Schools recognise that highly effective teaching practices are the key to improving student learning. Planning and delivering sessions with differentiated outcomes and activities is particularly crucial for enabling learners with literacy, language, numeracy and ICT needs to achieve. Separating schemes of work and lesson plans will meet the individual needs, aims and experiences of learners. Each learner can learn and should be able to validate ongoing development in their learning. Tutors need to ensure that all students are correctly engaged by designing classroom activities that meet the diverse learning needs of their learners. The use of differentiated learning is key to making learning accessible and fostering the development of language,
Providing a rich and varied context is essential, tutors should utilize a range of different methods to engage all students interests and learning styles. Identifying and meeting the learners needs are important so that tutors can facilitate students learning and ensure that both the students and tutors meet the required goals. Each learner is unique and brings to the learning situation their own different learning style, knowledge set, past experiences and motivational levels. It is important for tutors to consider the level of knowledge and skill development attained by the learners prior to instruction through a variety of different types of assessment, in order to offer a high quality learning experience, delivered and resourced to suit the needs of the learner. Tutors can assess learner needs through numerous means, such as; informal and formal assessment strategies, pre-course interviews and learning style tests. This will allow tutors to tailor lessons and activities to support learners individual needs.
Teaching demands a lot of creativity and being able to adapt to different situations and environments. However, in order to experience lasting success, more than pot luck, charisma and spontaneity are required. Planning is essential. Planning and preparation gives a certain level of confidence. Whether it is a single lesson or a whole course, planning allows you to design the learning journey you wish to take your students on. In designing, you can make sure that you are catering for all your learners’ needs. This includes sufficient differentiation; for SEN needs as well as your gifted and talented students. In planning you can ensure that your lessons have a definite beginning, middle and end and have clear aims and targets. At this stage you will also prepare and plan resources. Also, you must plan your assessments. How will you know when the students have learned what you set out to teach? How will they know? How are you going to prove that learning has taken place at the end of the course? All these points will be addressed in the planning stage of the teacher training cycle.
The most effective method of differentiating is to ensure that resources and assessment methods, as well as teaching and learning approaches meet individual learner needs. According to Francis and Gould (2013) setting a single objective for a whole group will not be appropriate for all learners, due to the diversity of the group, therefore, as Gravells (2008) suggests we must identify the learning needs, styles, aspirations and potential of our learners. At this very stage, any barriers and boundaries should be identified, so the teaching and learning approaches, assessment methods and resources can be planned accordingly.
SC2 Demonstrate an understanding of how students learn and effective classroom teaching strategies and the capacity to work with colleagues to continually improve teaching and learning.
Therefore, as a mentor in service learning, it was my job to recognize the students’ needs and differentiate instruction to meet my student’s needs. Every student learns the same things, but in different ways. Thus, I had to present the same task in different ways at the different levels so that my English Language Learner will understand the materials and learn. While tutoring my student Eh Kaw Soe I mostly touch on reading aloud, writing short sentences, short and long vowel, vocabulary and math. Also, I taught a different topic every Thursday. Moreover, before moving to the next topic, I reviewed the previous topic to make my student improved his metacognition about the topic and use his higher level of thinking skills. For example, every Thursday I write vocabulary words on the flash cards and go over before reading aloud and after reading to make sure the student understands the words that are used in the book. Moreover, I provided instruction in a step-by-step manner by modeling and demonstrating the task for my student with the level of their
“Good-quality teaching depends on effectively planned lessons” (Ofsted, 2011). A high demand in preparation of lesson planning is therefore required for an effective teaching and learning because there needs to be a development in continuity and progression in children’s learning. The curriculum should be structured in a way that it supports learning so that continuity takes place and that is something that is organised by the teacher (Wellington, J. and Ireson G,2008). Continuity being a relationship between experiences, activities and ideas which a pupil will comes across over a period of time. (Braund and Driver,2005) states that those relationships should be facilitated in the educational system and structured so that there is sufficient
Highly effective teachers create effective lessons that engage their students. In my construction class, I know the importance of effective lessons and preparing my students for the next chapter in their lives. Regardless of the course an educator teaches, there is a list of standards provided by the state and districts that teachers must follow. Effective teachers look at those standards and narrow them down to the power standards or what a student needs to know to be successful. In addition to the power standards, I need SMART goals, learning outcomes and learning objectives in place for my students. It is important that I use real-world applications to prepare my student for college and career readiness.
