Unit 3 Teaching Strategies Discussion

I am in middle school. I often think the expectations of the students and their ability to work in a group, self-directing themselves is above their maturity level. I see students struggle with the fact that all group members are not equal contributors. The role of facilitator works best when I lead a whole group discussion and keep everyone more engaged. We do occasionally circle up and give everyone an opportunity to speak which helps those who would rather sit on the sidelines or don’t feel like they have a voice in their small groups that are student-led.

@carol_guerin Thank you for sharing how you worked with your student who has some Autism. We all have students in our classes who need some flexibility in the way we work with them and have them work with their peers. I appreciate learning how other teachers navigate such situations.

If you have other strategies you’ve used successful or not, please share.

One thing that I have learned this year is to allow all of my students to have a voice. Even when they have the answer wrong… if they are able to justify their wrong answer… it means the world to me.

With this course I find that when I introduce a new content it is better for me to use power points that go step by step. I am a novice a ECS so it helps me when there is content that I am not as proficient in. When a concept is introduced my students like that we go step by step together. Then after the introductory lesson they like to go at their own pace (I will give them time constraints).

The lecture method definitely does not work for a long period of time. Having computers makes it a lot easier because its more of a guided lesson.

The ultimate goal would be for students to create their own lessons and activities. Some students want to work in groups with this style and others want to do it independently.

Right now I have all the students working on the same activities. If a group finished before the allotted time they are given another activity that involves the same content. My students have responded well to the way we are doing things.

Kenya,

I use presentations (Google Slides) for everything. It helps me keep organized and I share them with the class and students always have a reference point. So much of this course is going to be new to you and them - its great to use the “lead learner” model and know where to go for resources instead of feeling like you have to be an expert. Sometimes I even tell my students that if I was an expert, I’d be working at Google and riding a Razor around their headquarters!

Brad

My students enjoy the hands on activities and the facilitator/coaching that we do in class. The students have really opened up about the different topics and for the most part stay on topic when we have class discussion.

It has been hard to change my way of teaching. I found I had to explain to my students how I was going to be because they are so used to the teaching style, not facilitator. I actually have loved this and have noticed that my students are better able to think critically and try to figure things out on their own, rather than just waiting for me to give the answer. I want to try and convert the other subjects I teach to be like this! My students seem to love this style of learning and take more ownership of their education.

@alison_ence I have also switched my other classes over to be more inquiry/ facilitator led and have seen the students respond really well. Glad to hear you’re having the same experience.

Although I struggled with not being the “know all” person in the class. I am of a generation of teachers that sometimes struggle and think they have to know more about a topic or be more prepared about a concept than their students. The way the inquiry/facilitator role is structured into this course, therefore, has been a struggle for me. Nonetheless, I realized I had to embrace it and get comfortable with my new “role.” Once I did that, I truly believe we all are learning at a higher level.

Cindy,

Awesome to have that “Growth Mindset”! I believe there is great power in modeling the “lifetime learner” behavior for our students to know they can always learn and get better at anything!

Brad

Students are active learners, instead of passively listening to the teacher. Students are resistant, however, because they are used to being “fed” the answers.

@dbk3035

Inquiry and active learning is a transition for both students and teachers, but I applaud you for taking the leap to inquiry teaching so that students get to solve or find better ways to complete tasks, on and off the computer as they learn how to apply the problem solving process and write algorithms to multiple areas in life.

The students love the idea of learning from each other and taking charge and responsibility of their education. Lots of grumbles at first for the journaling part, but they have begun to appreciate it because they can refer back to their entries and refresh their memories and expand on past ideas.

Students love this approach…I teach middle school and many of them love working together and helping each other out. I love watching them work hard and figure it our rather than me showing/teaching the answer!

The benefits to this style of approach is that you allow the students to show the knowledge of the subject. If helps to give you an idea of which students are not afraid to speak up and voice their opinions. Some students don’t want to talk and are very shy, when it comes to voicing their opinions. So you will have the students that don’t like to share.

@ecampbell

Have you tried having students share tips and tricks for learning new content or review via post-its on the board or sharing in a discussion on a Learning Management Platform (Canvas)? This might give some voice to some of those quieter students.

That’s a great idea, I will try that.