"If a child can't learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn." Ignacio Estrada
Monday, February 14, 2011
Instructional Strategies
Think back to when you were an elementary, middle or high school student. Describe the most memorable experience you had as a learner. Describe the instructional strategy the teacher used to make the experience and learning come to life for you.
I had a hard time reading when I was in elementary school. I was not up to expected reading level of my grade. I remember hating to read. I never wanted to do it and when it was time for silent reading I would just stare at my book and pretend I was reading. My 3rd grade teacher retired in the middle of the year and we got a new teacher. The new teacher talked to me privately one day about reading. She told me that she would keep track of how many books I read and passed tests over. Once I read and passed tests over ten books I would get a piece of candy. And I would keep getting a reward for every ten books I read. It may sound like a piece of candy wouldn’t motive a third grader but her strategy really worked on me. Even though it was just one piece of candy, I worked hard to reach that goal. At the end of that year, and she was only our teacher for half of that year, I was ahead of my reading level. I grew a love for reading because I saw that it could be fun and rewarding.
The learning experience I remember the most was in my high school world history class. I was never a big fan of history, I found much of it very boring and repetitive. In this class the teacher had us role play different events throughout history. Some of the activities we did included putting Plato on trial, and experiencing what a Roman court was like. Activities like this made history much more interesting to me. Through these activities I learned more than I ever did just reading text for that class.
I agree with Kyle when he said "Through these activities I learned more than I ever did just reading text for that class." Actually completing an activity and applying it to our own lives will help us learn the information. This type of learning take more thought and effort (in Bloom's Taxonomy) but it will help us remember the information better and hopefully transport the information to our long-term memories.
I remember when I was in second grade, and we were learning about the life cycle of a monarch. Ms. Wruck, our teacher, put in our desks in learning clusters of four and gave each group had a caterpillar. We put the caterpillar in a cage, where the corner of the desks met. As a group we would watch the progress of the caterpillar as it evolved into a butterfly. During this progress, we took notes and drew pictures. As a group we would work together to complete worksheets and have discussions. At the end of the cycle when the caterpillars became monarchs, we went outside and let the monarchs fly south for the winter. The teacher made learning more interesting for all of the class. She brought in a live insects and it evolved in front of us each day. We learned about the cycle of a monarch in a real world context. This went outside of the textbook to learn about the monarch. Ms. Wruck also helped us develop socially by working in groups. We all had the opportunity to work in a cooperative group.
I agree Christie's post about reading. Growing up, i absolutely hated reading. I went to a resource room for reading for a part of the day. This teacher did along the same lines of a reward for reading and passing a number tests. Instead of a piece of candy, we got to pick a prize out of her treasure chest. This whole experience molded me into a better reader and I actually enjoying reading now!
I like how Brooke pointed out that the activities her teacher did with her class made the learning more interesting. It is important for teachers to create these types of lessons or activities that will stick with students longer. Doing these types of activities makes students more excited to learn in the future.
The most memorable experience that I can remember from my school years took place in my 4th grade Science class. To me, Science was not that interesting. I had no real passion to learn about the material we would go over, until I entered that classroom in 4th grade. My Science teacher that I had that year was none like any other I have ever had. Her passion and excitement made all of the students so excited to learn the material. She was very loud and very interested in the observations and ideas that students would bring to the conversations. I think that part of the reason why I enjoyed her and the class so much was because of the interest that she showed in each and every student. It was obvious that she was there because she wanted to be there, and she was only there for her students. She would engage us with interesting projects with unpredictable outcomes. Even the reading material and tests were something that was enjoyable to me. I remember learning and taking away so much information that year of Science. I can only imagine what my school experiences would have turned out to be if all my teachers were as excited as my 4th grade Science teacher.
I can connect with the examples that Brooke gave about her 2nd grade teacher. I believe that having students work in an environment that is out of the ordinary and new to them will help them become more engaged in learning. Also, for students to work in groups will allow them to bounce different ideas off of each other.
When I was in sixth grade we spent a big part of the year learning about the government and how the State of Iowa ran. At the end of the school year we ended up taking a field trip to the State Capitol. It was so rewarding after a long time learning about the government and trying to picture it in our head, to actually see it in person. It really clicked for me, and made me appreciate what we had learned. I do not think that every learning experience should have this big of a field trip, but it was a good example of how it is very neat to experience things we learn about in different ways. It literally brings our lessons to life and gave meaning to what we had learned.
