Teaching Strategies Catalogue

The essence of teaching involves imparting knowledge onto ones students. This however
is a deceiving simplification. Dry monologues and uninspired discussions are a sure fire way to
impart snoring. In order to impart the knowledge the student must be engaged, capable, and
have an instructor that is similarly inclined. Here are ten strategies that can help turn a dreary
classroom into a learning mega-factory:

Embrace humor
Humor can brighten up a dull topic by increasing
blood flow, which helps attention levels. This strategy also
helps release endorphins, a feel-good chemical, which will
help students positively associate your class with feeling
good. There are two large potential drawbacks to this
method. The primary problem is having the humor
become a distraction. If students are sufficiently diverted
by the humor, learning can be compromised. The second
potential pitfall is that you arent funny. Not much we can
do about that, you might as well read on.

Cue Lame Joke Sound

Give students clear goals

Empirical evidence suggests that students perform substantially better when they clearly
understand what is required of them. Illuminating goals at the beginning of the learning process allows
students to help plan their own path towards achieving them. Having students become active in their own
learning process better allows the instructor help guide the overall picture, rather than micromanaging
each student. It must be cautioned that simply stating the end goal is not a panacea, sometimes larger
and longer term goals can seem daunting to students, it is the job of the educator to help the student
break these goals up into palatable pieces.

Get students thinking about meta-cognition

Metacognition allows students to dissect their thinking
methods in order to self-improve. Higher understanding
requires that a student address their inherent biases and
attempt to suppress them temporarily while examining a
topic. This allows a window of opportunity for information to
be accommodated that otherwise might not exist.
Metacognition also allows students to examine the broader
picture of contemporary topics, they are forced from a
comfortable form of dichotomous thinking into the real world
of greys. Metacognition is a key element of critical thinking. One primary pitfall is that metacognitive
thinking can be difficult to initiate compared to the familiar intuitive thinking process.

Encourage practice
It is one thing to understand something, and quite
another to apply it. Many concepts and skills require
repeated exposure in order to solidify in the students mind.
Practice offers an excellent low-stakes method to allow
students to gain competency at their preferred pace. This
method can also be synergistically combined with groups and
games, to allow an engaging and varied experience. It is
important to note that practice must be kept engaging.
Keeping the practice scenarios imaginative and varied, as well
as having the difficulty ramp up at the appropriate rate, are
key challenges in making practice effective. When practice is
engaging, students are likely to do more of it.

Keep the formative assessment ball rolling

When driving down the road, we require continuous feedback to get to our destination, learning
is the same sort of journey. Students must receive continual feedback to help gauge where they are
relative to their desired destination. Formative feedback can come from multiple venues, aside from the
teacher. Peer feedback is an incredible tool, not only does it provide some formative feedback, it is an
excellent medium to exchange and critically think about ideas. Self-assessment is another avenue to
provide students with valuable information about their progress. Exemplars and rubrics are excellent
resources to allow students to self-assess their work. Care must be exercised to not overly rely on peer
and self-assessments, teacher feedback is often necessary to keep students on the correct track.

Focus on strategies, not facts

Details and facts are easily forgotten, but patterns of thinking and strategies can be employed
throughout a students career on many different sets of facts. An enlightened thinking strategy is a selfreinforcing entity, once it is instilled it will continually find disparate facts and incorporate them into a
cohesive and cogent mental framework. Different strategies work for different students, it is the
instructors job to find and impress the correct strategy for each student; this is no easy task. Visio-spatially
inclined students will have less use for mnemonic strategies just as students disposed towards auditory
learning will have less use for graphs. The teacher must also overcome their innate thinking dispositions
in order to best serve the student.

Be flexible
Education in Alberta is becoming increasingly diverse, this diversity requires ever increasing
amounts of understanding from teachers. Understanding each students requirements is paramount to
success. The factors that affect learning are too numerous to list, however it is the educators job to
properly identify and compensate for each of these dynamics. The fundamental element here lies within
the instructor; a flexible instructor must be able to put aside any intrinsic biases in order to truly
understand the unique needs of each student.

Learn from your students

Effective teaching is not a unidirectional process. In
order to be effective the instructor must continually modify
his approach to self-improve and also meets the ever
changing demands of the classroom. The number one
feedback element is the students themselves. Instead of
viewing a formative assessment solely as a gauge of what
your students have taken away from a lesson, view it also as
a gauge of how well suited that lesson was for this group of
students. Every success and every problem are learning
opportunities for the instructor.

Learn from your peers

Most schools have teachers who have acquired hundreds of years of teaching experience. Do not
let this invisible resource go to waste. As with most any skill, there is always something to be learned,
that is if ones ego is not in the way. Take every opportunity to enrich oneself with both similar and
disparate viewpoints. Challenge your assumptions and continuously search out new methods. The beauty
of teaching is that it isnt a monoculture, students are incredibly diverse, and they require a teacher with
an equally diverse mindset in order to connect with them.

Have Fun!
Being young is intrinsically fun, the world is full of new mysteries
to solve and novel paradoxes to explore. As a teacher you are
surrounded by people who have every right to be awe-struck at the
world we live in. Find out what is exciting to your students and
incorporate it into the classroom. Decant the wonder and
amazement from your students and make it your own. When
students are engaged, learning transforms from a chore into an
unforgettable experience, which is exactly what we want it to be.
Never forget the primary goal of teaching though, one has to
incorporate the fun into the lesson, not the lesson into the fun.

Image sources, in order of presentation:

http://rlv.zcache.com/funny_chemistry_teacher_quote_no_reaction_tiler9f3b1e6c25734750a87797e3687afc3d_agtk1_8byvr_324.jpg
http://www.smartybrain.biz/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/MetaCognition1.jpg
http://www.mathfunny.com/images/mathpics-joke-meme-humor-funny-mathjoke-mathmeme-hahapun-dog-homework-confused-cute.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BuekJBlIAAE3_vP.jpg
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