The article provides guidance on how to make decisions about which teaching strategies to use, based on current research. It is important for teachers to be aware of a variety of strategies and how they can be effective in the classroom.
In the past five years, there has been an increase in the amount of research informing educators about how children learn best. This has led to more teachers taking their professional development into their own hands and being more aware of which instructional strategies are most effective. However, with so many options out there, it can be tough to decide which ones to use. This article provides guidance on how to make that decision.
About teaching strategies
Teachers use different strategies to help students learn. Some strategies are better than others. The best strategies are the ones that have been proven to work in lots of trials. As a teacher, it is important to be familiar with a variety of teaching strategies in order to be effective in the classroom. While you may not use all of these strategies in every lesson, it is important to be aware of them and what they can accomplish. As a school leader or responsible for CPD in your school, it is also important to be up-to-date on current and evidence-backed strategies so that you can make informed decisions when implementing new techniques.
Some basic stuff
The most important thing for a teacher to do is to understand their students and what motivates them. It is also important to respect your students. These two things are key to having a good relationship with your students and providing them with a good learning experience. The most important thing for a teacher to do is to understand their students and what motivates them. It is also important to respect your students. These two things are key to having a good relationship with your students and providing them with a good learning experience.
Appropriate use of Summative and Formative Assessments
A formative assessment is an assessment that takes place day-to-day. A summative assessment is an assessment that takes place after a block of work has been completed, and is used to assess learning.
Formative assessments are like tests that happen every day. They help teachers figure out if kids are understanding a topic. Formative assessment is often used to find out if kids are struggling with a topic. This information is used to help the teacher adapt their instruction during the lesson. A way of finding out what a child does not understand by giving them a set of questions. The questions have right and wrong answers, and if the child gets the question wrong, it shows where their thinking is confused.
It’s important to ask questions in the classroom in order to gauge students’ understanding of the topic. There are different types of questions that can be asked to encourage critical thinking, such as “Are you sure?” or “How do you know?” Another questioning strategy is to ask “Is there another way?” to highlight where multiple methods to derive a solution may exist. Tutors also encourage students to verbalize their reasoning and ask questions to ensure they really understand the topic. Goal free problems are another questioning strategy worth considering using in your classes.
Deliberate Practice
Deliberate Practice is when you break learning down into small pieces and practice each one. There are 5 steps:
1. Isolate the skill
2. Develop the skill
3. Assess the skill
4. Final performance
5. Retrieval practice later
For example, when teaching long multiplication, you would first identify each small skill involved. Then you would practice each one separately. After that, you would put them all together for a final performance. Finally, you would check back in later to make sure they still remember everything.
Differentiation
Differentiation is when a teacher changes how they teach based on how the students are doing. There are lots of different ways to differentiate, but some of the most effective are interleaving, phased learning, and using formative assessment.
Reinforcing Effort/Providing Recognition
It’s important for teachers to help students understand that their effort will be recognized, in order to create a learning environment that is active and engaged. This will motivate students to try their best. Teachers can do this by praising students and rewarding them for their effort. At Third Space Learning, our tutors have awarded over 32 MILLION Effort Points to students as a way to celebrate and encourage them to keep putting in their best effort.
Metacognition
Metacognition is a type of thinking where people think about their thinking. It has been recognized by the EEF as one of the most effective teaching strategies because it can help students make seven months’ worth of additional progress. In primary schools, metacognition often includes other effective strategies such as questioning in the classroom. This strategy involves asking students to explain how they know something, which gets them thinking about their own thought processes. Other metacognitive strategies include teaching students how to learn, plan, monitor, and self-evaluate their learning. These strategies can improve pupil motivation and encourage them to work harder in lessons.
Personalized Learning
When learning is targeted to a pupil’s individual interests, they are more likely to engage with the material. This can be difficult to achieve with a full class, but as teachers get to know their students better throughout the year, it becomes easier to personalize activities and questions.
Collaborative Learning
The idea of having students work together in groups is not new to most teachers and is often referred to as cooperative learning. However, the EEF notes that the impact of group work can vary greatly. To make it most effective, teachers should focus on tasks that are well-structured and promote talk and interaction between students. The concept of competitive collaborative learning, where groups of students compete against each other, has been shown to have some impact, but caution is advised to make sure students focus more on the learning than the competition.
Explicitly Teach Thinking Skills & Problem Solving Techniques
One way to help students learn better is to explicitly teach them thinking skills and problem solving techniques. This can be done through a variety of activities such as:
-Asking them to explain how they solved a problem
-Modeling how to think through a problem
-Giving them opportunities to practice solving problems
By teaching students these skills, you can help them become better thinkers and problem solvers.
It can be difficult for students to develop mathematical problem solving techniques on their own. However, metacognitive strategies, such as those mentioned above, can help make it more likely that students will be able to apply critical thinking to a problem. There is no guaranteed way to ensure that this will happen, but research suggests that context-agnostic deployment of problem solving techniques is more likely to occur once students have secure domain knowledge and the opportunity to practice. Without these, students may have difficulty understanding the “surface features” of a problem, which can be discount as irrelevant to the actual math involved. However, it is still important to teach thinking skills explicitly. Once domain knowledge has been relatively secured, teaching students how to recognize and focus on the “deep structure” of problems can help them apply their knowledge more effectively. Try using several “Same Surface Different Deep” (SSDD) problems in lessons. These are questions where the surface features of the questions are the same, but the deep structure varies. This can help eliminate confusion regarding surface features and allow students to focus on differentiating the deep structures.
Modelling and Scaffolding
The “I do, We do, You do” scaffolding method is effective because it is a gradual process that builds from teacher-led to joint construction to independent working. This method also allows for more flexibility, as more time can be spent on one stage if necessary.
Other Teaching Strategies To Consider
Behavior management: Teachers need to be able to manage their classrooms effectively in order to create a learning environment.
Inquiry-based learning is a method of teaching where students are encouraged to be curious and to research and report on topics that interest them.
Class discussions are a valuable tool for learning, but they need to be well-structured in order to be effective.
Feedback process and understanding: Giving feedback is a very important part of teaching, and it needs to be done in a way that is specific, encouraging, and actionable.
Growth mindset: Having a growth mindset means believing that intelligence and ability can be developed, which is a valuable attitude to have for learning.
For more information about teaching techniques please read 13 most important teaching strategies.