My field of study is English/Language Arts for grades 7-12.
I prefer to teach 9th grade, and I believe the following
instructional strategies will prove to be beneficial in my classroom.
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Strategy
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Teacher
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Student
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Personalize
When assignments or discussions can be made personal to students, they are more likely to engage. It also gives students an opportunity to see how the assigned reading or writing directly relates to their life; they begin to understand the usefulness of literature. |
After a discussion or assignment instructions, ask the students how
the material relates to their lives or how they could apply it to their lives
in a practical way.
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When working on an assignment, use personal experience to help relate
to the material. Think about your life and ask yourself if you have ever
encountered an experience similar to that in the assigned reading.
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Group Discussions
Discussions allow students to interact in a
classroom setting by creating a respectful environment. Students hear each
other’s opinions and are given a chance to orally respond.
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Encourage class discussions to get an idea of what the students think
about a subject and to assess the classroom as whole. This allows you to see
what areas need to be touched on more and which areas the students comprehend
well.
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Participation in discussions allows you to make your opinions known
to the instructor and fosters creative thinking. It also allows you to
constructively engage with your peers.
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Writing Assignments
These vary from long essays to short paragraphs.
It allows the teacher to assess student comprehension and gives students the
opportunity to organize their thoughts in one place.
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Use writing assignments to effectively assess student comprehension.
Writing assignments also allows your students to develop their creative
writing skills. Short journal writings or 1 page papers are effective!
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Engaging in writing assignments gives you a chance to develop your
ideas about a story, poem, or other work in a productive way. It also gives
you practice developing your grammar skills.
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Summarize
Summarizing allows students to see the bigger
picture in a reading assignment or in a lecture. Often, students get
sidetracked by details, so providing a summary helps keep them on track,
whether the summary comes before or after the reading/lecture.
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After a reading or a lecture, use summarization to bring attention to
what you would like the student to focus on. Summarization can be given orally
or in note form. Some students may even benefit from hearing a summary before
a reading or lecture.
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After a reading or lecture, ask yourself what the teacher was asking
you to understand. Writing down the main points of a lecture or the actual
summary of a reading can help with later assignments.
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Journal Writing
Journals allow students to respond to a topic in
an open way, since journals are usually private between the teacher and
student. It also gives the student an opportunity to practice creative
writing.
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Use a journal writing to have students respond to short topics, such
as a one sentence question. It does not necessarily have to relate to a
reading assignment or other writing assignment. The more creative the prompt,
the better.
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Use journal writing as a way to creatively express yourself. Always
answer the prompt, but do not be afraid to get creative with your answer.
Sometimes, writing exactly what you are thinking produces great writing!
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References:
“Instructional
Strategies.” Health and Life Skills Guide
to Implementation K-9, 2002. Alberta Learning, accessed 18 Apr. 2017. https://education.alberta.ca/media/482311/is.pdf
“Teaching
Strategies.” Merlot Pedagogy, accessed
17 Apr. 2017. http://pedagogy.merlot.org/TeachingStrategies.html
