Teaching Strategies

WHAT are Teaching Strategies and WHY are they important?

“Teaching strategies are the various method educators use in their teaching practice and cover a wide range of techniques.” (NSW Government - Education, 2021)

For a teacher to be successful and meet the diverse needs of the students, a variety of teaching strategies must be implemented into their daily lessons. As educators, it is our responsibility to acknowledge and understand that all students have different learning styles.

Some examples of learning types include;

· “visual and spatial

· tactile learners

· auditory and musical

· logical and mathematical

· physical or kinaesthetic

· social and interpersonal

· solitary and intrapersonal”

(Lam, 2017)

Today’s classrooms implement a variety of teaching strategies to ensure that students achieve success. Through the the application of multiple strategies it is evdient that teachers are able to support the teaching and learning process, further improve student engagement and enhance achievement standard. Each strategy can be easily included in classroom instruction at any grade level, in any subject or content area. (Starke, 2019)

The following are different Teaching Strategies that have been used in the

'Creating Healthy Habits' resource.

THINK-PAIR-SHARE:

Think-Pair-Share is a teaching strategy that has been a long-term fixture in teaching, since is was “developed by Frank Lyman, a professor at the University of Maryland, in 1981”. Some students feel safer and more relaxed when talking in small groups, rather than having to speak in front of the entire class. The Think-Pair-Share activity gives them the opportunity to feel more comfortable sharing their thoughts.” (Cowling, n.d.) Think-Pair-Share also encourages advancement in the students’ social, speaking and listening skills. Students learn to listen and acknowledge each other’s ideas and opinions.

MEDIA CLIPS:

In ‘Creating Healthy Habits’ a common teaching strategy is to show a media clip, namely from Youtube. Majority of students learn better when there is a visual element. The Youtube clips were selected specifically as they presented themselves as being targeted at late primary/early secondary level. Media clips are a great way of introducing a new topic and delivering foundational information about that topic. They are a great tool for a teacher to use initially and then go deeper into the subject by posing questions, creating group/class discussion and/or completing worksheets and activities.

BRAINSTORM:

Brainstorming is the process of thinking about and trying to create ideas or develop solutions to a problem. This can be done on either your own, in pairs or in a group. Brainstorming is effective in developing many ideas quickly. The collaborative nature of this teaching strategy allows for open collaboration of ideas which can then be refined and/or categorised at a later point if need be. In this resource 2 online brainstorm applications are utilised – Coggle It and Miro. These platforms allow the students to independently (or in pairs) contribute their own ideas to a whole class brainstorm using a device (laptop/tablet).

SMALL GAMES:

Small, fun games can be a great teaching strategy to use within your classroom. Some small games suggested within this resource include Bingo and Hangman. Other small games you can incorporate into a lesson are Tic Tac Toe, Thumbs Up Thumbs Down or Heads or Tails. Including small games in your lesson can be a very effective way of reinforcing information learnt in class, engaging your students in a different way and allow students to demonstrate their knowledge in a more relaxed state.

WORKSHEETS:

The use of worksheets in a classroom can be an effective tool to use for assessment whilst also aiding in identifying a student’s prior knowledge. A worksheet can be used at all stages of a lesson to assist in the initial assessment, through the middle learning section and finally the outcome stage. Worksheets can also be a good indicator for students as they monitor their own learning. Whilst completing a worksheet a student will become aware of their level of knowledge and understanding (whether they know the answer/s or not).

This resource uses a range of different worksheets, some require physical interaction with someone/an object, others see students stay seated and work independently, others require research, Youtube videos and/or peer work to complete the sheet. If the worksheet is engaging and appropriate to the content being taught, it is a very simple and effective teaching strategy.

WHOLE CLASS DISCUSSIONS:

“A whole class discussion is a pedagogical strategy that involves having all member of the class discuss a topic as a group. It can be beneficial for providing all students in the class with the same information and encouraging students to speak up in a democratic forum” (Drew, 2021). The discussion is usually used at the introduction of a topic or at the end of a topic but can be used at any point. It is an effective tool in identifying the ‘average’ knowledge of the class. It is important to note that some students may not be confident enough to speak up so small group activities should also be incorporated at some stage to ensure full class engagement.

QUIZZES:

The application of quizzes within the classroom is a great assessment tool, for both teacher and student, as it is an effective way of finding out what a student does and does not know. An educator can use a quiz to assess and identify what knowledge the student has and what needs to be taught or focused on to cover the required content and curriculum. A quiz can also be a helpful tool for a student as it allows them to track their own progress, when their work is marked.

In this resource a quiz is completed in the first lesson and then re-done towards the end. The direct comparison of marks will be a compelling form of evidence showing either a decrease in marks, a stagnancy or hopefully an improvement of marks and ultimately topic knowledge. This quiz would be done on paper, alternatively a less formal version of a classroom quiz is an online interactive quiz, for example Kahoot. Kahoot is an online application that allows teachers to set up questions and students independently answer those questions from a device. Everyone’s answers are displayed (anonymously) on the screen for the whole class to see. This form of a quiz is less of an assessment tool and more targeted at engaging the students with fun and competition.

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