Instructional Strategies

5 Effective Instructional Strategies

1. Direct Instruction is a common strategy that is often used alongside other strategies. The purpose is to directly instruct and teach students information. A good way to use this strategy is to go beyond lecturing is by using projects and activities to help students improve and use their critical thinking to learn skills. It also gives students a chance to work together and ask questions.

2. Drill and practice is another strategy that can be effective to use in the classroom. Drill and practice is often used to work on smaller skills within one bigger skill. This can be helpful in small groups that are struggling with similar issues. This way, the students get their help while not feeling singled out. To use this in the classroom it is smart to do it using different activities as being repetitive may not be as helpful.

3. Group work is a great strategy to use in the classroom. Personally, I hope to use this often in my future classroom. Group work can be a good strategy because it allows for collaborative thinking. Students working together also helps set them up for the real world and being able to work with others. While doing this, it is important to rotate around to all groups to check on them and ensure they are staying on task, if not correct the behavior and then keep rotating around. This also allows for groups to ask questions if needed.

4. Discovery learning is an interactive type of learning that allows for students to think based on observations and information that they find and have. This can easily be done through science as lots of science allows for labs or outside time. This can show students how topics relate to the world around them as well as practice observing the world around them. Experiments and activities can help students safely act on their curiosity as well as help them interact with their fellow classmates and the world around them. The one important thing is to keep students on task as this strategy can often lead to distractions.

5. Mental modeling is a strategy that allows for students to visualize scenarios in the real world. This is mainly used during math when a teacher explains their thinking while working on a problem. This allows for students to better understand how to process their own thinking and visualize how to work problems out in the real world. This strategy promotes cognitive thinking and allows for students to visualize situations and possible solutions in their life.