Instructional Strategies

My field of study is English/Language Arts for grades 7-12. I prefer to teach 9^th grade, and I believe the following instructional strategies will prove to be beneficial in my classroom.

Strategy	Teacher	Student
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.	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.
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.	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.	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.
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.	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!	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.
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.	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.	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.
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.	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.	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!

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