General Teaching Techniques



General Teaching Techniques

• Act with professionalism in all aspects of your classroom visits.

• Be consistent with classroom procedures and expectations so that students know what is expected of them and what to expect from you.

• Get to know your students and show that you care about them.

• Give praise often and use a ‘feeling tone’ of voice. Positive statements encourage all students to perform better.

• Set high, but realistic, expectations for all of your learners.

• Encourage curiosity. Demonstrate the importance of asking questions and teach students to ask and answer their own questions.

• Give students freedom to work independently and direct their own investigations.

• Plan time in each lesson for students to share their learning with each other.

• Give the students feedback on their work (formal or informal) as soon as possible. (This may be done mostly by your teacher or in conjunction with your teacher.)

Classroom Management

Managing Disruptive Behavior: The most effective way to obtain positive behavior from your students is to plan meaningful, interactive lessons that keep the students engaged and thinking the entire time you are in the classroom. However, even with stellar lessons, students may sometimes be disruptive and inattentive. Below are simple tips that can improve student focus and indirectly address negative student behavior.

• Move around the room. As you convey information, lead discussions, and assist with investigations constantly stroll to different locations.

• Move in when students are distracted. If you are leading a discussion and notice that one group is whispering and giggling go stand right next to them for a minute (or even less).

• Design lessons as a series of small activities (as opposed to one large activity) so that student progress is easily monitored and students who are off task can be quickly redirected.

• Praise students by name if they are on-task and participating. Also, mention students by name to redirect their attention and focus to the lesson.

• Use an Attention Getting Signal (see below)

Attention getting signal: This is a device used to get the full attention of the class. You should only address the class when all the students are quiet AND listening. Science lessons often involve independent group work so it is necessary to have a technique to switch the focus of the class back to you. You may adopt one of the examples listed below or use a technique that is already in place. If you are implementing a new technique be sure to practice it several times before you use it and continue to practice throughout the year if students stop being good listeners.

• Raise your hand and say, “May I have an audience please?” Students respond by looking at you, listening, and raising their hand.

• Raise you open hand and say, “Give Me Five.”  Slowly count down from five to zero. At zero all students should be quiet and listening.

• Raise your hand and make the quiet coyote sign (mouth closed, ears open). Students respond by making the quiet coyote sign in return when they are quiet and listening.

• Other attention getting signals included turning off the lights, ringing a bell, or making some other type of noise.

Instruction

Focus Activity: This is a question, problem, or short activity that is used to start your science time in the classroom. It may be used to review the activities from the last day of class or assess student prior knowledge about the current topic of study. It should be posted and/or presented immediately when science time starts in the classroom. Any written part of this activity can be completed in the science notebooks. This activity may be completed individually or in small groups and usually leads to a whole class discussion. I highly recommend using a focus activity every time you are in the classroom to help establish a routine.

Student learning objectives: You should post learning objectives for each lesson, written in language the students can understand, before each lesson (in lower grade levels they may just be discussed). It is important that you, as the teacher, and the students understand the purpose of the lesson and the desired outcomes.

Examples:

Students will be able to (often implied, not written):

a) Identify the roots, stems, leaves, and flowers of plants.

b) Compare the roots, stems, leaves, or flowers of various plants.

c) Observe and record changes in plants as they grow.

Organization:

• Each lesson should start with some sort of focus activity and a discussion of the student learning objectives. This may serve as your introduction to the day’s lesson or you may craft an additional activity.

• The heart of your lesson should consist of a few, relatively short, activities.

o For example, you can break up a long lab the following way: first, introduce the topic of investigation, ask students to make predictions and discuss them briefly, read the instructions (either individually, in small groups, or as a class), direct students to complete the lab in small groups, and then lead a discussion of the results and how they compare to the initial predictions.

o For a knowledge-building day you can plan some combination of the following activities: an experimentation phase where students use basic materials to generate questions about the topic of study (and then share and discuss these questions), note-taking and discussion to learn basic terms and ideas (notes can go in the science notebooks), demonstrations to reinforce key ideas (with predictions and discussion), and a simple experiment (students record their results, and then relate their results to terms and ideas learned in class)

• Each lesson should end with a conclusion activity. This may be a series of questions that you pose to the class, a closing or summary activity (see below), or independent reflection in the science notebooks.

Question Think Time: After asking a question wait in uninterrupted silence for a set amount of time (at least 3 seconds but also depending on the age group and difficulty of question) before asking for a response. This technique serves to encourage better responses from the students and pushes you to ask questions that require more complex thinking.

Use the following prompts to enhance think time:

• Listen and be ready to respond to this question.

• Craft an answer to this question in your mind.

• Organize your thoughts and be ready to share your ideas.

• Think to yourself, what if…

• Think how you would solve this problem or answer this question.

• Review to yourself…

• Visualize or picture your answer.

