Teaching Methods and Materials
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"I was having my stats class read and analyze this article, looking for experimental design and proof. I asked them to annotate the article. They did a great job with annotation, and I told them that I was impressed.
So I asked them who taught them so well. They all happily said Ms. Waite, proud they had learned so well!" - Mr. Andrew Iannaccone former coworker, BCHS Mathetmatics teacher |
After teaching for nearly a decade, I especially like strategies that encourage students to think critically, provide evidence, and interact with others. I have designed curriculum for my own classroom and Detroit Public Schools Community District and have incorporated many methods and materials designed to provide this type of learning to students.
My colleague, Kristen Maher (BCHS English master teacher) said, "[Shannon's] daily lessons are thoughtfully designed to teach the standards through the gradual release of responsibility teaching model while also enlisting community members to contribute to students’ learning and bringing the content alive for our kids. Just one example of this is a unit of study she developed in which her sophomore English students explored the concept of freedom. After numerous readings, speakers, discussions, and more, the students began writing pieces where they used this newfound knowledge and expanded perspective to explore their own ideas of freedom. Ultimately, students’ work was published in an anthology that was sold at a local bookstore, kicked off with a book launch party where students and their families attended and listening to discussions of the project and student readings of their pieces." I offer examples of some of my teaching methods and materials below. Group Work
Cooperative learning is extremely beneficial to the students, although I have learned that there is a time and place for it so that it is most likely to succeed in helping the students learn.
I operate this: - At the end of the hour (when I do not have things planned after and expect the students to return to being quiet) - With a specific goal in mind, so that students have something intentional they are working on together - When comparing answers will benefit the students and help them clear up any confusion that they may have Examples of my student group work:
Student Choice
Giving students choice help with buy-in and classroom management. One way I have incorporated choice in the past is through a "BINGO board". Students are given this at the beginning of the semester and told they'll need to pick five squares in some sort of BINGO row (up/down, across, or diagonal) and complete those five assignments on any of the texts they read during the semester. This is an ongoing project that gets students creative and autonomous!
Gradual Release
The Gradual Release of Responsibility Model is a teaching strategy characterized by a sequence of learning activities that shift the responsibility from the teacher to the student.
My teaching philosophy is to walk alongside students as they learn. Many of my lessons include gradual release and scaffolding to provide students with appropriate support and and an increase in confidence. Examples of this can be seen here. Community Partnerships
The lessons my students learn in the class are relevant to the things happening in their worlds. I have partnered with people and organizations in the community to speak to students, help students with editing and revising their writing, and sell their published books and host a book launch party.
Examples include attorneys, community centers, bookshops, 826michigan, and authors to name a few. More about my community partnerships can be found here. Technology
Providing feedback on essays submitted virtually:
I like virtual essays: less pieces of paper, less finger cramps from writing notes, and immediate return time to students when I'm finished giving comments. Additionally, using Google Docs to write and turn assignments means students don't have to worry about not saving their essays, I can see edits they make and when they completed it, and it's easy to peer review. In the example below, one of my students received feedback from a student at another school! She was even able to interact with her and ask questions. Initiating gradual release: I use the gradual release model, first show how to do a skill myself, having the class help me, then having students work individually (or partnered). Technology is great in letting me show my thinking when I'm introducing something to my class. More of this process can be seen here. Additionally, I enjoy webquests (which give students the chance to be creative and independent), text polls (to engage students in a lesson), and remind101 (to remind students of homework!) as resources for my classroom. It's so important now that students are literate in technology, so I make sure to incorporate these lessons into my instruction. Flipped classroom: The lesson below is an example of my classroom being flipped. For this lesson, students got the direct instruction at home and were able to spend more time in class interacting and getting help with the assignments. Students learned some characteristics of short stories through a video I made them, then they came to class to work in groups identifying those characteristics in a short story they read. Click on the images below to open the files. Project-Based Learning
Project-based learning (PBL) or project-based instruction is an instructional approach designed to give students the opportunity to develop knowledge and skills through engaging projects set around challenges and problems they may face in the real world. Learning through doing is really effective, so I give students real-world projects that allow them to develop skills based on standards.
More of examples of how I use project-based learning can be seen here. Backward Design & Sample Unit Plan
The backward design approach has instructors consider the learning goals of the course first. These learning goals embody the knowledge and skills instructors want their students to have learned when they leave the course. Once the learning goals have been established, the second stage involves consideration of assessment.
For every unit I've made, I've first considered what students will need to learn. I then think about how they can show that they learned that (for example, writing fit for publication). I then think about what I need to teach so students can learn that, and what assessments I will use to monitor learning. Below is an example of my quarter 3 and quarter 4 unit plans for my semester long unit that explored the question "what is freedom?". Students read, discussed, watched, and wrote until they were able to produce their own texts exploring what they learned. Click on the documents to download a PDF. |