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In this workshop you will examine the fundamentals of preparing to teach a lesson and review numerous instructional strategies that can be used as-is or modified to fit the style of a particular student or teacher.
This lesson will focus on whole group instruction and will detail the use of the following strategies:
It is difficult for a teacher to defend ending a lesson early, especially on a recurring basis. Plan more than you think you’ll be able to cover during a single class period in case things go more quickly than you plan.
The following teaching techniques are designed for use with the entire class. However, the teacher may also make modifications to use these strategies with small groups and individual students. All of the techniques may be amended to personalize a lesson for a particular classroom. There are advantages and disadvantages to each of these methods; like a surgeon or a carpenter, the teacher must decide which tool is best.
All too often, teachers embrace a “my way or the highway” approach, and if students can’t learn using the modality preferred by the teacher, they are left out in the cold. Teachers should not commit themselves to only one or two instructional delivery methods to such an extent that they can’t adjust to meet the needs of their students. After all, they are the consumers, and it is important that they learn. This matters more than being able to reuse lesson plans in order to spend less time preparing for class.
When teachers use warm-ups (also called bell-ringers or short shots), class begins as the students enter the room, not when the bell rings or the teacher “officially” begins instruction. The warm-up is designed for several purposes. It focuses the students’ attention on a meaningful task, quickly engages the students in learning, increases instructional time, and decreases disciplinary problems. While the students are completing the warm-up, the teacher has enough time to take attendance, talk with an individual student, or complete other clerical duties that are often required of teachers.
Whereas there is no specific format for a warm-up, the most effective introductory activities ask the students to recall a skill or concept from a previous lesson. Other warm-ups ask the students to transition a previous lesson into the current lesson. Warm-ups do not constitute the lesson, but prepare the students for learning. Most warm-ups are completed within minutes, although the teacher can adjust the duration if extra time is needed to complete a task. Warm-ups are most effective when they occur every time the class meets. Usually the students fall into a routine where they enter the room and look for the warm-up.
Warm-ups minimize student discipline problems because they increase structured instructional time.
Lecturing to students is the most common form of teaching. It is also the most efficient way to give students information, directions, and data and should be a strategy in your repertoire. In its simplest form, a lecture is simply the teacher talking to the students. In reality, the lecture can take many forms. The stereotypical college professor is represented as one extreme form of lecture. In this case, the professor simply reads prepared notes to the class for the allotted amount of time and then leaves. Some professors may use a chalkboard, overhead projector, or PowerPoint for notes, but the net effect is the same. However, lecturing students does not necessarily indicate that they have received, understood, or responded to the lecture. Because of this, lecture alone is not an effective tool for teaching a variety of students. Teachers who rely only on this type of modality will miss a substantial part of their audience, whatever the subject, whatever the grade level.
Most school teachers use a slightly different form of the lecture that is combined with other interactive strategies. For instance, interspersing activities, questions, and demonstrations at opportune times allows students to refresh their thinking by interacting with a different modality. Further, adding a different stimulus requires the students to remain active and think during the lecture as opposed to passive listening. This makes daydreaming difficult and avoids disruptive displays.
The most common strategy is lecture-question. In this strategy, the teacher presents the material in lecture fashion and then asks recall and probing questions to determine the extent of students’ understanding. This format works to keep students on task. Adding a demonstration or an activity to a lecture moves student involvement to a higher level. Although this technique adds time to the lesson, it improves student understanding and motivation. Providing students with time for guided practice and/or class discussions regarding the curricular content of a lecture further improves students’ retention of the material. Whereas lecture alone is an efficient method to dispense information and directions, meshing other strategies increases the instructional value of the technique.
Teachers can also make the most of their lectures by keeping the following strategies in mind:
Current news events, historical interconnections, and projections related to life in the future offer several avenues to embroider a lesson to generate more student interest.
One of the best ways to get the attention of every student in class is for the teacher to perform a demonstration. Demonstrations add a level of excitement and curiosity to the classroom. They are also a great way to frame a new concept. A demonstration can be almost anything, but it usually requires the teacher to perform some instructional act that is different from the normal classroom procedure. The demonstration does not have to be long or complex. In fact, some of the best demonstrations are simple and easy.
There is another type of demonstration that teachers do on a regular basis. The directed teaching demonstration occurs when the teacher is showing the students a technique, process, or procedure. For instance, teachers demonstrate how to write the letters of the alphabet before they allow the students to practice creating the same letters. When teachers model a technique, it allows the students to see the final product before attempting it on their own. Demonstrations of this type increase the likelihood that the students will be able to perform that function with minimal assistance.