I agree with Christie in her blog post. Math never was my stronger subject, however I ended up in a math tag program. I got the extra help there, and got to learn at my own pace with one on one teacher time. I wanted to keep working hard because my teacher showed how much she really cared, and I realized how important learning was to her, and it carried over to me. I want to be that enthusiasm that students feed off from in the classroom.
When I was in 3rd grade, I was not very excited about math. When we started learning multiplication, I didn't understand it right away. My teacher come up with very creative activities to help us understand how to multiply. At a later point in the year, she put our multiplication skills to the test. She came up with this game called...I think it was, "terrific t's". She would choose a number and then have us multiply it by 1 through 10. The numbers, 1-10, were on the left side of the "t" and we wrote the answers on the right side. She'd have the students come up four at a time and we would compete to see who could finish the fastest with the right answers. She wouldn't check everyone's answers until everyone was done though. Then whoever were the three fastest students of that week, got their names put onto the window outside of the classroom. This really motivated me because I would work really hard at knowing my multiplication so I could get my name on the window. I think this was a good way to encourage students to learn their multiplication tables. The students who weren't always the fastest or may not have gotten all of them right weren't discouraged. My teacher made sure that everyone felt comfortable and would give the students praise and if the students were struggling, she was right there to help them.
I can connect with what Maggie said in her blog post. The teacher I had was also very full of life. She would break out into song or dance and would really have the students engaged. She was so full of energy and excitement, she was unlike any other teacher I've had. I remember I was always really excited to go to school in 3rd grade because I would be excited to find out what we would learn next.
There is one part of Chemistry that I will never forget and the is when we did chemistry unknowns. When we first started it was kind of nerve wracking because we really had no idea what we were doing, but after a the first one was done, it became more fun. We were now pros at doing these so we really had nothing to be nervous about. The teacher was pretty relaxed during these. We were on our own and it was up to us to figure out what our unknown was. She was there in case we had any questions or needed any help with anything but she didn't tell us what we were supposed to be doing for each step. I feel like this type of assessment was something that helped us, students, realize that we can do things on our own and didn't need the teacher there "holding our hands." This is one activity I will never forget because it was so much fun and so worth while.
I agree with Maggie when she talked about how much more fun learning is when you have a passionate teacher. Having a teacher who loves math, science, or any other subject, shows students that it is possible to be that excited about learning. Passionate teachers are able to come up with all kinds of fun activities for their students to do when learning about different things. I want to do anything I can to be that kind of teacher.
I had a hard time reading when I was in elementary school. I was not up to expected reading level of my grade. I remember hating to read. I never wanted to do it and when it was time for silent reading I would just stare at my book and pretend I was reading. My 3rd grade teacher retired in the middle of the year and we got a new teacher. The new teacher talked to me privately one day about reading. She told me that she would keep track of how many books I read and passed tests over. Once I read and passed tests over ten books I would get a piece of candy. And I would keep getting a reward for every ten books I read.
ReplyDeleteIt may sound like a piece of candy wouldn’t motive a third grader but her strategy really worked on me. Even though it was just one piece of candy, I worked hard to reach that goal. At the end of that year, and she was only our teacher for half of that year, I was ahead of my reading level. I grew a love for reading because I saw that it could be fun and rewarding.
The learning experience I remember the most was in my high school world history class. I was never a big fan of history, I found much of it very boring and repetitive. In this class the teacher had us role play different events throughout history. Some of the activities we did included putting Plato on trial, and experiencing what a Roman court was like. Activities like this made history much more interesting to me. Through these activities I learned more than I ever did just reading text for that class.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Kyle when he said "Through these activities I learned more than I ever did just reading text for that class." Actually completing an activity and applying it to our own lives will help us learn the information. This type of learning take more thought and effort (in Bloom's Taxonomy) but it will help us remember the information better and hopefully transport the information to our long-term memories.
ReplyDeleteI remember when I was in second grade, and we were learning about the life cycle of a monarch. Ms. Wruck, our teacher, put in our desks in learning clusters of four and gave each group had a caterpillar. We put the caterpillar in a cage, where the corner of the desks met. As a group we would watch the progress of the caterpillar as it evolved into a butterfly. During this progress, we took notes and drew pictures. As a group we would work together to complete worksheets and have discussions. At the end of the cycle when the caterpillars became monarchs, we went outside and let the monarchs fly south for the winter.
ReplyDeleteThe teacher made learning more interesting for all of the class. She brought in a live insects and it evolved in front of us each day. We learned about the cycle of a monarch in a real world context. This went outside of the textbook to learn about the monarch. Ms. Wruck also helped us develop socially by working in groups. We all had the opportunity to work in a cooperative group.
