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Suggested Classroom Practices
For me teaching beliefs, practices and attitudes are important for understanding and improving the educational processes for both the teacher and the learner. They should be closely linked to my teaching strategies for coping with challenges within my daily professional life and for my general well-being. They should shape students learning environment and influence students motivation and achievement. The important thing to remember is that this is only my personal view and ideas, as a life long educator I am always learning new ideas and strategies to implement into my classroom. Some of these you mayn't agree with.
- Establish a positive classroom environment
- Make the classroom a pleasant, friendly place
- Accept individual differences
- Learning activities should be cooperative and supportive
- Create a non-threatening learning environment
- Organise physical space; eliminate situations that my be dangerous or disruptive
- Establish classroom rules and procedures and consistently reinforce them
- Set up classroom treaty
- Begin lessons by giving clear instructions and making sure students understand WALT/WILF
- State desired quality of work
- Have students paraphrase directions
- Ensure that everyone is paying attention
- Ensure that all distractions have been removed
- Describe expectations, activities and evaluation procedures
- Start with a highly motivating activity
- Build lesson upon prior student knowledge
- Maintain student attention
- Use random selection in calling upon students
- Vary who you call on and how you call on them
- Ask questions before calling on a student; wait at least five seconds for a response
- Be animated; show enthusiasm and interest
- Reinforce student efforts with praise
- Vary instructional methods
- Provide work of appropriate difficulty
- Demonstrate and model the types of responses or tasks you want students to perform
- Provide guided practice for students; monitor responses and deliver immediate corrective feedback
- Use appropriate pacing
- Be aware of your teaching tempo
- Watch for cues that children are becoming confused, bored or restless; sometimes lesson have to be shortened
- Provide suitable seat-work
- Seat work should be diagnostic and prescriptive
- Develop procedures for seeking assistance; have a “help” signal
- Develop procedures for what to do when finished
- Move around to monitor seat work
- Vary methods of practice
- Buddy or elbow partner to help before seeking teachers help.
- Evaluate what has taken place in your lesson
- Summarise the lesson and focus on positive gains made by students; use surprise reinforcers as a direct result of their good behaviour
- Determine if the lesson was successful; were goals accomplished?
- Make a smooth transition into next subject
- Have materials ready for next lesson
- Maintain attention of students until you have given clear instructions for the next activity
- Do not do tasks that can be done by students (i.e. passing out paper or collecting assignments); use monitors
- Move around and attend to individual needs
- Provide simple, step-by-step instructions
- Utilise a freeze and listen signal, when necessary
- Develop positive teacher/student relationships
- Set a good example; be a positive role model
- Create an exciting learning environment for all students
- Reward good behaviour; create special activities that children will enjoy doing
- Correct misbehaviours; have consequences of disruptive behaviour; communicate them to children
- Handling disruptions
- Keep is short and simple (KISS)
- Use a warning system
- Defer disruptive behaviour proactively (eye contact, close space between you and student, use head/hand gestures)
- Help students be successful
- Use planned ignoring (and teach other student to also ignore)
Learner Profile Signing Gallery
This pdf has a very simple outline of how these images and linked words "may" be used as a simple exercise geared towards scaffolding students in the process of reflection through discussion and sharing.
learner_profile_a4_posters_1.pdf | |
File Size: | 359 kb |
File Type: |
8 Ways Teachers Can Talk Less And Get
Students Talking More
Who is doing a majority of the talking in your classroom?
It’s the person who is doing the majority of the talking that tends to do the most learning, so what is the teacher/student talking ratio in your classroom? If you find yourself always talking more than your students, try and figure out some ways to empower your students so they are more involved in the learning.
On the surface, this seems like a pretty straight-forward issue. If you do fewer teacher-directed activities, that means the kids will naturally do more talking, doesn’t it? But not necessarily. I have often found myself talking almost constantly during group work and student-directed projects because I’m trying to push kids’ thinking, provide feedback, and help them stay on task.
Even when the learning has been turned over to the students, it’s still tempting to spend too much time giving directions, repeating important information, and telling students how they did instead of asking them to reflect on their work. Here are 8 ways teachers can talk less and getting students talking more:
1. Don’t steal the struggle.
It can be uncomfortable to watch kids struggle to figure out an answer, but they need time and silence to work through it. Resist the urge to talk students through every step of a problem and instead just observe. Similarly, learn to love think time. I often worry about keeping the momentum of a lesson going, and it’s uncomfortable for me to allow several moments of silent “wait time”or “think time” before calling on students. However, I try to push against the feeling that I will lose students’ attention because I know providing wait time can actually increase the length and quality of their responses. Letting kids think instead of rushing in to narrate or question builds anticipation around what’s going to be said next and increases participation as more kids are prepared to move into the conversation.
2. Move from the front of the classroom.
It’s easy to get in an instructional rut when you stand at the same place near the board all day long. Try occasionally sitting on the side of the classroom or in an absent student’s desk and say, “I need someone to go up and demonstrate ___ for us.” Because students are used to the person at the board facilitating the lesson, they are likely to talk for much longer than if you stay at the front and they’re in their seats answering you. You can even remain sitting among the class once the student is done demonstrating and ask follow up questions from other students instead of commenting on the students’ demo yourself (“What do all think? Is that an effective method–how do you know? Does anyone use a different strategy?”)
