EDU 216-Chapter 2

The Strategic Nature of Teaching

Three Instructional Aspects of Teaching

• Strategy

• Facilitating learning

• Modeling

Strategies of Teaching

• A way of “coordinating the implementation of a set of procedures. A strategy combines subject matter, techniques, and the skills for implementing instruction.”

– Techniques for teaching

– Methods for monitoring

– Ideas for activities

– Means for assessing

Strategies

• The art of planning the course of action

• Coordinating the implementation of that plan

Strategies (cont.)

is to be done

it will get done

to assess results

is needed to put the plan into action

Tools of the Trade

• Arranging experiences

• Instructional techniques

• Monitoring and flexibility

Strategy

What is to be accomplished

How it will be accomplished

How to assess the results

Resources (what) to implement the

plan

Strategy

What is to be accomplished

Specific objective or a general goal

How it will be accomplished

Methods, procedures, lesson

plans

How to assess the results

Observations, formal tests

Resources (what)to implement the plan

Teacher capabilities, time,

materials

Instructional Experiences

Classroom Lessons – The teacher brings knowledge to the students

Multimedia Presentation• More accurate representation of the real

world may come into the classroom

• How are computers and other technology being used effectively in classrooms? Could they be used better? Why or why not? How are they being used ineffectively?

Guest Speakers

• “real” people

• Plan for contingencies – cancellations, early finishes, etc.

Field Trips

• The best way to take students into the real world

• Not as likely to happen because of logistics, safety, and expense

Instructional Techniques

• How much thinking do you want your students to do?

• What techniques best help students engage in that level of thinking?

Instructional Techniques

• Number the categories of instructional techniques in the order you think progresses from the least sophisticated level of thinking required to the most sophisticated level of thinking required of the students.

• After you have ranked the techniques, consider which levels of thinking are used the least and which are used the most in typical classrooms.

Instructional Techniques

• Inquiry: _____

• Discussion _____

• Direct Instruction: _____

• Discovery Learning _____

• Drill and Practice: ____

• Lecture: _____

• Mental Modeling: _____

• Question and Answer: _____

What’s the Order???

• 8. Inquiry

• 7. Discovery Learning

• 6. Mental Modeling

• 5. Discussion

• 4. Question and Answer

• 3. Lecture

• 2. Drill and Practice

• 1. Direct Instruction

Inquiry

Discovery Learning

Mental Modeling

Discussion

Question and Answer

Lecture

Drill and Practice

Direct Instruction

Bloom’s Taxonomy and Instructional Techniques

Inquiry

Discovery Learning

Mental Modeling

Discussion

Question and Answer

Lecture

Drill and Practice

Direct Instruction

Teacher Centered• Direct Instruction –

“teacher specifically explains or demonstrates a skill and the student attempts to replicate it.

• May be best for young learners, slow learners, and older learners if the material is “new, difficult, or hierarchically arranged

• Drill and Practice –emphasis is on practicing previously learned material or working on retention of new information.

Teacher Centered (cont.)

• Lecture – “impart information in a one-way verbal transaction”

– Advantage – large amounts of information may be transmitted to many learners

– Disadvantage – the instructor does all the work. Retention rates are lower for learning that is teacher centered.

Dialogue Oriented Techniques

In these next techniques,

• Students must reflect, including receiving, assimilating, and accommodating information with regard to his/her own experiences

• Students must evaluate and synthesize – near the top of Bloom’s taxonomy

Dialogue Oriented Techniques (cont.)

Question and Answer – both students and the instructor have some common knowledge

• Students may question the teacher• Teacher may question the students• Uses

– Practice with recall– Assessment– Encourage divergent thinking with use of open-ended

questionsUse of think-time or challenging initial responses often

improve on responses

Dialogue Oriented Techniques (cont.)

Discussion - involves the exchanging of ideas

- Uses

- Develop greater depth of ideas

- A means to problem solve

Student Focused Techniques

Mental Modeling – Helping students learn to direct their own learning through modeling cognitive processes involved with problem solving

Similar to the “I Wonder” scientific technique

In both, teachers demonstrate verbally how to sequence the steps and use information necessary to solve a problem

Group activity -Complete “mental modeling” activity, p. 44 in text.

Student Focused Techniques (cont.)

Discovery- students’ personal experiences and prior knowledge are utilized as foundations for conceptual development. The students then use this information to make inferences and draw conclusions.

Exploration Application

Introduction Concept

Development

A Discovery Example

• No Sweat: A Quest to Understand Body Odor

• What are the advantages? Disadvantages?

Discovery Learning (cont.)

Challenges

- teacher will have to plan experiences and activities so the students can find the information they are supposed to gain.

- The discovery activity must lead to clarification of the concept to be learned

Advantages

- utilizes children’s natural curiosity

- Provides structure without restricting thinking

Student Focused Techniques (cont.)

• Inquiry- involves using prior knowledge, discovering new knowledge, and generating the question to be answered.

Challenges

- students must be taught how to use inquiry

- requires much prep work from instructor

Advantages

- excellent technique for integrating curriculum

What to Use????

• Which are the best techniques to use? Why?• When do we use each one?• What are our goals when we choose one

technique over another?

• ASSIGNMENT: Using the NC Essential Standards and Common Core in your grade level in which you plan to teach, choose a concept for which you will create a lesson using 3 of these techniques. At least one of your ideas must include a student focused technique.

Monitoring and Flexibility

• How is the lesson going?

– Are the students engaged?

– Am I getting the concept to be taught across to the students?

– Am I meeting the needs of each student?

– Do I need to make any changes? If so, what changes do I need to make? Must they be made immediately? Do I need to move on or regroup?

Modeling

• Role models?

• Private lives?

What do we want to model?

• Rules for Teachers – 1872 & 1915 True or not – enjoy!

• What about today?

• What about behavior outside of school?

• How do different cultures think about teacher respect? Do teachers “have” or “earn” respect?

Review

• Describe the 4 types of instructional experiences?

• Name and define the teacher-focused, dialogue oriented, and student-focused instructional techniques.

• Explain monitoring and flexibility as used by the best teachers

• Describe the type role models you expect teachers to be