Instructional Strategies and Agendas

Part A:

Which instructional strategies do you see yourself using in your class and why?  (Discuss at least 3-5)

The instructional strategies I would like to use in my classroom are Anticipatory Chart, Cooperative Graphing, Corners and Send-A-Problem.

In our Saturday session we used the KWL Chart or Anticipatory chart and I really liked it. It’s a good way for students to organize what they already know and what they would like to know. I liked how after completely the chart students pair up with other students to see if they got their questions answered. As a math teacher I know that this tool won’t always be applicable but I think it’d be a great way to start off the school year by reviewing topics learned the year before.

As a math teacher I think Cooperative Graphing would be a great way to teach students how graphs work and why they are useful. Graphs are used quite often in every day life so it’s important for students to understand how they work. I like the idea of them working together on the project so they are responsible for one aspect of the graph, but they are still seeing how the other aspects of the graph work, and how they all work together to form the final picture.

I think corners would work well in a math classroom as well, especially when studying theorems, math vocabulary, or as in the example provided to study shapes. I like the student interaction that it provides in the classroom.  It allows students to move about the classroom and discuss ideas with other students, while also providing the information about the topic to clear up any areas of confusion the students might have.

Send-A-Problem could also work well in a math classroom to study for tests. It may not be a traditional method for a math class but it gives students the opportunity to work on a problem on their own and then compare answers within a small group and work on the problem until they all agree on the same answer. Sometimes there are different ways of getting the same answer and this is a great way for that to be showcased.

Which instructional strategies do you think you are least likely to use in your future classroom, and why would you not use them? (Discuss at least 3-5)

The instructional strategies I would be least likely to use in my future classroom are Comprehension Check, Quick Drawing and Reader Response Chart.

As I read through the list of Instruction Strategies there were a quite a few that I couldn’t envision using in a math classroom, but could see in working in other classrooms such as English or History. Comprehension Check was the one strategy that I don’t feel would be effective in most classrooms. There is very little student interaction and I feel as though students would be likely to continually say they understood something, even when they didn’t. That would give the teacher a false sense of security that the students understood the topic at hand.

Choral Reading is a strategy that I can’t see using in a math classroom, but I also struggle to understand how it would be effective in other subject areas. Compared to other subjects there is less reading in math and I think for math doing sample problems and having students work on those is much more effective than reading the material chorally. I’m also not sure of the effectiveness of reading chorally, it seems to me that it’s just reading and repeating the material.

Reader Response Chart is another strategy that it’s not likely I’ll use in the classroom, but it is one of many that I could have chosen.  There are many great strategies but quite a few of them are focused on subjects that use a lot of reading and writing.

Because I am teaching math many of these strategies don’t fit well in the classroom. Reader Response Chart is one of those. Others would include the Quick Draw or Quick Writing, Reading Guide, Directed Reading Activity, etc. 

Part B:

How would you use an agenda in class with your students and what instructional purposes might it serve in managing the classroom?

                                    

I think agendas are a valuable tool in the classroom for both the teacher and the students. From a student standpoint it’s always good to know what you will doing that day in class and what you will be expected to complete outside of class. From a teaching standpoint an agenda will help you plan ahead as well as help with time management skills during class and throughout the week and month.

I would set up both a daily agenda and a weekly agenda for my students. This would show them how the time will be utilized in class (i.e. first 30 minutes for a quiz, last 15 minutes for review, etc) as well as what will be covered later in the week (i.e. test on Friday, paper due Wednesday, etc). For myself I would use a daily agenda, a weekly agenda, and a flexible monthly/yearly agenda (because I know things will change). This will help me budget my time and help to keep me on task. A flexible monthly/yearly agenda will help me to see the bigger goal over the course of the year but still allow me to make adjustments if needed.