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Effective Teaching

Best Practices in Teaching

ISTE Standards:

  1. Facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity

  2. Promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness

As a class, we discussed how students learn best as well as how each individual student learns differently. Following our discussions, we watched the video (above) from a TED Talk lesson and answered some questions. Click below to see how I responded:

Ms. Becky says...
Common Recommendations from National Curricular Reports

(From “Best Practice: Today’s Standards for Teaching and Learning in America’s Schools,” by Zemelman, S., Daniels, H., & Hyde, A.

Instruction is more effective and engaging when there is LESS:

  • Whole-class, teacher directed instruction (ex., lecturing)

  • Student passivity (sitting, listening, receiving)

  • 1-way transmission of information from teacher to student

  • valuing and awarding silence in the classroom

  • classroom time devoted to fill in the blank worksheets, workbooks

  • student time spent reading textbooks

  • attempts by teacher to thinly cover large amounts of material in every subject area

  • rote memorization of facts and details

  • emphasis on competition and grades in schools

  • tracking or leveling of students into ability groups

Instruction is less dull and tedious when there is MORE:

  • activity, with all the subsequent noise and movement of students

  • experiential, hands-on learning

  • diversity in teachers’ roles, including coaching, demonstrating, and modeling

  • emphasis with higher order thinking

  • deep study of a smaller number of topics

  • responsibility transferred to students for their work: goal setting, record keeping, monitoring, sharing, exhibiting, and evaluating

  • choices for students (ex., choosing their own books, writing topics, team partners, projects)

  • enacting and modeling the principles of democracy in school

  • attention to affective needs and varying cognitive styles of students

  • cooperative, collaborative activity

  • delivery of special help to students in regular classrooms

  • varied and cooperative roles for teachers, parents, and administrators

  • reliance on descriptive evaluations of student growth, including observational/anecdotal records, conference notes

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