All techniques have their place, and any good teacher will use a variety.
With all-class teaching, I'm a fan of the old-fashioned question-and-answer method - what is sometimes called the Socratic method, where you ask questions to let the student reveal what they know and test their arguments. The "lecture" is also a perfectly good way of imparting information - though I think it's vital to keep learners involved by asking them questions and encouraging them to ask their own. Questions should be open, not closed, if you want detailed responses (eg "What can you tell me about Shakespeare?" not "Was Shakespeare a playwright?")
When students are working in groups or alone, you should give them time to work things out before jumping in - one way is to set a time limit, or limit the number of questions they are allowed to ask to solve a particular problem. To keep everyone involved in the group process, I sometimes tell them they will be split up afterwards, and have to explain their findings to a new group.
I think the main thing about teaching techniques is to try a little of everything.
With all-class teaching, I'm a fan of the old-fashioned question-and-answer method - what is sometimes called the Socratic method, where you ask questions to let the student reveal what they know and test their arguments. The "lecture" is also a perfectly good way of imparting information - though I think it's vital to keep learners involved by asking them questions and encouraging them to ask their own. Questions should be open, not closed, if you want detailed responses (eg "What can you tell me about Shakespeare?" not "Was Shakespeare a playwright?")
When students are working in groups or alone, you should give them time to work things out before jumping in - one way is to set a time limit, or limit the number of questions they are allowed to ask to solve a particular problem. To keep everyone involved in the group process, I sometimes tell them they will be split up afterwards, and have to explain their findings to a new group.
I think the main thing about teaching techniques is to try a little of everything.
