Definition of "Instructional Stategies"
A teacher must understand and use a variety of instructional strategies to encourage student development of critical thinking, problem solving, and performance skills. The idea that teachers simply pour facts into the minds of students has long been disproved. An effective teacher gives students many ways to structure and fill in a mental model for new concepts. Facts, definitions, and procedures are often best communicated through direct instruction, either in class, through video lectures, or through written notes. Ideas are fleshed out in group discussion, behaviors are best taught through modeling, and concepts are mastered by doing. Most topics require a mix of direct instruction, discussion, and active project work to learn at a deep level. It is up to the teacher as the manager of the classroom to use the appropriate mix of strategies for the given group of students to meet the given learning outcomes.
Supporting Artifacts and Analysis
My artifacts demonstrate the use of a wide variety of instruction strategies for different topics in Statistics and Algebra 2.
I created a unit centered around NBC's "Minute to Win It" games. I engaged students by putting them into teams, allowing them to run their games as an experiment on their peers, and then asked them to write a technical paper with statistical analyses of the games using Google Docs. At the end of the unit, I also measured their learning and growth of the subject material using a traditional unit test. The full unit used a number of different strategies to teach the content -- I used a simple game or story to introduce each topic, used direct instruction to teach the key procedures, used textbook homework to give student practice applying procedures, facilitated the Minute to Win It games for students to design their own studies, and used a writing assignment to build conceptual understanding and student literacy skills. This mix was fun for students, motivating for me, and led to better results than lecture alone. This artifact includes the entire unit's goals, topics, lesson plans, and images from the game days.
Algebra 2 Online Exponential/Logarithm Unit:
I redesigned the format of an Algebra 2 unit on logarithmic and exponential functions. The new format moves away from the old textbook's organization of topics into smaller, more focused chunks. Instead of receiving one lesson per day, the format uses a different flow where students work at their own pace in 3-day bursts. Using the reverse-classroom concept, students watch videos I generated on each specific type of problem they will need to solve before completing a few practice problems on their own. This structure, combined with the modified notes format I created, enables students to better self-diagnose areas of strength and weakness and reflect on their learning.
After student teaching for a quarter, I found that one of the larger areas of confusion for students was the variety of problem types they experienced in a lesson. After completing a homework assignment, students still didn't have an excellent gauge on how they would do on the quizzes and test. The assessments were very well-designed and gave a truly comprehensive measurement of the unit's objectives, so I used them as a starting point to build a detailed breakdown of all of the skills that students would need to know, effectively making a checklist for students to work through before each quiz. For each skill, I created a video, placed matching examples in the guided notes packet, and selected homework problems for practice. The hardest part was teaching students how I wanted them to approach this unit. When completing problems, I asked them to mark whether they answered the problem correctly on their own on the first try, answered it correctly with help, or got stuck. Problems that they couldn't do on their own needed to be flagged so they could get help in class and try again before the quiz or test. After assessments, I asked students to go back and see what types of problems they got wrong, asking them to re-watch these videos and try more practice problems. One of the strengths of the old format over this one was mixed review of multiple problem types. My coach quickly spotted this issue and helped me insert a mid-unit review assignment that helped students practice recognizing different problem types. It took students time to get used to this new approach, but by the end of two units in this structure, they improved their scores and found that they had an easier time learning this way.
Revision and multi-stage assessment:
One over-arching instructional strategy I employ is the use of frequent checks of understanding with time to make revisions. After getting feedback from me or peers, students revise their project and written work, make quiz corrections, and demonstrate growth on successive assessments. This artifact is a description of how I use revision in tiered assessment, reflections, quizzes, and written work. In order to prepare students for the world beyond high school, students need to grow out of the mindset that the things they create will be used once and disposed of. In the workplace, presentations are delivered, revised, and given many more times. Papers are written, revised internally dozens of times, and then submitted for publication. Projects are built, tested, rebuilt, retested, and go through many hands before they are released as products that can be sold. From the student's perspective, many topics in math are incredibly difficult. It is unlikely that everyone will learn a topic or do their best work on the first try. Just as English teachers require a first draft for papers, I find that requiring students to produce a draft of their work before it is given a final assessment forces them to try to perform on their own, expose their weaknesses, get help, and then demonstrate their learning and growth.
Synthesis
Math is notoriously one of the most difficult subjects for many students to learn. Each new topic presents its own nuanced difficulties. The art of teaching is the ability to motivate a group of students to take the challenge of learning each topic and follow through with clear instruction on how to do it. This instruction needs to be reinforced with its application and purpose if students are going to retain it. Effective instructional design starts with the development of clear outcomes and a means to measure student progress towards these outcomes. From there, it is the creativity of the instructor that drives each lesson. Strategies include lecture, peer instruction, homework time in groups, discussions, and applied projects. With a proper balance of these strategies and a close watch on assessment data and student attitudes, a math teacher can help all students reach mastery in this notoriously difficult subject.
The art of teaching is the ability to pair teaching strategies to the topics you want to convey and the students you want to learn the material. Each class has its own personality and each student if unique. Each topic presents its own challenges, especially in math, for