part of the decision too, even though they are not as important as picking an approach.