Instruction Techniques and Arrangements
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Choose a technique below for more information
- Follow-up questions
- Instructional approaches
- Types of assignments
- Other instructional considerations
In order to best facilitate dialogue in the classroom it is often necessary to “follow-up” student responses, to further develop students’ understanding of the present issue. After a student responds to a prompt use one of these follow-up questions.
- Ask for clarification
- Ask for a student to substantiate the response (often with textual evidence).
- Ask other students to evaluate the response (opinion).
- Check for consistency (Then how would you treat situation Y, if you do that for X?).
- Ask how the response is related to a previous issue or comment.
- Ask student to extrapolate/draw out the implications from their response.
- Resolve an aspect of the issue and move onto a new part.
- Prompts
- A prompt is a single question addressed to the entire class at once, either written or spoken. Prompts can be used for daily writing, to open discussion, but can also be used to direct group or cooperative discussion. With all prompts you must give specific directions that make it clear what outcome and details you expect.
- Modeling followed by practice
- Model expected practice on the board, or display students’ points of argument. Modeling before practice is always beneficial. However, this can take up class time and may not always be needed. Modeling especially benefits non-auditory learners.
- Presentations
- Presentations encourage students to think about audience. If done in small groups, presentations can benefit students with low self-esteem.
- Homework
- Homework either prepares students for the next lesson or practice what was learned in class. It doesn’t work very well as punishment.
- There is no guaranteed method of having students do the reading.
- Best results stem from students being involved in class. Involve students by asking about their day at the beginning of class, telling jokes, praising their ideas, giving everyone a chance, having respectable and consistently enforced standards in the classroom and on assignments, share your opinions, be honest about what you do and do not know, come to class prepared, be available. Have a predictable classroom routine, with occasional variation to keep things interesting. In short, make the classroom comfortable for students to be in.
- Homework either prepares students for the next lesson or practice what was learned in class. It doesn’t work very well as punishment.
Other instructional considerations:
- Humor is effective, but tricky. Humor can make you appear as a real person to students, not just a faceless instructor. It helps. However, a joke in the middle of an explanation or statement can be distracting and make it harder for students to follow the lesson.
- Sarcasm is dangerous. stay away from it. Anytime your humor will hurt someone in some way (as would sarcasm) you run a dangerous risk that the student will not take your sarcasm as a joke.
- Puns are fine, even bad ones.
- Always make it obvious you are joking.
- Never call students dumb or stupid.
- Humor is especially effective as a tool for managing trouble students at the beginning of class, before class really begins.
- One teacher's example: I try to use jokes that belittle possible problem sites by going "overboard" in caricature of the problem, so much that it is obvious I couldn't be serious, sending the message that the issue isn't an issue to me at all. An example would be where I had a really short girl in class. Once I started hearing comments about her height, I went over and said I'd find out how short she really was. Starting at her head I moved my hand downward to my knee like someone comparing
heights, but diagonally down instead of across. I then remarked "Yep! She doesn't even come up to my knee."
- Your Body Language is read by your students all the time.
- Put your hands in your pockets or behind your back when you are trying to be serious. We tend to clench our hands when tense.
- Don't cross your arms. This is an antagonistic stance. If you don't know what to do with your arms, put your hands behind your back or in your pockets.
- Look students in the left eye when talking to them. This is less antagonistic than looking at the right eye.
- Smile! It makes you appear human and caring.
- Lean forward when students are talking, especially if you are sitting. This makes it apparent you really care what students are saying.
- One of the Best sites for teaching techniques in all its forms, including structuring lessons for college and handout, can be found at the TLC Teaching Center. Make sure you stop by if you are teaching any classes.