Pedagogy

Anticipated Questions

 * The inevitable student questions:**
 * Why do they need to know this?
 * How does it apply to the real world?
 * What will this do for me?
 * Who cares about this stuff?


 * Lesson Strategy to Answer these Questions:** (revised from Amy L.)
 * Include applications to real life
 * Students investigate the relationships, before learning theory
 * Teach students not to learn the formula/theory, but instead how they can get there on their own
 * Keeping in mind what prior knowledge students may have

Teaching Strategies

 * Before Lesson:**

//**Bell Work**//

- Post a thinking question or activity on the board/overhead and have students think and discuss the problem. It should appeal to their interests as it performs two different options. It gets the students sitting in their seats and lets them get their minds into the upcoming class. The idea behind this is to draw students into thought provoking ideas that challenge their thinking or misconceptions about things so that we as teachers can use the lessons to clear up the understanding of the concepts.

Examples: [] [] [] []


 * //Bring in Item for Class//**

- Have students bring in a specific or random item from a list that will relate to the upcoming lesson. They can take a look at what each student has brought in to try and figure out what the connection between the items could be and how it will relate to the lesson.


 * During Lesson:**


 * //Activity Based Learning//**

- Have students work in groups or as individuals and give them an activity that is engaging and gets them involved in the learning experience rather than watching from the sidelines such as what happens during lecturing. This is especially helpful for kinesthetic learners who require their learning to come through hands on experiences where they have the ability to touch and modify the materials in a way that lets them understand the concepts of the lesson.

Samples: [] [] [] []


 * //Energizers//**

- Use a variety of games and activities which are not necessarily lesson based but give the students a chance to get up and get their energy up. The purpose behind this concept is to give students who might be sitting for too long and are fading the opportunity to stand up, move around, and get their blood flowing. This is very helpful in a class where a lecture may be required to teach the lesson.

Sample Energizers [] [] [] []


 * //Group Work//**

- Getting students together to work on activities and worksheets can give the students a chance to teach each other the concepts and provide them a connection to the lesson. This works well with students who prefer to learn through social discussion where they can feel out the topics of the lesson and try to apply them as groups, coming to a consensus about the outline of the concepts.

Samples for Creating Groups - Deal out cards and sort by either number or suit (eg. Hearts, Fun Deck with Odd Suits) - Use a dice and build randomized groups (eg. special dice that have more than 6 sides) - Make colour coded popsicle sticks (eg. Reds, Primary Colours) - Use the month of the students birthday (eg. November, January) - Cut the class list into sections (alphabetical) - Put names in a hat and choose randomly (eg. have students make name badges and use those) - Count out numbers around the room (eg. 1-6 and repeat for 6 groups)

//**Attention Getting**//

- It is an important part of the management of the class to keep the students on task, and sometimes that requires teachers to be more assertive with getting the full attention of the class when important instructions or student presentations are being given. It is important that for some of these styles, you explain to the students how they work and what behaviour is expected of them when you use it.

Samples: - Flicker the lights on/off - Count from 5 down to 1 - Put hand in the air and wait for students to copy it - Have a command and response from students (eg. name of school sport team, "Fairman" -> "Falcons") - Use key words for different attention (eg. "Zip" - total quiet, "Shh" - quiet down) - Loud phrases (eg. "all eyes on me") - Noisemakers (eg. bell, whistle, clapper, kazoo, trumpet) [] []


 * Before Class Ends:**

Consolidation Questions

- Best teacher practices call for activities which wrap up the lesson and allow the teacher to gauge whether the lesson was effective for the students. This also gives the students a good resource in finding their own way to decide how the lesson worked with their understanding. The questions need to be interesting and engaging to keep the students on task, especially at the end of the lesson.

Samples: [] []