In my professional practice I highlight the need of students craving to be stretched and challenged to provide a foundation for motivation and learner satisfaction. This links with the planning within my lessons to teach the curriculum. Within my teaching I have high aspirations for the learners and encourage them to succeed. This is shown within my teaching and planning as I display enthusiasm towards challenging tasks. This aspires students to stimulate and accelerate students learning. It has been proven that teacher led sessions demotes leaners achievements and it is best to deploy appropriate range of communicative strategies to engage students. (Ofsted, 2013)
The teaching and learning strategies included in this lesson plan come directly from the series of documents produced by the Curriculum Council (1998) for each individual learning area. This justification in individual strategies is matched by the planned progression of the lessons that aims for an increasingly sophisticated understanding of
According to our textbook Student Teaching, “High quality always suggests something that goes beyond the ordinary.” In order to determine the quality of a preschool program and classroom setting, we were asked to evaluate a preschool classroom using the Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scale. Like the PAS evaluation and the ITERS evaluation, the ECERS helps us to evaluate quality also. The ECERS evaluates the quality within a classroom and allows us to determine if the classroom setting provides high quality and it also helps us to determine any areas within the classroom that may need improvement. Below is my reflection on my ECERS evaluation of the 4 year old program/room I chose to observe.
In two high schools, a research was done to see how to promote teachers teaching the way students learn best. This research was done over a five-year span as a class elective with hand picked students to participate with consent from parents. The two high schools were named Woodson and Northside. Each of these schools has unique aspects that the other school doesn’t have. Even though the differences were presented, the results were almost the same.
I believe effective teaching and learning encompasses three main components. The first is for a student to feel they are in a safe environment; physically safe from bullying or injury as well as the safety to make a mistake or to be wrong sometimes. The second is that the instructor should approach each lesson with the conviction that every child can and will learn. Finally, the third is for the instructor to assess the mastery level of the students on any given skill, meet them where they are, and then facilitate growth to the students’ potential.
The relationship between effective teaching and student achievement is powerful. In fact, effective teaching instruction is the foundation for student success. According to Schmoker (2006), effective instruction plays a stronger role in student achievement than the economic nature of the community and/or the financial situation of a school district. A solid data-based curriculum taught by effective teachers is the key to improving lives and society in general. Teachers who practice elements of effective teaching are capable of helping their students reach their learning goals. In fact, a simple goal is where effective teaching begins.
Being a teacher involves much more than teaching a lesson. While designing a lesson using McTighe’s Backwards Design or Dr. Reeves Unwrapping Standards teachers needs to take in consideration the readiness, learning styles and interest of each student (Laureate Education, 2010). As a result, Dr. C. Tomlinson (Laureate Education, 2010) gives examples on differentiating based on the three characteristics. The first characteristic is readiness, this is refers to the students proximity to learning goals. The second is interest, what the student likes, his or her motivation. The last one, learning profile, this means how the student learn efficiently meaning the style, intelligence proficient, gender and culture. Knowing this will help the preparation of the lesson plans. I must plan a lesson that is not only guided by the power standard, but engages the students. This means I must differentiate in order for each student have success in their learning. I must plan with an end goal on mind and thinking how to reach each student by taking in consideration the content they should know by the end of the lesson, the process and product of their learning. Using Dr. C. Tomlinson and McTighe (2010) table of differentiating, I will plan how to help a group of student achieve success in my lesson.
Criterion two of the Teacher and Principal Evaluation Program is “Demonstrating Effective Teaching Practices” (CEL 5D+, 2014, p.3). The focal point of this criterion is developing teaching practices that engage all or most students. Implementing effective teaching practices positively affects students in a variety of ways. It allows students to learn the necessary skills for them to be independent lifelong learners, helps them develop a deeper understanding and meaning of texts, find solutions to real world problems, increase comprehension, thinking and reasoning skills as well as increases achievement (Alozie & Mitchell, 2014; Chun & Jang, 2012; Murphy, Wilkinson, Soter, Hennessey, & Alexander, 2009; Ong, Hart, & Chen, 2016; Patrick, Ryan and Kaplan, 2007; Van de Pol, Volman, Oort, & Beishuizen, 2015). Criterion two includes four sub-criterions. This section will provide a description and empirical evidence to support the following four sub-criterions: quality of questioning, expectation and support and opportunity for participation and meaning making, substance of student talk and finally, scaffolding tasks.