3. Teach students signals for your often-repeated phrases and for transitions.
Cut down on conversations about bathroom/water/pencil sharpening/etc by teaching kids to use sign language to request permission: use sign language to indicate your answer back: yes, no, or wait. I also like to teach kids sign language for please, thank you, and you’re welcome so that I can reinforce their good choices and acknowledge kids without constantly talking. Use music, a chime, or other auditory signal to indicate when it’s time to start an activity, pause, and clean up. The idea here is to give kids a break from hearing your voice: they are far more likely to tune in to a unique sound than to a 20 word direction.
4. Use non-verbal reinforcement for behaviour whenever possible.
A lot of the talking most of us do throughout the day is related to student behaviour, and most of the time, we’re wasting our breath. Resist the urge to lecture students every time someone forgets their materials, interrupts your lesson, or makes an inappropriate noise. It’s far more effective (not to mention easier and less disruptive) to give students “the teacher look” and keep the lesson moving. If you need to have a conversation about the behaviour with a student or issue a consequence, try to wait for a break in your instruction rather than stop the whole class from learning while you discipline one kid.
5. Turn your statements into questions and prompts.
Instead of saying to a group, “Nice work over here, I like the strategy you used for ___”, ask the kids to reflect on their own work: “Tell me how your group has chosen to solve ___.” Instead of telling a child, “Take a look at #3, that answer is incorrect” say, “Would you tell me how you got the answer for #3?” Not only will these questions get kids talking instead of you, kids will also have the chance to reflect on and articulate their learning.
6. Instead of asking, “Does that make sense?” say, “Can you put that in your own words?”
If you’ve ever asked kids “Are you getting this?”, you’ve probably noticed you rarely get an insightful response. So, you either move on without kids understanding or you repeat something you’ve already said. Try inviting kids to put what you’ve explained into their own words, either repeating it back to you (if you were helping the child in a one-on-one conversation) or by turning and talking to a partner/doing a quick think/pair/share.
7. Stop repeating yourself.
It’s tempting to say important points and instructions a couple of different ways to make sure every child understands, but that strategy can backfire when it’s overused. Kids learn that it’s okay to tune you out because you’ll repeat everything you say. Instead, experiment with different strategies forgetting kids to follow directions the first time you give them and use call-and-repsonse routines to get kids’ attention right away.
8. Notice moments when you summarise/review for students and instead get their input.
If you hear yourself saying once again, remember, as I said, as always, so to sum this up, or don’t forget, that probably means you’re about to drive home an important point for the second or third (or tenth) time. Practice making those moments a chance for kids to share: What’s the rule about this? Who can sum this section up for us? Who remembers the way to determine ___? Some teachers even turn these moments into interactive activities, where the whole class does a hand motion, body movement, sound, or chant to indicate that they’re summarising an idea or reviewing directions before getting started.
Who is doing a majority of the talking in your classroom?
It’s the person who is doing the majority of the talking that tends to do the most learning, so what is the teacher/student talking ratio in your classroom? If you find yourself always talking more than your students, try and figure out some ways to empower your students so they are more involved in the learning.
On the surface, this seems like a pretty straight-forward issue. If you do fewer teacher-directed activities, that means the kids will naturally do more talking, doesn’t it? But not necessarily. I have often found myself talking almost constantly during group work and student-directed projects because I’m trying to push kids’ thinking, provide feedback, and help them stay on task.
Even when the learning has been turned over to the students, it’s still tempting to spend too much time giving directions, repeating important information, and telling students how they did instead of asking them to reflect on their work. Here are 8 ways teachers can talk less and getting students talking more:
1. Don’t steal the struggle.
It can be uncomfortable to watch kids struggle to figure out an answer, but they need time and silence to work through it. Resist the urge to talk students through every step of a problem and instead just observe. Similarly, learn to love think time. I often worry about keeping the momentum of a lesson going, and it’s uncomfortable for me to allow several moments of silent “wait time”or “think time” before calling on students. However, I try to push against the feeling that I will lose students’ attention because I know providing wait time can actually increase the length and quality of their responses. Letting kids think instead of rushing in to narrate or question builds anticipation around what’s going to be said next and increases participation as more kids are prepared to move into the conversation.
2. Move from the front of the classroom.
It’s easy to get in an instructional rut when you stand at the same place near the board all day long. Try occasionally sitting on the side of the classroom or in an absent student’s desk and say, “I need someone to go up and demonstrate ___ for us.” Because students are used to the person at the board facilitating the lesson, they are likely to talk for much longer than if you stay at the front and they’re in their seats answering you. You can even remain sitting among the class once the student is done demonstrating and ask follow up questions from other students instead of commenting on the students’ demo yourself (“What do all think? Is that an effective method–how do you know? Does anyone use a different strategy?”)
