Tips For Teaching Effectiveness

by Dr. Mickey Wircenski

Educators are busy people.  There is always the pressure to practice new strategies and “best practices” in teaching.  Most teachers are already using a wide variety of effective teaching strategies.  However, it is always useful to take a moment to review those strategies that are research-based and have been proven to be successful in classrooms.  Below is a collection of “best practices” that have been used in classrooms across the country to capture students’ attention and make them want to learn:

·         Use current events as a foundation for lessons to develop relevance

·         Use discussions and ask for opinions

·         Use active then passive activity

·         Use cooperative learning activities

·         Teach in small chunks

·         Create student interest surveys

·         Use open-ended questions

·         Present ideas to brainstorm

·         Develop two alternatives and set up debate

·         Focus on student journals and weekly submissions

·         Use Gardner’s multiple intelligences theory for making assignments

·         Offer extra credit

·         Give students choices, plan what to do but not how to do it

·         Contact resource people

·         Develop contracts for learning differences or difficulties

·         Develop enrichment activities for assignments that all students will complete

·         Make students think about the world and their place in it

·         Capture students’ imaginations so they will want to take a lesson a step further

·         Allow for student input in developing and assignment projects

·         Practice random participation of group sharing

·         Provide support for student opinions

·         Develop teacher-written scenarios for students to solve

·         Rotate mini-lectures and practice activities.

Even with a busy schedule, CTE teachers should periodically take the time to reflect on their own classroom delivery strategies, continue using what is working and incorporate new ideas.  Along with the self reflection it is also essential to have a colleague provide feedback.  Oftentimes they see things that we don’t and have had success with strategies that we have not yet tried.

Source

Bosch, K. (2006).  Planning Classroom Management: A Five-Step Process to Creating a Positive Learning Environment. (2^nd Edition).  Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.