I agree Christie's post about reading. Growing up, i absolutely hated reading. I went to a resource room for reading for a part of the day. This teacher did along the same lines of a reward for reading and passing a number tests. Instead of a piece of candy, we got to pick a prize out of her treasure chest. This whole experience molded me into a better reader and I actually enjoying reading now!
ReplyDeleteI like how Brooke pointed out that the activities her teacher did with her class made the learning more interesting. It is important for teachers to create these types of lessons or activities that will stick with students longer. Doing these types of activities makes students more excited to learn in the future.
ReplyDeleteThe most memorable experience that I can remember from my school years took place in my 4th grade Science class. To me, Science was not that interesting. I had no real passion to learn about the material we would go over, until I entered that classroom in 4th grade. My Science teacher that I had that year was none like any other I have ever had. Her passion and excitement made all of the students so excited to learn the material. She was very loud and very interested in the observations and ideas that students would bring to the conversations. I think that part of the reason why I enjoyed her and the class so much was because of the interest that she showed in each and every student. It was obvious that she was there because she wanted to be there, and she was only there for her students. She would engage us with interesting projects with unpredictable outcomes. Even the reading material and tests were something that was enjoyable to me. I remember learning and taking away so much information that year of Science. I can only imagine what my school experiences would have turned out to be if all my teachers were as excited as my 4th grade Science teacher.
ReplyDeleteI can connect with the examples that Brooke gave about her 2nd grade teacher. I believe that having students work in an environment that is out of the ordinary and new to them will help them become more engaged in learning. Also, for students to work in groups will allow them to bounce different ideas off of each other.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in sixth grade we spent a big part of the year learning about the government and how the State of Iowa ran. At the end of the school year we ended up taking a field trip to the State Capitol. It was so rewarding after a long time learning about the government and trying to picture it in our head, to actually see it in person. It really clicked for me, and made me appreciate what we had learned. I do not think that every learning experience should have this big of a field trip, but it was a good example of how it is very neat to experience things we learn about in different ways. It literally brings our lessons to life and gave meaning to what we had learned.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Christie in her blog post. Math never was my stronger subject, however I ended up in a math tag program. I got the extra help there, and got to learn at my own pace with one on one teacher time. I wanted to keep working hard because my teacher showed how much she really cared, and I realized how important learning was to her, and it carried over to me. I want to be that enthusiasm that students feed off from in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in 3rd grade, I was not very excited about math. When we started learning multiplication, I didn't understand it right away. My teacher come up with very creative activities to help us understand how to multiply. At a later point in the year, she put our multiplication skills to the test. She came up with this game called...I think it was, "terrific t's". She would choose a number and then have us multiply it by 1 through 10. The numbers, 1-10, were on the left side of the "t" and we wrote the answers on the right side. She'd have the students come up four at a time and we would compete to see who could finish the fastest with the right answers. She wouldn't check everyone's answers until everyone was done though. Then whoever were the three fastest students of that week, got their names put onto the window outside of the classroom. This really motivated me because I would work really hard at knowing my multiplication so I could get my name on the window.
ReplyDeleteI think this was a good way to encourage students to learn their multiplication tables. The students who weren't always the fastest or may not have gotten all of them right weren't discouraged. My teacher made sure that everyone felt comfortable and would give the students praise and if the students were struggling, she was right there to help them.
I can connect with what Maggie said in her blog post. The teacher I had was also very full of life. She would break out into song or dance and would really have the students engaged. She was so full of energy and excitement, she was unlike any other teacher I've had. I remember I was always really excited to go to school in 3rd grade because I would be excited to find out what we would learn next.
ReplyDeleteThere is one part of Chemistry that I will never forget and the is when we did chemistry unknowns. When we first started it was kind of nerve wracking because we really had no idea what we were doing, but after a the first one was done, it became more fun. We were now pros at doing these so we really had nothing to be nervous about. The teacher was pretty relaxed during these. We were on our own and it was up to us to figure out what our unknown was. She was there in case we had any questions or needed any help with anything but she didn't tell us what we were supposed to be doing for each step. I feel like this type of assessment was something that helped us, students, realize that we can do things on our own and didn't need the teacher there "holding our hands." This is one activity I will never forget because it was so much fun and so worth while.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Maggie when she talked about how much more fun learning is when you have a passionate teacher. Having a teacher who loves math, science, or any other subject, shows students that it is possible to be that excited about learning. Passionate teachers are able to come up with all kinds of fun activities for their students to do when learning about different things. I want to do anything I can to be that kind of teacher.
ReplyDelete