Instructional Strategies For The Primary Classroom

• •

• •

• • • •

Students need to be actively engaged in their learning concepts and skills by exploring, practising, debating, discussing, defending, and experimenting. Instructional strategies need to be appropriately challenging, or “just beyond the point of what [students] are comfortable doing”; otherwise, strategies may be too simple or too difficult to accomplish. It is more important to choose instructional strategies for where the child is at rather than their grade or age. Instructional strategies need to be relevant to the student’s lives. For instance, students should be able to answer “why” the concept and skills are important to know, and “how” do they fit into their real world? Students and teachers should also be able to answer what the purpose is of each activity. Instructional strategies should be FUN, meaningful, and interesting. Students remember the things they enjoy. It is important to use instructional strategies that also get kids moving in and outside the classroom. No one method is going to “reach” every student, so it is important to provide multiple ways for students to demonstrate what they are learning.

Examples of Instructional Strategies From Fortheteachers.org

Compare & Contrast Ideas

Monitor Progress • • • • • •

KWL Charts Anchor Charts Grade As You Go Stop Light Agendas Reflection/Response Journals • Parking Lot • Snowball Toss • Student Tracker

• • • • • •

Sticky Note Graph Cubing Think-Tac-Toe Venn Diagrams Then & Now Chart Graphic Organizers

Form Groups • • • • • •

Appointment Clocks Four Sides Puzzle Piece Match Famous Pairs Colour Cards Literature Circles

Let’s Get Moving • • • • • • •

Walk the Line Physical Activity Cube Animal Action Cards Gross Motor Bingo Verbs Relay Race Fit-Tac-Toe Sight Word Hopscotch

Examples of Instructional Strategies From Fortheteachers.org

Work Together • • • • • • • • •

Centres/Stations Heads Together Reading Buddies Fish Bowl Four Corners Expert Groups Circle Chats Q&A Match-Up Solve & Switch

Share Ideas & Opinions

Adapt Content • • • • • •

Curriculum Compact Scaffolding Orbitals Jigsaw Tiered Activities Levelled Texts

• • • • • • •

Give One, Get One Round Robin Think-Pair-Share Snip-Tear-Share Question of the Day Debate Sentence Prompts

Take Notes • • • • •

3-2-1 Note Organizers Bubble Maps Timeline T-Charts Details Tree

•

•

• •

•

•

The instructional strategies guidelines support Bruner’s theory of constructivism. Learning should be an active experience that welcomes inquiry. After all, primary-grade children are naturally curious and love to explore. When selecting instructional strategies, teachers should pay close attention to their students’ prior experiences and readiness to learn new knowledge. Teachers must target the zone of proximal development to optimize learning. Instructional strategies should put a great deal of emphasis on collaborative group activities in order to students to learn from their peers’ perspectives. Self-reflection is a critical part of the learning process. Students need to understand how concepts and skills they learn will help them in the “real world.” Instructional strategies need to include this aspect of independent learning for children to learn to self-monitor their learning. Instructional strategies should be based on the premise that children learn by interacting with their environment, which is similar to Piaget’s theory. When planning instructional strategies, teachers should provide accommodations and modifications for students with exceptionalities or students who are English language learners. Not all children think or learn the same way.

Instructional strategies are techniques teachers use to help students actively engage in the learning process. Thus, these strategies need to be planned with every student in mind– their learning abilities, prior knowledge, learning styles, cultures, interests, curiosities, and more. Instructional strategies motivate students and help them focus on what they will learn, what they are learning, and what they have learned. Graphic organizers help students organize learning for better understanding and remembering of concepts and skills. Instructional strategies also assist with monitoring and assessing student learning, such as parking lots, response journals, and KWL charts. Whether it is independent work or collaborative activities, students are practicing the learning material and developing skills that they will need in their future as they venture out into the “real world.”

Precision Teaching in the Classroom demonstrates

that selecting instructional strategies is a very complex process that requires a lot of effort, time, resources, and preparation. More importantly, teachers need to have a deep understanding of their learner’s abilities and needs in order to provide them with personalized strategies to achieve their learning goals. Thus, teachers need to constantly check in with them throughout the learning process by either asking the whole group during class instructional time (e.g., “thumbs up if you understand”) or during one-on-one discussions (e.g., a star and a wish organizer). Furthermore, instructional strategies need to include ways for students to self-reflect on what, how, and why they learn to enrichen and add value to their learning experiences.. Every student is able to learn; teachers need to provide the best strategies to attain success and offer challenge.

Time to Think

Word Sort

Learning Centres

Mystery Bag Object Inferences

Guided Reading

Instructional Strategies Examples in Precision Teaching

Debriefing

StudentTeacher Conference

ThinkPairShare

Star and a Wish

C.A.F.E Wall

Shared Writing

Anchor Charts

• • • • • • •

• • •

Precision teaching works under the premise that learning is a step-by-step process. Children move from a task when they have mastered the other. Learning strategies are seamlessly connected to one another, building upon one another, and related back to prior experiences (“schemas’) or prior learning. Through the gradual release of responsibility, students receive varying degrees of support to practice skills until they are able to work independently. Puts strong emphasis on helping students “think about thinking”– how did they arrive at their ideas? How do their ideas change when new info is presented? All instructional strategies—more so every aspect of the classroom– need to have an intention. Students are actively involved in creating wall displays. Very few, if any, are solely teacher developed. Collaborating and sharing ideas builds communication and social skills. Instructional strategies to achieve this include whole group sharing, think-pair-shares, teacher-student conferencing, peer feedback, ability group anchor activities, learning centres, etc. Students develop their own personalized learning goals,, which they update on a consistent basis. Students build success criteria and learning targets. On-going assessments (e.g., teacher-student conferences, guided reading) and observable behaviours are used to measure a child’s success, which are shared with students to build their selfconfidence and motivate them.

• •

•

•

• • •

•

Teachers should provide many strategies for students to selfreflect on their learning. Doing so, students remember better and they become aware of themselves as learners. Primary-grade children need to access prior knowledge, schemas, and learning experiences in order to learn. Teachers need to explicitly relate back to prior lessons, concepts, and discussions so students can utilize the skills and knowledge in their new learning. The teacher needs to be fully present in the classroom – acts as a coach, moderator, and guide for students., such as through independent learning strategies. They walk around and touch base with their students. They sit down and confer with them about how they are progressing. They model what is expected. Instructional strategies need to support the independent learning and constructivist framework that learning needs to be full of discovery and exploration. Teachers do not simple tell students the answers; students figure it out for themselves. Instructional strategies are more effective when they provide students the opportunity to articulate what they have learned. Wall displays and artefacts need to have a purpose in the classroom. Students will often look at them to remind themselves of prior learning experiences. Learning centres are an excellent instructional strategy, because they allow teachers to reach many types of learners. There are mandatory tasks and free choice activities to help students take ownership over their learning. Teachers need to build strong and respectful relationships with their students in order to build a safe environment in which students are comfortable to express themselves freely