Teachers can capitalize on demonstrations by having the students complete a follow-up activity such as a brief summary of the event, a prediction of the results if different variables were employed, or a discussion of the pros and cons of the event. There are also a plethora of videos and computer programs that recreate demonstrations that are also effective.
Historically, worksheets, the textbook, and everyday lecture was the sum total of most teaching strategies. Those students who learned to adapt to this type of teaching performed well; the remainder struggled. Today, worksheets, whether electronic or paper-based, still have a place in good teaching. However, if they are not careful, even veteran teachers can begin to rely too heavily on worksheets as the primary source of learning in the classroom. This is beyond the intended use of worksheets. Worksheets should be used in support of other types of classroom learning and should not take the place of the teacher or a well constructed lesson plan. Even with this background, there are several reasons why worksheets remain popular with teachers of all subject areas. They are useful for a variety of needs.
Worksheets are helpful resources, but the teacher is the most valuable resource available to the students.
First, worksheets have a real advantage in that they are easy to use. In fact, most textbooks publishers send them as ancillary materials to accompany their text and teachers can simply duplicate the ones provided or create their own. Worksheets are flexible in that students work on them individually or in groups. They also engage the students and may minimize discipline problems. Plus, they are easy to score.
Students are generally quiet as they complete a worksheet assignment.
There are two major types of worksheets and each has a specific purpose. One type of worksheet is simply the knowledge-level, re-working of textual or lecture objectives. The best uses for this type of worksheet are to build repetition into a lesson, provide students with additional practice (such as a sheet of math problems) or serve as a guide for a review lesson. They can augment recent instruction by having the students complete various manifestations of the curriculum in a different format to refresh their memories. In these cases worksheets take the form of a game, such as a jigsaw puzzle using spelling words.
Another type of worksheet is designed to promote higher level thinking. Worksheets of this nature are almost exclusively constructed by the teacher and capitalize on the dynamics and direction of the class in such a way as to appear to be a natural outgrowth of the lesson. Rather than providing repetition, these worksheets require the students to synthesize information, ideas, opinions, or data to construct and defend a new thought or solution.
As an interactive extension, the students may be grouped together upon completion of their worksheet to compare and synthesize answers. Engagement activities increase student motivation, but also create classroom noise as the students collaborate to construct a response.
The purpose of the gallery walk is to allow the students to learn in a non-traditional format. In the simplest form, the gallery walk allows the students to move about the room in an ordered fashion to observe and to think about instructional items that have been judiciously placed around the room. This technique is based on the strategy where art students would walk around a gallery observing works from a particular artist. They would note and remember representative pieces that displayed a characteristic style to further develop an understanding of that artist or style. This technique has expanded to include different types of instructional items. For instance, the teacher may place maps, pictures, or notes relating to a single topic on chart paper and hang them around the class for the students to review. The students then record notes as they proceed in small groups around the classroom in a “gallery walk.”
The gallery walk can be modified to increase the level of student interaction. During the gallery walk, the students can address the instructional item by writing their impressions, ideas, suggestions, or solutions on the corresponding chart paper. As the groups rotate from one site to another, subsequent groups can then add their comments to the chart paper with a different colored marker. The teacher should allow each group to rotate around the gallery at least twice so that the groups can see what the other groups have added to their suggestions. Once the groups have completed the walk, the students or the teacher should summarize the event as a form of debriefing.
To keep the activity more focused, the teacher can pose several questions or topics and invite the students to work in groups to answer one of the questions or collect information on one of the topics. The students can collaborate to complete the task and then display it as an item for a gallery walk. When the groups are finished with the task, the teacher allows the groups to walk around the classroom in an organized fashion to observe and make notes on the results of the other groups. Then, the teacher leads a summary to build in repetition and to guarantee that all students have the correct answers in their notes. This strategy works well in combination with the jigsaw technique which will be explained later.
Our society is developing and marketing new technologies at an exponential rate and this provides teachers and students with tools to enhance learning beyond traditional methods. Students readily embrace these emerging technologies as their own. In fact, the number of smartphones and laptops currently in use by school-aged children is at an all-time high. Yet, it can take time to adjust to these new tools and sometimes a generation gap occurs between students who are accustomed to using new technology in their everyday life and their teachers who may still experience difficulty programming (and still own) their VCR.
