What Are Good Instructional Strategies?

    Early in my days of learning how to teach, I wrote in a journal "...good instructional strategies are ones that help students learn through hands on, integrative and hopefully fun lesson plans given by knowledgeable teachers.  The teacher not only teaches but acts as a coach and a facilitator to students, nurturing their growth."
    Looking back, I see that this was a great definition!  But how can we implement this?  There are several wonderful ways.  Let's look at a few of them.
    First comes learning contracts.  A learning contract is a formal agreement written by a student which details what will be learned, how the learning will be accomplished, the period of time involved, and the specific evaluation criteria to be used in assessing the completion of the learning. Learning contracts help the teacher and learner share the responsibility for learning.
     Small group work is another effective strategy.  In small groups students can discuss content, share ideas, and solve problems. They present their own ideas as well as consider ideas brought up by others. In this way, they can be exposed to a numerous viewpoints on whatever subject they are studying.
    Discussion is the instructional strategy most favored by high school students because it is interactive and encourages learning in which they can participate. The discussion format encourages learners to break down alternative ways of thinking.
    Another dynamic idea is projects.  Projects give students an opportunity to follow their special interests and can be done individually or within groups.  Projects also provide students with practical experience and a sense of accomplishment.  Using projects in a learning activity makes the learning more relevant to the students.
    My final example of a wonderful instructional strategy is a case study.  This is a strategy which requires students to draw upon their past experiences.  Also, it helps them to participate and has action components which link future experience. The key to a successful case study is the selection of an suitable problem situation which is applicable to both the interests and experience level of learners as well as to the concepts being taught.
    Remember, these are only a few of many great strategies!
    It is obvious that an instructional strategy is excellent not only from what I've mentioned above, but it goes above and beyond to the realm of thinking.  This is why they are so important this day in age, in the time we live in.  Students who are engaged in meaningful lessons will begin to develop deeper critical thinking skills, responsibility, creativity, reliability, self-esteem, reason, possibly even a love for learning as a result.  These are the skills that will help them further succeed in the world.

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Lesson Plan Example

Lesson Plan and Teaching Methods Assignment
for FND 504/SEC 500
11.07.02

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Part One
Teaching Methodologies

    A considerable variety of methods is the best way to go.  When I think back to just one method being used daily, I think of some of my classes while I was undergoing the task of completing my Bachelor's degree.  Everyday, walk into class, sit, listen and take notes for an hour.  I even remember some of my high school classes being like this, especially history and math.  Theses are subjects that I soon lost interest in, possibly as a result of the tedious methods the teachers persisted to use.  How can future teachers try their best to cease this from happening?
 First of all, both teachers and students should work together toward their common goals, such as big projects or term papers.  Students learn more when working closely with an expert on the subject.  This helps the two get to know one another, which is very important especially when they come from different backgrounds.  Also, this helps students develop one of those many important life long needed skills, communication.  It seems to me there is plenty of this idea in action, except in the most common kindergarten through 12 schools.  However, there are plenty of methods teachers in these schools can use to accomplish working together: teaching students how to best work in groups, creating an activity where students work together on a project, arrange desks in group form rather than individual, participating with the various groups while they are working, make sure materials and technology are being used equally around the classroom, and most importantly, create a positive attitude toward working together in general.
    Let us take a closer look at communication skills.  Attaining efficiency of one's native language (in this case, English, and I will refer to my main language as such), is critical and should be a goal in every classroom on every school day.  This is to say that not only should reading and writing be taught in a separate curriculum, but also integrated in other classes throughout the day.  I don't believe the average person realizes just how much we use communication, whether spoken or written for both personal or business reasons.  Many methods can be based around this crucial subject, including even the most simple such as listening and talking to students and assisting them with both oral and written language development through clarifying, questioning, praising, modeling, restating and the like.  English can be reinforced by means of listening, reading, speaking and writing activities in any class.  Whatever the content area, students can be encouraged to use vocabulary from it in everyday conversation or writing.
    Speaking of the everyday, teachers need to use methods that can be related to the students everyday life.  This is especially true for students who are at-risk.  Teachers can begin a lesson with a familiar activity from the school or the community and create lessons that are meaningful to the students in general.  If a teacher lives outside the community, he or she may need to do some research on the norms of the community.  A teacher could talk to their students and together create a community based project, provide a chance for parents to get into the action, and make sure students preferences of how to present findings are embraced.  They could write a song, a play, a paper, create a poster, a power point, a 3-D model, a diorama, a diagram, a cartoon; the list could go on and on.
    These are just a tiny droplet of examples of different effective methodologies that can and should be used in a classroom.  The variety of projects and lessons that can be included in them can easily cover many different styles of learning and teaching.  All of the methods connect to my philosophy about caring for the students (in this case through respect and communication) and making sure that classroom activities don't include just direct instruction.

