Teaching strategies are methods and techniques that a teacher will use to support
their pupils or students through the learning process; a teacher will chose the teaching strategy most suitable to the topic being studied, the level of expertise of the learner, and the stage in their learning journey. In one lesson a teacher may use many different teaching strategies with different end goals. The most effective teaching strategies are those proven to work over large scale trials.
The important issue in teaching is the identification of particular behaviour that helps effective teaching and learning to occur. These positive behaviours that aid effective learning are referred to as teaching strategies.
A teaching strategy is therefore an educational technique, method or plan of classroom actions or interactions intended to accomplish specific teaching/learning goals.
The Most Effective Teaching Strategies To Use In Your School.
1. Effective Questioning Techniques- While we are all aware of the importance of questioning as a tool to gauge pupils’ understanding of a topic, there are definite techniques to improve the efficacy of your questioning in the classroom.
Questions such as “Are you sure?” and “How do you know?” encourage pupils to engage in some basic critical thinking to establish how confident they are in an answer and why, while others such as “Is there another way?” help to highlight where multiple methods to derive a solution may exist.
Our tutors encourage pupils to verbalise their reasoning and ask questions to ensure pupils have really got to grips with the topic at-hand: “How do you know that answer is right?”, “Can you tell me how else you could work it out?” or “What do you need to do first to answer this question?” are all questions that come up frequently during our lessons!
2. Differentation- Far more than simply “splitting the whole class into small groups based on attainment”, positive and effective differentiation at the primary school level can be difficult to achieve – poor differentiation strategies risk actually widening the attainment gap we’re attempting to close.
But there are plenty of impactful differentiation strategies; techniques such as interleaving and phased learning, as well as the use of maths manipulatives and formative assessment, are among those proven to have a beneficial impact on pupils when properly employed.
As we’ve already discussed, formative assessment is a significant aspect of how Third Space’s tutors gauge pupil progress. But we also make use of several other differentiation strategies during lessons, such as spaced practice, interleaving and a mixture of direct instruction and inquiry-based learning
3. Metacognition
Literally ‘thinking about thinking’, metacognition has been recognize by the EEF as one of the most effective, lowest cost teaching strategies there is, with pupil making an average of seven months’ additional progress.
Metacognition in primary schools often incorporates some of the other effective teaching strategies, such as questioning in the classroom – “How do you know?” not only asks pupils to justify their solutions, but has them thinking about their own thought processes for deriving that solution.
Teaching pupils how to learn math, plan, monitor and self-evaluate their learning also improves pupil motivation and encourages them to work harder in lessons, tying into another teaching strategy.
All our tutors are trained to use a variety of metacognitive strategies as standard during sessions, and we provide pupils with numerous moments for self-reflection both during and after sessions.
By: Analyn D. Lugtu|Teacher III |Balanga Elementary School|Balanga City, Bataan