Most young students have a better understanding of computers, the Internet, and other emerging technologies than they are given credit for.
Teachers are well-advised to make the effort to capitalize on innovation and to utilize resources which are already significant to their students. In the future, instructional technologies are likely to have an increasingly important role in education, so if you are not comfortable with technology, additional retraining should be part of your professional development plan. Aside from the initial cost of the equipment, the only thing preventing the greater use of technology in the classroom is teacher technical literacy.
Appropriate use of technology in the classroom increases student learning. The key word here is “appropriate.” Learn not only how to use technology in the classroom, but how and when to use it to maximize your instructional delivery.
The ever increasing role of technological advances in the classroom allows the teacher to personalize learning for students, differentiate instruction, provide remedial and reinforcement lessons, and present advanced concepts to faster learners. Technology can assist and increase the productivity of the teacher.
These new modalities for instruction include:
Computers have extended the possibilities for learning beyond anything that has been developed so far. This includes the universe of knowledge that the Internet has provided, presentation software such as PowerPoint, computer simulations, and tutorial lessons to address every objective in every discipline.
Computer assisted instruction (CAI) is a useful tool for the classroom teacher. CAI is a generic term that encompasses many types of computer-based instructional options ranging from simple drill problems to elaborate simulations that interact with the learner. Experienced teachers often have an inventory of computer programs to differentiate interaction by addressing the concerns of struggling students, providing repetition for the enrichment of all students, and pushing highly able students to new achievement levels.
The computer is capable of presenting and scoring questions much faster than the average teacher. A class configured with 30 computers can deliver 30 different lessons to 30 different students at the same time. Most computer programs now determine the students’ proficiency and then design customized sets of problems to remediate, reinforce, or extend the learning of the students. The computer generates these problems for as long as the student is available and does so without getting tired or frustrated. Student discipline problems are minimized when the students are actively engaged at their developmental level.
Computers are great at keeping students actively engaged in meaningful learning. This allows the teacher to work one-on-one with students who need extra help without the fear that the rest of the class will misbehave while the teacher isn’t looking.
Drill type programs of this nature have shown to be effective in providing assistance within their defined area. The downside? Electronically delivered drill problems do not necessarily allow the students to project their thinking beyond the intent of the drill and do not promote higher levels of thinking unless complemented by other types of instruction.
Computers can be utilized in many different types of lessons. Computer simulations are another student favorite. Most simulations have quality graphics, movement, and interactive capabilities that parallel video games (at least to some degree). Textbook publishers and private vendors have been quick to seize upon major textbook themes to create simulations and tutorials to provide an option for instruction. Computer probeware and other accessories can be used to allow students to instantaneously measure, monitor, and graph changes in pH, temperature, and other environmental factors. Of course, one of the original uses for computers was for word processing. The ability for students to compose a written response is enhanced with word processing. Now students can edit, save, and print their work allowing students the opportunity to easily correct their work.
Internet-based lessons allow the students access to the accumulated knowledge of the world and allow the teacher greater range in lesson planning. Teachers now have the opportunity to expose students to thoughts and ideas from different cultures, time zones, and geopolitical boundaries. Creative use of internet-based lessons may soon become a standard in instruction.
The use of the Internet as a research tool has also opened new horizons for teachers. Students are now capable of accessing better and more information quicker than ever before. Long hours in the library are replaced by minutes on the laptop. Teachers are able to capitalize on this phenomenon by assigning both in-class and out-of-class problems that require a concept search. All subjects have themes, topics, or skills that contain a research capability. Teachers can assign research topics both as individual student or group projects, and even structure the assignment to allow for parental participation. The next strategy, WebQuest, outlines one specific way that teachers can incorporate the Internet into their instruction. The dangers of the Internet are well-known, so always monitor your students’ use of technology while they are under your care.
Consider assigning students to write a blog about a particular issue. Blogging is a popular means of communicating political views, informing the public of sensitive issues, and catalyzing action groups.
When arranging computer or Internet activities, one size does not fit all. The efficacy of using a computer to enhance instruction is compromised if the programming is not personalized to the student. Certain students may not respond well to the isolationism and de-personalization of the computer. Also, any type of computer usage runs the risk of alienating members of your class who do not have computer access at home and will be competing against those who utilize it on a daily basis. Take special care that students are not excluded from participating in assignments that require out-of-class computer accessibility. Whenever haves and have-nots are mixed in the same class, consider pairing them so one can learn from the other. Also, consult with the school media center and local library for a schedule of open computer/Internet time and provide that information to all students, not just the ones who need it.