3. Teach students signals for your often-repeated phrases and for transitions.
Cut down on conversations about bathroom/water/pencil sharpening/etc by teaching kids to use sign language to request permission: use sign language to indicate your answer back: yes, no, or wait. I also like to teach kids sign language for please, thank you, and you’re welcome so that I can reinforce their good choices and acknowledge kids without constantly talking. Use music, a chime, or other auditory signal to indicate when it’s time to start an activity, pause, and clean up. The idea here is to give kids a break from hearing your voice: they are far more likely to tune in to a unique sound than to a 20 word direction.
4. Use non-verbal reinforcement for behaviour whenever possible.
A lot of the talking most of us do throughout the day is related to student behaviour, and most of the time, we’re wasting our breath. Resist the urge to lecture students every time someone forgets their materials, interrupts your lesson, or makes an inappropriate noise. It’s far more effective (not to mention easier and less disruptive) to give students “the teacher look” and keep the lesson moving. If you need to have a conversation about the behaviour with a student or issue a consequence, try to wait for a break in your instruction rather than stop the whole class from learning while you discipline one kid.
5. Turn your statements into questions and prompts.
Instead of saying to a group, “Nice work over here, I like the strategy you used for ___”, ask the kids to reflect on their own work: “Tell me how your group has chosen to solve ___.” Instead of telling a child, “Take a look at #3, that answer is incorrect” say, “Would you tell me how you got the answer for #3?” Not only will these questions get kids talking instead of you, kids will also have the chance to reflect on and articulate their learning.
6. Instead of asking, “Does that make sense?” say, “Can you put that in your own words?”
If you’ve ever asked kids “Are you getting this?”, you’ve probably noticed you rarely get an insightful response. So, you either move on without kids understanding or you repeat something you’ve already said. Try inviting kids to put what you’ve explained into their own words, either repeating it back to you (if you were helping the child in a one-on-one conversation) or by turning and talking to a partner/doing a quick think/pair/share.
7. Stop repeating yourself.
It’s tempting to say important points and instructions a couple of different ways to make sure every child understands, but that strategy can backfire when it’s overused. Kids learn that it’s okay to tune you out because you’ll repeat everything you say. Instead, experiment with different strategies forgetting kids to follow directions the first time you give them and use call-and-repsonse routines to get kids’ attention right away.
8. Notice moments when you summarise/review for students and instead get their input.
If you hear yourself saying once again, remember, as I said, as always, so to sum this up, or don’t forget, that probably means you’re about to drive home an important point for the second or third (or tenth) time. Practice making those moments a chance for kids to share: What’s the rule about this? Who can sum this section up for us? Who remembers the way to determine ___? Some teachers even turn these moments into interactive activities, where the whole class does a hand motion, body movement, sound, or chant to indicate that they’re summarising an idea or reviewing directions before getting started.
The 40 Reflection Questions
edutopia-stw-replicatingpbl-21stcacad-reflection-questions.pdf | |
File Size: | 94 kb |
File Type: |
The 40 Reflection Questions
Backward-Looking:
1. How much did you know about the subject before we started?
2. What process did you go through to produce this piece?
3. Have you done a similar kind of work in the past (earlier in the year or in a previous grade; in school or out of school)?
4. In what ways have you gotten better at this kind of work?
5. In what ways do you think you need to improve?
6. What problems did you encounter while you were working on this piece? How did you solve them?
7. What resources did you use while working on this piece? Which ones were especially helpful? Which ones would you use again?
8. Does this work tell a story?
Inward-Looking:
9. How do you feel about this piece of work? What parts of it do you particularly like? Dislike? Why? What did/do you enjoy about this piece or work?
10. What was especially satisfying to you about either the process or the finished product?
11. What did/do you find frustrating about it?
12. What were your standards for this piece of work?
13. Did you meet your standards?
14. What were your goals for meeting this piece of work? Did your goals change as you worked on it? Did you meet your goals?
15. What does this piece reveal about you as a learner?
16. What did you learn about yourself as you worked on this piece?
17. Have you changed any ideas you used to have on this subject?
18. Find another piece of work that you did at the beginning of the year to compare and contrast with this what changes can you see?
19. How did those changes come about?
20. What does that tell you about yourself and how you learn?
Outward-Looking:
21. Did you do your work the way other people did theirs?
22. In what ways did you do it differently?
23. In what ways was your work or process similar?
24. If you were the teacher, what comments would you make about this piece?
25. What grade would you give it? Why?
26. What the one thing you particularly want people to notice when they look at your work?
27. What do your classmates particularly notice about your piece when they look at it?
28. In what ways did your work meet the standards for this assignment?
29. In what ways did it not meet those standards?
30. If someone else were looking at the piece, what might they learn about who you are?
Forward-Looking:
31. One thing I would like to improve upon is ...
32. What would you change if you had a chance to do this piece over again?
33. What will you change in the next revision of this piece?
34. What's the one thing that you have seen in your classmates' work or process that you would like to try in your next piece?
35. As you look at this piece, what's one thing that you would like to try to improve upon?
36. What's one goal you would like to set for yourself for next time?
37. What would you like to spend more time on in school?
38. What might you want next year's teacher to know about you (what things you're good at)?
39. What things you might want more help with?
40. What work would you show her to help her understand those things?