Part Two
One Teaching Method: Definitions / Vocabulary

    As you can tell from the above passage, I am a stickler for learning language.  A huge part of learning language is learning vocabulary.  Even advanced learners who can generally communicate well need to broaden their vocabulary to express themselves more clearly and appropriately in a wide range of situations.  Grueling for some, but not if you can find inventive ways to teach it.  This is included in Methods that Matter as one of the many ways a student can use a journal.
 There are two ways in which vocabulary can be taught.  First, there is the age-old method of listing the terms that must be learned, and having the students look them up in a dictionary.  However, there are ideas that can make this more effective than it sounds.  For example, a word wall can be put to good use.  Whenever an unfamiliar word arises, it's definition is found and explained.  Then, the word is put onto an index card or the like, and placed on the word wall where it can be referred to at any time.  Cluster the words by what works best for the particular class.  For example, if it is an English class, perhaps you would want to group the words by type, such as noun, adjective, verb, and etceteras.
 The second method of teaching definitions is the contextual approach, students can learn definitions through the use of free writing, guessing by using context clues and then looking it up to see it's true meaning, or drawing what the word means.  These methods are mentioned by Daniels and Bizar, and are probably more effective.
    A good example of a method in this category is a word puzzle.  Words are placed in a box at the top for references, and sentences using that word below.  Of course, the word is missing from the sentence, and a space for each letter in the word is provided.  This way a student can resort to counting if they just cannot figure out which word belongs.  Once the appropriate word is in place, students grasp a meaning of the definition provided by it's sentence.  In addition, each problem can have a special letter circled, and when all these letters are put together, they spell out a secret word or sentence at the top or bottom of the page.
 Another good example of a fun, challenging activity is scrambled words.  First the student needs to use their knowledge of how the words are spelled to unscramble them correctly.  Once this is accomplished, they choose a few of the words to put into sentences of their own.  Other exercises such as this can include word searches and crossword puzzles.
 Learning a word a day may be less stressful on students than clumping an entire chapter of vocabulary on them in the course of a week or so.  Teachers can create a word-a-day calendar. Each day a new word, its pronunciation, its definition, and how to use it is taught in a quick five minutes, give or take.  In addition, teachers can offer information about the derivation of the word, ask a related thought provoking question, and explain the correct answer.
    There is an infinity of fun and creative ways to teach your students the art of definitions and vocabulary.  I've included several webpages that have inspiring ideas for all teachers.

Part Three
The Lesson Plan

Date: November 7, 2002

Period: 1 (8:00 A.M. -8:40 A.M.)

Subject: Language Arts

Grade Level: Seventh Grade

Announcements/Reminders: Keep reading ten pages a day from the class novel.  We'll be back in literature groups next week!

Lesson Objective: Reinforce new vocabulary from first two chapters of the class novel.

Materials: Strips of paper, pencils.

Activity Time: 20 minutes

Methods: Review, Vocabulary Game, Exit Slip.

8:00 - 8:03. Get everyone settled, tell joke of the day, take attendance.

8:04 - 8:15. Finish up vocabulary activity started yesterday (students were given a list of words from the first two chapters of the class novel and asked to try and guess at their meaning via context clues.  Time ran out, so time now is used to finish up).

8:16 - 8:36. Vocabulary game to reinforce newly learned terms.

Try to pick six or seven terms that have the best potential to be misunderstood by the class.  What words did students ask the most about?  Which words were they having the most trouble finding in the dictionary or understanding?

Tell the students to each take a piece of notebook paper and rip it into eighths, putting their name on each scrap.

Call out the first term. Students have one minute to write its definition. IF SOMEONE DOES NOT KNOW THE TERM, THIS IS OKAY! Tell them to write a creative definition that would be likely to fool someone else. When the students are done with their definitions, they may walk silently up to the desk and place it there.

Choose four of the slips: three incorrect versions and one that is acceptable.

Read all four definitions. Tell students that they are to vote for the ONE correct term. Let the voting commence and write the number of votes received on each slip.

Relay the correct definition.

Have the kids tally their own points.  Each student who votes correctly earns two points.  In addition, the authors of the four definitions get one point for each person who voted for the definition.

BE SURE TO USE FOUR DIFFERENT PEOPLE EACH TIME!

Small prizes such as a sticker or pencil or edible treat can be given out to those students with the highest amount of points.

8:37-8:40 - Exit slips.  On a remaining unused slip of paper, have the students use three of the newly learned words of their choice to use as a sentence.  Collect at the door as the students leave.

    Reflection: This plan worked rather well.  It took some time, though.  I would of liked to be able to touch on all of the vocabulary words, and not just the ones that were a little tougher.  Perhaps a good accommodation would be to do three definitions from the kids - one correct and two wrong - instead of four so we can get more oof the words in.  There were some pretty hilarious definitions in there that made us all laugh.  I think the children were really having some fun doing this activity!  Judging the the sentences from the exit slips, most of the kids seemed to grasp the meanings of these new words.

Part Four
Questions About Lesson Plan Development

    In addition to the wonderful example questions on the lesson plan assignment information sheet, I have some of my own.  Most of them are simple, everyday questions in which I'm sure teachers worry about often.

How can I adjust my lesson plan for next time if students get bored?
How can I make each plan not exactly like the one before?
What do I do if I can't get the required materials?
What is the best way to assess that this lesson plan helped students learn?
How can I effectively allow for flexibility?
Are general classroom skills being developed as well as subject material?
How can I encourage critical thinking?
Are Illinois standards being covered in this lesson?