Remember that these activities are not intended to take the place of the humanistic values provided by the teacher. Instead they are one more tool that a teacher can use to reach students through a different modality.
Connecting a computer to an LCD projector gives the teacher an even greater wealth of resource options. Anything that can be displayed on the computer monitor can be projected onto a wall or screen for whole-class instruction. This opens a lot of possibilities for classroom teachers and is especially helpful if the classroom is limited to only one computer.
A wide variety of instructional materials exist that can be projected with the computer-LCD combination. Teachers can connect their computer to favorite websites, simulations, and tutorials. Additionally, purchased or teacher-made PowerPoint presentations multiply the differentiation strategies available to the teacher. Most LCD projectors include a remote control, which allows the teacher to circulate throughout the room during the presentation. The downside of an LCD projection is the light quality. Cheaper models do not have the power to display bright colors authentically nor can they be seen well in brightly lit areas. One teacher I know is unable to use a projector in his room because one of his walls is comprised entirely of windows without shades; it is simply never dark enough to see anything projected in his room.
Computer specialists and media center specialists are usually well trained in the use of computers and other emerging technologies. They are a useful resource when planning a technology-assisted lesson.
A recent addition to the classroom toolbox is the SMART Board™. A SMART Board is to a whiteboard like algebra is to arithmetic. Whereas both serve a whole-class function, SMART Boards are able to do considerably more than a whiteboard. SMART Boards are like an electronic whiteboard with a built-in computer. They are able to do virtually anything that a computer can do; in fact, they are typically connected to computers for that purpose. They are touch-sensitive so the teacher can select, manipulate, and move items with great ease. Remote keyboards allow the student to interact in real time with the lesson that the teacher is providing. Students can enter their response on their keyboard with an instantaneous display on the SMART Board. This allows the teacher to construct lessons that are highly interactive.
Audio-video resources are an intermediate step between the textbook and computer assisted instruction. They include a wide array of resources including records, film, DVDs, and podcasts. Audio-visual resources are generally a whole class event. In other words, everybody gets to watch the DVD at the same time. The advantage is a guarantee that all of the students have experienced it. The disadvantage occurs when some students need to experience parts of it again…and again…and again before they completely understand. Audio-visual resources are considerably cheaper than resources for computer assisted instruction (because less equipment is required to present to more students simultaneously), so schools are likely to have a wide variety of equipment from which to choose.
Technology in the classroom develops exponentially. There are new hardware and software applications available on the market on a regular basis. It is important for all teachers to remain current with new technology and its adaptation to the classroom.
A WebQuest is a teacher-created activity that utilizes the power of the internet to guide students through various instructional websites. These websites may include simulations, tutorials, and other innovative ways of learning. To implement this technique, the teacher identifies appropriate websites and activities for the students to complete. Teachers often create a worksheet to guide the students to the completion of their “quest.” The students then review these websites and complete the instructional activities found on the website and/or those provided by the teacher. WebQuests have curricular objectives, measurable outcomes, and may include visits to many websites. They can be a valuable tool when the teacher wants to bring the most recent information into the classroom and personalize the instruction for each student. In advanced cases, the teacher may permit the students to discover their own sites in the WebQuest activity.
A graphic organizer is a useful way for a teacher to show the connectedness of various topics, such as previous lessons to today’s lesson, the components of a story, or the actions of a feedback loop. The graphic organizer can be a series of pictures, illustrations, or textual material. Students benefit from visualizing the big picture and how the component parts fit together to create the final product.
When teaching students to use a graphic organizer, it is important to familiarize the students with the purpose of graphic organizers as an organizational tool. The simplest graphic organizers consist of boxes surrounding pictures, illustrations, or textual materials. The teacher may embellish the boxes with arrows to show the direction or flow of the organizer to help students understand interrelationships between the multiple parts of a whole. Most teachers create a simple graphic organizer with information and examples that are familiar to the students based on topics from their life. As the students become proficient in the use of graphic organizers, the teacher can use them with curricular topics for practice and for learning.
Venn diagrams, quadrants, and Frayer Models are specific types of graphic organizers that have a particular function. They are commonly used in classrooms to channel student thinking.
