Instructional Strategies

In society today, people are exposed to a variety of different experiences all in a single day. Many times, it can even be during a single interaction. For example, if a family goes out to dinner, they have social interactions, there might be a television, or music playing, and they might get some news, weather, or other information from that. Additionally, in the technological age that we currently live in, there are video games, MP3 players, and a variety of other distractions that facilitate how the evening will go. Classrooms need to have a similar set up, in order to facilitate the best learning. Active participation is key in keeping kids focused and on task. Giving them something to do, whether it is an overt action, like sharing with their shoulder partner, and then the class, or something covert, such as thinking about a particular topic (and then sharing with a shoulder partner, to have a measurable outcome) will keep the students engaged in the class and the materials.  It is imperative in a society built on instant gratification that we have the ability to "keep up" with our students, and teach the way that they learn. Here is a small introduction to the concept of active participation, and why it is important to student achievement.

Technology plays a very important role in the way students learn these days. For example, my class is very dependent on not only the computer, but really the Internet as well. If the Internet is down, or running slowly as it usually is in our district, it can really impede the learning that is supposed to be taking place. Giving the students a variety of ways to interact with the material, such as videos, websites, handouts, and others, will help get everyone engaged, because there is likely something that they are skilled at working with. For a teacher to be effective in his or her classroom, he or she must understand the way that all the students learn, and make the best attempt to bring much of that into the classroom. For example, there is a website called ThingLink. This site is a creative way to create a mind map, and to get the concepts of a topic out in a visual representation, in a way that might be more meaningful to the students. This site can be used for any number of topics, and it is more of a brainstorming technique, but it gives the student something to help see how things connect together. Here is an example of what can be created on ThingLink.