Teaching to Learn, Learning to Teach

JOIN THE CONVERSATION—TEACHING STRATEGIES

There are different ways to provide a class with information. The approaches that follow

can be mixed together in different proportions:

Readings. Teachers provide students, either in class or as a homework assignment, with

something to read—a page from the textbook, a passage from a novel, or a primary

source document. Students can also be asked to “read” a picture, chart, or map to un-

cover information.

Modeling. Teachers provide students with a model problem and solution or an example of

what you want them to draw, construct, or create. Sometimes the teacher models the

activity for the class (e.g., sorting lab specimens by selected traits, solving a geometry

problem, tracing a route on a map).

Direct instruction. Teachers outline and explain what they want students to know. A re-

cording, either audio or video, can be substituted to provide information.

Dramatic presentation. Students act out a story or an event, either from a script or sponta-

neously from a scenario (role playing). The information garnered from the reenactment

becomes the basis for discussion.

Allegories and anecdotes. A brief story or comparison is sometimes sufficient to allow stu-

dents to scaffold on prior knowledge.

Brainstorming. Sometimes students are unaware they know something, or sometimes dif-

ferent students in the class know part of the puzzle. The class compiles, sorts, and ana-

lyzes a list of potentially useful information.

Questioning. Many experienced teachers approach questioning as an art and are skilled

at drawing information out of students and getting them to respond to each other.

They use questions to assemble a pool of information to be further evaluated.

Questions to Consider:

1. Based on your own experience as a secondary school student, which teaching strate-
   gies did you find most effective in your own learning? Why?
   2.In your opinion, would the effectiveness of a strategy depend on the group of stu-
   dents? Explain.

SECTION C: MY BEST TEACHERS 2: A LESSON IN HUMILITY

Many of my best teachers were my colleagues at middle schools and high schools. It can be
a humbling experience to discover that you are not as good as you think you are at some-
thing you want to do well and that other people are better at it than you are. That was my ex-
perience as a young teacher, and it continues to be my experience today. But being humbled
is not necessarily a bad thing.
When you work at becoming a teacher, it takes between 3 and 5 years of hard work, plan-
ning, and practicing for the things you want to happen in a lesson to happen on a consistent
basis. It is easier to learn how to do these things when you appreciate the competence of
other teachers, even teachers who do things differently from you do. I was a dynamo who
entered teaching hoping to change the world. My lessons were fast paced; I taught with a
sense of urgency. However, I soon learned that there were other ways of teaching and that
caring teachers can be very effective even if they do not share my agenda.

PLANNING 67