Certain students benefit greatly by seeing the whole picture before they begin to study the component parts. Further, students may need to refer to a graphic organizer as they move from one concept to another to maintain the connection between concepts.
Concept attainment has students use critical thinking to determine examples and non-examples as they relate to a certain group or category. It is a useful method for teaching vocabulary and clarifying new concepts. One method to implement this strategy is when the teacher gives a series of clues that describe “it.” The teacher then gives another set of characteristics that describe what “it” is not. The teacher can then have the students deduce the correct answer that explains or describes “it.” To add more complexity, the teacher can add another characteristic and have the students determine if the new characteristic represents “it” or not. When sufficient clues have been unfolded, the teacher can ask the students to synthesize the information into a definition or an explanation to identify the nature of “it.” This type of strategy promotes the students’ involvement and their problem-solving abilities. Teachers should be aware that some students may get to the answer quicker than others.
A similar concept attainment strategy is the Frayer Model. The Frayer Model (see the image below or the printable PDF version) is a type of graphic organizer that guides students through a concept attainment activity. The Frayer Model uses a quadrant of connected empty boxes that are arranged in a square with an central box located at the junction of the four boxes. The upper left box contains the essential characteristics, “what it is.” The upper right box contains the non-characteristics, “what it is not.” The lower left box is used to list examples; while the right lower box contains a listing of non-examples.
The Frayer Model
One way to use this graphic organizer is to provide students with a word, topic, or concept and have them work together as a class to fill in each box with relevant information for each heading. Another option is to give the students “evidence” to list in each box along the perimeter and have the students use this evidence to identify the mystery item in the center box. With either method, the students will begin to construct a larger meaning of the word, topic, or concept leading to greater understanding and a greater tendency for remembering it later.
Concept attainment is fun for most students. Since it requires a different type of mental dexterity, some students will be more prepared than others. The best students at concept attainment may not be the best students in factual recall.
Developing understanding of a new concept is built by understanding its relationship to other known concepts. Individual concepts do not exist in isolation, but rather as a network of inter-related concepts. Overall understanding is thereby increased by creating links across concepts. Increasing linkages also increases retention and retrieval in the long-term memory of students.
Concept maps are graphic representations that provide insight into relationships among different concepts. They are two-dimensional displays that can be used to represent and organize information or new understanding. Teachers find the use of concept maps helpful in a number of ways. Concept maps are useful in informing the students of the past, present, and future of instruction. They guide students as they learn new material because the map establishes the linkage to other concepts and the direction of instruction. Concept maps also allow the students to recursively establish linkages that increase their overall understanding of the connectedness of the topics.
Concept maps can be used to assess higher order thinking by measuring a student’s knowledge about a concept and how it relates to other concepts. For instance, the teacher might ask the students to create a concept map of the most recent instructional topics as a measure of memory. Another option is to require the students to add a new concept to a concept map, indicating and explaining the linkages that exist between the new concept and existing concepts.
KWL is an organizing system that is designed to provide a sense of direction for students as they study curricular topics. The strategy asks the student to review what they already know, identify items that they would like to know or expect to know, and then list what they have learned as a result of the instruction.
To implement this strategy, the students must create a KWL chart. The KWL chart has three headings: Know; What they want to know; Learned as a result of the lesson. Students are then asked to complete the Know and What they want to know sections before instruction begins. To implement this strategy the teacher must inform the students as to the curricular topics under investigation and allow time for the students to reflect and provide thoughtful responses. Following the lesson, the students complete the Learned section. Students can then share their answers with the class. An extension of the KWL chart is the KWLH chart. The “H” stands for How could I learn more.
An informal, non-obtrusive method for determining if a student understands the instruction is to ask him or her a question. A proper questioning technique is a valuable, everyday strategy for every teacher and will inform the teacher about the pace of the lesson and the level of student retention. Good questions not only measure student understanding, they also promote student thinking.
Teachers often use four different broad types of question types: recall, open-ended, probing, and guiding. Recall-type questions are by far the most common and they are factual questions that have one correct answer. Recall questions require the student to remember and respond by giving the accepted answer. For instance, the teacher may ask, “What is the value of pi?” The student can either provide a correct answer or not. Recall questions are useful in determining if students are keeping up with the factual component of the lesson. They are not helpful in predicting if the student can apply the knowledge they have gained.