Asking Meaningful Questions

|Bloom’s Taxonomy (Levels of |Verbal or written student response |Where the students find |Examples of Questions: |

|understanding) |will contain: |the answers: | |

|Knowledge and Comprehension |Evidence |The object under scrutiny |a) What color are a tree’s leaves in |

| |(describing data and observations) |(basic observations) |the spring? |

| | | |b) Describe the color and texture of |

| | | |snow as it falls and then lands on |

| | | |your finger. |

|Analysis |Inferences (explaining the data and |Analysis and |a) Why do the leaves turn brown before|

| |observations) |interpretation of the |they fall off the tree? |

| | |object under scrutiny |b) What is the temperature like when |

| | | |it snows? |

|Synthesis and Evaluation |Thesis statements (making |Prior knowledge and |a) What makes the tree lose its |

| |connections and predictions based on|developing ideas about the|leaves? |

| |evidence and inferences) |object under scrutiny |b) How would you predict whether or |

| | | |not it will snow? |

Active Participation: Techniques to Increase Student Engagement

*Note: Techniques in italics are effective at lower grade levels (K-2).

Assigning Roles: If students are sharing a science notebook or completing a group science activity it is often helpful to assign different responsibilities to each student. Ask each student to write their name in the science notebook followed by a number (1, 2, 3 or 4). Alternatively, give each science group member a number (1, 2, 3 or 4) and make sure you record the numbers as well. Then on different days students will perform different tasks. For example, on Monday all the numbers ones can record and organize the data, on Wednesday all the number ones can be data collectors, and so on. Students may take on more than one role as necessary. Assigning roles takes time to set up in the beginning but once the students know the routine it can be a useful tool. For the first few times you may want to post the descriptions for each role. Also, the roles may change depending on the type of activity.

Science Investigation Roles (variable)

Questioner: Check group progress and ask the other students and instructor questions

Recorder: Record and organize the data in the lab notebook (this role can easily be combined with the questioner role)

Materials and Time Manager: Keep track of all the materials, alert the group to time limits, and clean up and organize the materials

Data Collector: Perform the experiment and tell the recorder accurate information (can be 2 students)

General Roles (to use when students are answering a question as a group or writing a summary of an investigation)

Questioner: Check group progress and ask the other students and instructor questions

Summarizer: Listen to the group input and organize and convey the key ideas to the recorder

Recorder: Write down group questions, predictions, ideas, thoughts, interpretations, and analysis

Clarifier: Identify areas of confusion and help the group elucidate ideas

KWL: First, ask the students to make a simple chart with 3 columns. The first column is for what they already know (K), the second is for what they want to know (W), and the final column can be filled in at the end of class with what they have learned (L). This technique encourages the students to explore their prior knowledge about a topic and direct their own learning by thinking about what new information they want to learn. This can also be done as a class with you recording the different student ideas for lower grade levels.

How many ways can you…?: This is very useful technique in science lessons. It gives students the freedom to explore and experiment when there are multiple solutions to one problem. For example, provide students with one wire, one light bulb, and one battery and ask them to find how many ways they can make the light bulb turn on.

Pair Share: Pose a question, problem, or prompt, give the students think time, and direct the students to share their responses with another student (in pairs). Then, ask students to share the information they learned from their buddy. For upper grade levels this can also be used with a statement. Students can decide if they agree or disagree with a statement and then use their science notebooks or notes to back up their position.

Choral Response: Ask all students to respond as one voice. Listen for disagreements and direct further discussion accordingly.

Popsicle Sticks in a Can: Put the names of students on popsicle sticks and place them in a small can or jar. Pose a question to the whole group, give wait time, and tell all students to listen and be ready to respond to a student’s answer. Pull out a stick and ask that student to respond. Then, pull out another stick and ask that student to respond to the initial answer.

Roundtable: Break the students up into teams. Ask a question with many possible answers (Example: List the causes of weathering and erosion). Using one sheet of paper, students make a list. Each person adds one item and then passes the paper to the person on their left. Then, make a list on the board by going around the room and getting responses from each group.

Draw A Picture: At the end of a segment of teacher-directed instruction, ask students to work in pairs to create a graphic summary to organize the information or make a drawing based on the information you just provided.

Response Wheels (or Cards): Students have a wheel with different colored sections (or differently colored cards). Identify what each color represents, such as blue for true and yellow for false. Students can use their wheels to respond to teacher statements or questions.

Fingers or Thumbs: Identify what one, two, three, four, or five fingers represents (or thumbs up, down, and to the side). Students use their fingers or thumbs to provide appropriate responses.

Jumbled Summary: Write key words or phrases from an explanation in random order on the board or overhead. Following the demonstration or discussion ask the students to work in pairs to unscramble the terms and order them in the correct sequence.

Alphabet Summary: At the end of a demonstration or explanation put students in small groups. Give each student a different letter of the alphabet and ask them to work together to think of one word or idea beginning with their letter that is connected to the topic just concluded. Groups can share their best letter/word combinations.

Closing Activity: Pass out note cards or small pieces of paper to each student. Ask each student to write down two additional questions about the topic that was just investigated or explained. This reinforces the importance of asking questions in science and can be used as a review for the next day of class.

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