Teachers Tips: Teaching Strategies

Last week, I shared with you common tips I share with teachers for class preparation. Now we'll talk about teaching strategies you can try incorporating in your class.

1. Look back before moving forward. It's always good to start the class by reviewing previous discussions. It doesn't always mean you go through a detailed discussion of what you taught last, but more of how having a good understanding of the previous discussion can help them understand the new lesson. What strategies or key concepts from your previous discussions (yesterday or the past few days), is good to keep in mind for today's lesson. This sets the mind of the students on what and how to think and also makes them realize that what they are learning is not only essential for today, but is related to other discussions. You can do it by doing drills, reviewing the past worksheets they answered or working on a problem together.

2. Activities are always the way to go. Take the time to let students experience first-hand what they will be learning for today. In giving students an opportunity to experience it themselves, they are able to build their own schema of your lesson. This also lessens teacher talk, since students already have a good idea of what they are supposed to learn while doing the activity.

   1. Consider pair or group works. This makes learning easier, since they can converse with one another. In talking with one another, they get to process what they are learning and continue to have a deeper understanding based on the perspective of their peers.

   2. Guide questions are necessary. When asking students to observe an experiment or watch a video, take the time to provide them with guide questions to help them focus on what you want them to see or observe.

   3. Make sure the instructions are clear. When doing activities, make sure you give clear instructions. Take the time to write key words on the board, demonstrate and/or let a student reexplain the instructions. In doing these things, you can assure the success of your students.

   4. Timers are your friend. Set realistic time limits for activities. Don't give students the opportunity to think that they control the amount of time to complete a task. Just make sure that you don't ask them to solve 5 complex problems in 1 minute.

3. Talk less, listen more. I've come to appreciate listening to my students talk in class. I like a productively noisy classroom. We want students to talk in class and give them an opportunity to process what they have learned.

   1. Ask questions. Ask lots of questions! Instead of introducing the lesson, ask pointed questions that will get the students to share what they already know or might have discovered about your lesson. If you did an activity that is related to your lesson, take advantage of that. And when students answers with short responses, ask follow up questions. Exhaust everything that you can get before talking. This can be done by asking leading questions or giving clues.

   2. Challenge students' thinking. When students answered your question wrong, instead of asking another student to answer or say the answer yourself, take the time to ask them how or why they arrived at that answer. In challenging their answers, you get a better insight on where they are coming from which can help you understand where the misconception comes from. There are also times where they realize that they have made a mistake themselves.

   3. Encourage reactions. Let them share if they agree or disagree with their classmate's answer and let them explain why. This will create a conversation in the class and can open opportunities for deeper learning.

   4. Summarize. At the end of every point, take the time to summarize what your students have been sharing in class. This will help them better remember the important key points in the lesson. Use graphs, tables or mind maps to reinforce your summary. Don't forget to recognize students who answer correctly as you summarize to affirm them.

4. Assess before ending the class. It should never be a question in your mind if your students learned the lesson today. Take the time to ask them an exit ticket question or do a quick drill to see if they learned the essential parts of your lesson. Let them show you what they have learned and give them an opportunity to ask questions that might be unclear for you. This will help you decide if you need to review this lesson or you can move forward.

Feel free to share what teaching strategies do you employ in class!