Open-ended questions have multiple answers which allows for more student responses and expands student participation. They usually allow students to be both factual and creative. As an example, a teacher might begin a discussion with the following open-ended question, “Which is better: education or money?” Open-ended questions are generally used as a starting point for a group discussion or as an idea-generating activity. They are valued as a means to create a flow of ideas from a number of different students, but they do not necessarily demonstrate students’ attainment of factual knowledge.
Probing questions contribute to a classroom by promoting thoughtful inquiry. A typical probing question begins with words or stems that require the student to think deeply, such as: “why,” “can you elaborate,” or “provide evidence to support your claim.” Teachers often use probing questions to press students to consider diverse data, to re-examine the validity of their opinion, and to understand the impact of opposing points of view. Answering probing questions forces the student to extend their understanding beyond recall to a higher level of thinking. Students who are continually asked probing questions begin to internalize the need for greater understanding, clear thinking, and thoughtful responses. However, probing questions require more classtime than other question types to allow for student thinking and response time.
Questioning can guide student thinking by channeling the students’ thought patterns to a desired curricular outcome and cues the students’ responses. This helps the teacher maintain the momentum of a lesson while also measuring the achievement level of the students. It is often more effective to employ a mixture of recall, probing, and open-ended questions such as the guiding questions stems that are listed below.
The developmental level of the students may determine the type of questions that they are able to understand and answer. Teachers should consider age appropriateness when planning their questions for classroom use. In general, pre-school and kindergarten students tend to respond well to recall questions such as, “who, what, and when” type questions. However, upper elementary and middle school students are generally academically mature enough to create and respond to a higher level of questioning, such as introductory types of probing or open-ended questions. This higher level of question is answered through academic research or experimentation rather than a simple recall of factual information. Introductory level probing and open-ended questions ask the students to explain “how” and “why” instead of “who” and “when.”
Upper middle and high school students are able to respond to probing and open-ended questions that have a theoretical or hypothetical nature. Theoretical questions ask the students to synthesize data, predict an outcome, and/or respond to a hypothetical situation. Questions of this nature require the students to account for the quality of the information, consider bias and trends, and analyze the value of competing data. Clever teachers use the right type of question to elicit the desired student response.
It is sometimes helpful to cue, probe, or rephrase a question for certain students to assist them in generating a correct response or a more thoughtful answer.
Not allowing students the time to think is one of the biggest mistakes that beginning teachers make. Wait time is the period of silence that follows when a teacher poses a question and when the first student answers the question. New teachers tend to hate student silence following a question and often either answer their own question or call upon a student before that student has had time to formulate a thoughtful response. However, extensive research suggests that the quantity and quality of student responses increase when the students have time to think before responding. A teacher who uses wait time effectively promotes student learning.
Consider the following scenario. The teacher asks a thoughtful question during a lesson. When the teacher calls upon a student to answer that question, the remainder of the class may stop thinking and wait for the student to respond. What might happen if the teacher extended the amount of thinking time before asking students to respond? Teachers that wait before calling on a student to respond increase the likelihood that the students are still thinking. Up to a point, the more time students have to think, the more thoughtful their answers will be. Wait time can be magnified by calling on several students to respond to the same question. When this technique is used, the students continue to think until the teacher moves the class to another stimulus. This strategy also provides built-in repetition.
There is research that indicates that it takes at least 5 seconds for new learning to be understood and transferred into long-term memory. Then again, after 20-30 seconds, the teacher has to make a decision. If the students have not constructed a response in that amount of time, the teacher may have to reword the stimulus or provide additional cues. Conversely, if the teacher does not wait long enough, the students will “wait out” the teacher knowing that eventually the teacher will give in and answer the question.
It can be unnerving to wait on the students to generate a response. A wait time of 20 seconds will seem to be a very long time, but the wait is worth it.
When a teacher responds to a student, they can expand the student’s learning by posing thoughtful responses. There are four major types of instructional responses for teachers to employ that increase the quality of students’ thinking. Experienced teachers use these thinking cues daily to encourage students to think more deeply and completely. The four instructional response types are: clarifying, paraphrasing, non-judgmental, and advisory.
Clarifying questions ask the student to reword his thinking to eliminate unnecessary verbiage or incorrect items. Asking a student to clarify an answer forces the student to summon knowledge and repackage it clearly with a minimum of wasted words. Teachers may also require that students use specific vocabulary terms. Clarifying questions typically ask the student to:
There are many types of clarifying questions. The following abridged listing contains examples of clarifying stems that may be modified for use in a teacher’s class.
