Exploring classroom teaching styles and strategies
Introduction
By
Dorothy Hung (Graduate)
Mayra García (Graduate)
Aracelie Gutierrez (Graduate)
Carlos Moreno (Graduate)
Dengting Boyanton (Instructor)
EDCI 6304 Learning & Cognition
When the objective of designing a lesson plan is just to be informational and educational, what drives the designing would be the content area that has to be taught. However, the concern of designing a lesson should not be what the students are learning but how and how well. This means it is not enough to design a lesson that is informational and educational, more importantly, it has to be creative, entertaining, engaging, and effective. Therefore, teachers not only need to think about the content area or the materials to cover but the instructional delivery methods and strategies to make sure it is a memorable event for the students. Thus, the purpose of classroom teaching is not teacher’s teaching but students’ learning. Teaching is meaningless if the students are not learning, no matter how hard the teacher works or how well he teaches.
That is a perfect example on how children with that type of multiple intelligence will be able to grasp that information and store it into their long-term memory. As for the information on short-term memory, I think that many students rely heavily on this. I have seen and I am guilty of it as well. A student will be cramming for a test a day or two before the exam and he will do great on it, but then if you ask him to recall the information a week later, he will have no clue or recall of the information.—Nora Lamas, March 6, 2008, EDCI 6304
As we all know, all students do learn differently and they use different strategies to best learn. Based on how each student learn differently, teachers will have to adjust their one-size-fits-all teaching method and try different ways of teaching so that it fits the individual’s style and pace at the best.
…learning is like the universe. There is too much to learn. Everybody is different so there is no right or wrong way of teaching. You can try a little bit of different strategies and many students will benefit from this. We live in a time where we have students with different needs. By teaching with only one way we are affecting their learning. As teachers we need to learn as much as possible to be able to help our children become successful—Smile, Jan 15, 2008, EDCI 6304
In order to design a lesson in a more effective way, teachers need to take the time and effort to learn more about their students. Teachers need to know the students’ actual knowledge background, figure out what prior knowledge they have to which can be related to the current teaching content, what learning styles they have, what personalities they possess, and what their ability levels are. This teaching approach can be summarized as student-centered teaching. In student-centered teaching, students’ emotions, feelings, confidence, and comfort level are addressed; individual differences in knowledge/ability level, background, culture, learning style, personality, and interests are considered; and all instruction are organized based on these factors.
When teachers do this, they are utilizing students’ needs and the diversity of students’ background to guide their instructional design and planning. A teacher cannot walk away from a class without wondering whether whatever was taught was also learned by the students. If all students’ learning was at the level of sensory register of the information processing theory, then there is no true learning even if the students might seem to be attentive and active in class. If this is the case, then the class is a waste of time for both the teacher and students.
It is very important for educators to have some knowledge about their students’ learning styles and learning strategies in every classroom. These learning styles and strategies can facilitate the learning process for the students. Teachers need to make every effort understand students’ learning and strive to create lessons which make most sense to them. “With some effort and planning, a teacher can make logically organized and relevant lessons” (Snowman & Biehler 2006).
A learning strategy is a plan to achieve a long-term learning goal. Learning tactics and strategies are interrelated. When used correctly, they can facilitate students’ learning in the long run. Students can learn how to be self-directed and self-motivated learners. They can tactics to help them build on learning strategies for long-term learning purposes (Snowman & Biehler, 2006). For example, Mnemonic devices are memory-directed tactics which can help a learner transform or organize information to enhance its retrievability (Snowman & Biehler, 2006). Through mnemonic devices, learners are able to organize unrelated items through meaningful tactics such as keywords, acronyms, and songs. The effect of learning strategies and tactics such as mnemonic devices, humor, and personal association can benefit students in their learning.
Unfortunately, many teachers are not aware of the benefits of incorporating these learning strategies, styles, or principles in their lesson design and delivery (Goll, 1994). The purpose of our research intends is to help classroom teachers become more aware of these strategies by addressing following research question:
1. What are the strategies that teachers can use to help students learn effectively in the classroom?
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Greetings from the Editor/Instructor
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