Teaching Strategies & Style

Grouping: 

I use a lot of grouping and partner work in my teaching as a way to differentiate and teach collaboration.  I believe it is important for students to work with many different others so that they can experience an array of learning style and ideas. “The goal is to have students work consistently with a wide variety of peers and with tasks thoughtfully designed not only to draw on the strengths of all members of a group but also to shore up those students’ areas of need. ‘Fluid’ is a good word to describe assignment of students to groups in such a heterogeneous classroom” (Tomlinson, 2017, p. 4). The more diverse experience a student gets while problem solving within a group will prepare them to be flexible and collaborative for any future needs. 

Differentiation:

Differentiation is a teaching strategy that adapts instruction to meet the needs of all students in the classroom. When I was a student, I struggled a lot because we were all taught the same things with the same methods with the same partners. According to Tomlinson (2017), “Differentiating instruction means ‘shaking up’ what goes on in the classroom so that students have multiple options for taking in information, making sense of ideas, and expressing what they learn. In other words, a differentiated classroom provides different avenues to acquiring content, to processing or making sense of ideas, and to developing products so that each student can learn effectively” (p. 1). I use this ‘shaking up’ to engage and excite students helping bring them to a deeper level of learning. 

Technology:

There are many technologies that can be implemented in my classroom to increase learning. One traditional use of technology will be the use of short videos, digital displays on a flat screen tv (meaning things to view from the teacher’s computer, document camera, etc.), and video recordings. A new technology that I will be implementing is electronic response devices, which “constantly obtain feedback on students’ levels of learning, so that [I] can target lessons to the exact needs of [my] students, and students can quickly answer a question or enter an opinion at the same time” (Slavin, 2018, p. 279). An even greater benefit from electronic response devices is that I can instantly know what my students are thinking allowing me to adjust my lesson at needed. Also, “students know that their knowledge sill always be assessed, instead of hoping that someone else will be called on” (p. 279). Technology can be used to encourage more active, engaged learning, in which students are safely pushed out of their comfort zones to constantly produce, assess, and think.