4--Know+How+To+Teach

Teachers Know How To Teach Students in my classroom benefit from a variety of teaching methods. I believe using a variety of methods helps students develop strong study skills. Preparing for a written test and creating a group presentation require different skill sets. By utilizing many approaches, students have the opportunity to practice different ways of learning.

Direct Instruction Direct instruction is necessary in school, but cannot stand alone. As children grow older, they must learn the craft of taking notes. At times, telling or informing students of concepts is appropriate. DI should never, however, stand alone within a unit. Students require working through material to store information in their long-term memories. I do put my notes online for students so they are able to review their own notes as they study. Below is an example of notes from an 8th grade religion class. media type="custom" key="9219410" align="center" Collaborative Projects Group projects are often dreaded by parents. They do not appreciate the outside work that tends to fall on the shoulders of one students. When I choose to assign group projects, I structure them in a way that allows each child to take ownership and responsibility of the groups' work. Self-evaluations are a great tool for helping me see into the dynamics of the group. I also use class time to facilitate collaboration that may not otherwise occur outside of school. Clear rubrics also allow students to be very clear in their responsibilities in the project. One of my favorite group projects was a class project with digital storytelling. After reading __Where The Red Fern Grows__, students worked in groups to retell different portions of the novel. When we put all the groups' efforts together, we created a wonderful Voicethread to share with parents, friends, and relatives. media type="custom" key="9219544" I believe students need to develop their technological skills to prepare for their future. In working toward this goal, students created wikis as a form of a book report on __The Westing Game__. After modeling the use of wikis and other Web 2.0 tools, students were able to put together their group book reports under my supervision. I am proud of their creativity, collaboration, and hard work required to produce these wikis. Experiential Learning In a lesson about delayed gratification as a sign of maturity, I used a classic experiment involving marshmallows. Students were tempted by one marshmallow for fifteen minutes. If they could resist the urge to eat the marshmallow for fifteen minutes, they received a second one. Students were able to demonstrate their ability or effort in delaying gratification. We also included this TedTalk video to provide some background on this experiment. We had a fun and messy time.