Instructional Strategies

some Strategies to use in the classroom

knowledge of strategies & how to use them

partner share & compare

An example of the partner share and compare strategy in action in the classroom would be when the teacher has two students partner up and each pick two different articles that interest them. After they are finished, they will each share and compare what they learned from reading their article with one another.

According to William Glasser, a known psychiatrist and educational consultant, most classroom misbehaviors occur when students are bored or frustrated, conditions that occur when students' basic needs are not met in school. Glasser said that when students like the topics being studied, and want to know more about them, they will almost always do well and

rarely misbehave seriously. He insisted that the best way to improve schools is to create a quality curriculum that consists of topics students find enjoyable and useful. When students are able to pick the article they are reading, they are more interested and motivated to read and learn about it.

In addition, Alfie Kohn, who spent his whole career focusing on how to improve curriculum and build supportive classrooms alongside the students, said that learning should be engaging, hands-on, and students should be working together to create an inclusive classroom and build community. Kohn highly encouraged partner work and student choice in the classroom. He said that as long as the teachers are keeping the students interested and teaching the curriculum, then they should not have to worry about students acting out.

The partner share and compare strategy is a great way to implement student choice into your classroom . This strategy is also perfect for any lesson because it incorporates both individual learning and allows for students to work together as well. Working in partners creates opportunities for students to practice communicating in a positive manner with one another to express their learning.

Activating prior knowledge

Activating prior knowledge can happen at any point in a lesson but one example of how you can activate prior knowledge in the beginning and end of a lesson is by having the students complete a KWL chart. Students will fill out the K (what you know about the topic already) and W (what you want to know about the topic) before the lesson and then when the lesson is over, the teacher can pass back the chart and connect what the students said they knew to what they have learned now when they fill out the L (what you learned).

Activating prior knowledge helps students to connect what they already know to what they are learning, aiding in better understanding of the topic. When students can make connections to real life experiences they find value and meaning in what they are learning. William Glasser also had some thoughts about providing meaningful instruction. He said that the best way to improve schools is to create a quality curriculum that consists of topics students find enjoyable and useful. He believed that schools put too much emphasis on memorizing facts that are useless to student lives and that curriculum should be meaningful and relevant to student lives. He says teachers should ask students to explain why the information being taught is valuable and relevant to their lives to help students gain understanding of what they are being taught.

One of Alfie Kohn's major ideas from his theories was that students need to learn from personal experiences, whether this be while they are learning new information or pulling from past experiences and knowledge. He was

also another huge advocate for teachers focusing their curriculum on being relevant and meaningful.

Activating Prior Knowledge is important in students' understanding, because it allows them and helps make connections to the new information. By using what students already know, it helps the teacher assist students with the learning process because it gives them an idea of what students know and what they still need to learn.

Providing feedback means giving students an explanation of what they are doing correctly as well as incorrectly, with the focus of the feedback on what the students is doing right. It is most productive to a student’s learning when they are provided with an explanation as to what is accurate and inaccurate about their work. One technique is to use the concept of a “feedback sandwich” to guide your feedback: Compliment, Correction, Compliment.

Hiam Ginott, a classroom teacher who later became a professor, had many contributions to education we still see today. His main theories dealt with communication and promoting positive interactions between teachers and students when relaying feedback. He said that when praising a student, you should give appreciative feedback, or feedback that shows praise for what the student has done, not the student's character. In those moments where you need to give constructive criticism, Ginott suggests using “I messages” if you are upset with a student or they have behaved inappropriately. You can say “I am upset by your actions” not “ you upset me” in order to better communicate with the student their actions while not criticizing them.

providing valuable feedback

Ginott promoted fostering positive interactions with students every time you interact with them.

B.F. Skinner developed an interest in education when he visited his daughter's classroom in 1953. He noticed that many students never received immediate feedback on their work performance and oftentimes weren't corrected when they had a misunderstanding of knowledge.

Skinner later started developing a machine that offered feedback and presented the material in a series of small steps. (This process is known as programmed instruction). Through his studies he found that when feedback is given in real-time it is more relevant, it can be immediately acted on and it creates stronger mental ties to learning material. This all improves the effectiveness of your learning.

Providing constructive feedback to individual students, encouraging them to engage in and reflect upon the learning process, leads to positive learning outcomes and achieves results. How the feedback is given matters more than how much feedback is given. Focused, specific feedback helps students understand learning objectives, choose the best strategies for the task, make course corrections throughout the learning process, monitor their own learning, and determine where to go next. When combined, effective feedback and teacher clarity lead to greater student achievement. These two valuable practices are well worth the effort they require from teachers.

sample lesson plan

pair & share used in a first grade lesson

This is a lesson plan I wrote intended for a first grade combined science and ELA lesson. The lesson has children creating a classroom garden and journaling their observations of the growth progress over the course of two weeks. Students will have a ten minute time slot to write their observations in their journal daily. After the ten minutes is up, the students will pair up to share and compare the progress they have observed and recorded since planting their seed in the garden.

SCHOOL GARDEN LESSON PLAN FIRST GRADE

Differentiation of pair & share

In my lesson I had the children use a lot of materials provided by the teacher such as flower pots for each student, soil, seeds, journals for each student,etc. that could really add up to be expensive. This lesson can be differentiated to still involve the think and pair strategy as well as the seed planting activity, but make it realistically achievable for a school community that might lack some of the resources/materials that I originally planned it with. A way this can be done is instead of planting the classroom garden inside the classroom, it can be planted outside on the school grounds. This way you don't need flower pots or soil, all you need is the seeds and water to plant your garden. You can save additional money on materials by having students pair up and plant their seeds together and record their progress together in one journal. This way the number of journals needed is cut in half. Both of these are easy ways to adapt your lesson without changing the activity and encourage children to use what they have at home to create their own learning and fun.

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