Paraphrasing is the most common form of instructional response. Both students and the teacher can paraphrase an important item. Paraphrasing involves either restating or summarizing the response using different wording. For instance, paraphrasing allows the teacher to utilize a student response to provide repetition without repeating the exact verbiage of the student. It also allows the teacher to promote additional understanding by having a student restate the response in a clearer or simpler manner. Paraphrasing is an important teacher skill that can also guide a discussion and increase student engagement and thinking. On a peripheral note, when a teacher paraphrases a student response, it further connects the teacher with the student. The following listing of sample paraphrasing stems may be modified to use in class.
Non-judgmental responses provide a neutral communication tone that promotes the flow of the lesson, continues thinking, and offers a non-committal response to the students. Non-judgmental responses are used in a variety of situations, but they are useful during class discussions to press the students to generate their own answers without influence or bias by the teacher. In most situations, once the teacher has registered an opinion or presented an answer, the students feel there is no need to continue thinking. In situations where the teacher avoids expressing an opinion or agreeing to a correct answer, the students continue thinking.
The use of non-judgmental responses builds trust, develops student autonomy, and fosters risk-taking. The following non-judgmental stems are useful to continue the momentum of a lesson.
Advisory responses impart advice to the students. They prompt the students to remember important concepts, prior learning, and to review directions. Teachers utilize guiding responses any time during the context of a lesson to identify and add emphasis to main ideas and to remind students of correct procedures. The following listing of common advisory stems may be modified to fit different classroom situations.
One of the best ways to respond to a student is to provide effective feedback. Effective feedback is timely, specific, and uplifting. There are two types of feedback. One type is based on curriculum knowledge, such as when a teacher confirms or redirects a student response. Feedback can challenge greater thinking with a follow-up question, build repetition, provide the opportunity to restate an answer using appropriate vocabulary, and allow the teacher to summarize the discussion and reference the curricular connection.
The second type of feedback addresses aspects of student deportment. It is an opportunity to praise a child’s efforts and encourage continued success in an area with comments specific to the answer.
Even when responding to student comments, the teacher can provide opportunities to extend students’ thinking so there are no wasted moments or efforts.
Feedback can also be displayed by using gestures, body language, and posting student work.
Recitation is the type of discourse where the teacher asks questions, the students respond, and the teacher judges the quality of the answer. Recitation is used in most traditional classrooms because it is a quick way to determine if the students understand a topic. It is also a useful method to keep students’ attention focused on the lesson.
During recitation, the teacher asks a recall-type question and then, depending on the quality of the answer, either accepts the answer or asks for a clarification or enrichment. Teachers often use the recitation strategy during a lesson to measure the pacing of the lesson in terms of students’ understanding of the topic. Recitation can also be used as a “lightning round” of fast questions to energize a lesson, keep students focused, and measure the effectiveness of prior instruction. Although the recitation strategy does not always promote higher levels of thinking, most teachers use recitation as a common strategy. Recitation is useful when covering factual information.
Recitation differs from a group discussion because the students have no control over the topic, are not allowed to wander in their thinking, and are evaluated on the correctness of their responses.
In simplest terms, a piggyback occurs when the teacher asks the students to create an answer based on the previous response. For instance, the teacher asks an open-ended question. Once a student response is received, the teacher calls upon another student to add to or continue that response. The process repeats until the topic is covered. To bolster student involvement and increase motivation, the students can call on other students to piggyback on their responses.
Piggyback is a fun way to promote thinking and retention in the classroom. Piggyback also builds repetition into the lesson and keeps the students involved with the flow of the instruction. Piggyback is a great way to generate ideas and encourage the students to think creatively within the confines of the topic.
The round robin responses technique requires the students to be actively involved in the lesson, offers a chance for the students to think creatively, and provides feedback to the teacher regarding the achievement level of the students.
In this strategy, the teacher provides the initial stimulus, such as a question, and then facilitates and monitors the flow of student answers. The students provide answers in an organized manner so that all students have the opportunity to respond in order before a student is required to provide a second response. As long as a student provides an acceptable answer, that student remains in the round robin responses group. However, whenever a student does not have an answer or an acceptable answer, that student is no longer in the round robin responses group. Students who are “out” can earn their way back “in” by correcting an answer given by another student. The rotation of responses continues until only one student remains in the group or until terminated by the teacher. The teacher can utilize this technique as a reinforcement of lesson priorities, as a review activity, and as means to promote creative thinking.