Honoring Diverse Teaching Styles: A Guide for Supervisors »

In this era of increasing teacher accountability, helping novice and veteran teachers succeed in the classroom has never been more urgent or more challenging. Honoring Diverse Teaching Styles is essential reading for anyone who wants to help teachers meet today's performance standards while also respecting the unique gifts each teacher brings to the classroom.
This concise guide describes a system for fostering effective teacher development, and includes:

• Descriptions and examples of the four basic styles of teaching
  
• Tips for matching your communication style with the teacher's preferred style
  
• Tools for effectively observing classroom practice
  
• Ideas for helping teachers build on their strengths while exploring different ways of teaching.

Using this guide, principals and mentors can help teachers broaden their instructional repertoire and develop a stronger professional identity. These teachers will become more confident in their decision making and take greater command of the classroom, leading to increased student learning.
Educators who are new to supervising teachers will find this a highly readable guide to the wide range of strategies available, while experienced supervisors will discover new ways to strengthen their own practice and rethink their observational methods. All readers of this guide will gain the satisfaction of helping teachers develop the kind of expertise that truly fosters student achievement.
Edward Pajak is a professor and chair of the Department of Teacher Development and Leadership at Johns Hopkins University.