Teaching strategies

Each teacher asks himself every day some Qs like how can I teach better?
How can my student learn better? And how can I remember the educational
material all the time? to answer these Qs we should know first :
Key contexts of schooling :
An education may be a result of the experiences gained through the family,
environment, religion
and mass communication media. But it should be known that the planned
education is the responsibility of schools (Bloom, 1979: 7).
The teaching profession takes place in a number of contexts that will place
demands on the teacher work. These schooling contexts are
( 1)the social context: the entire process of schooling is very social
meaning that it is highly dependent on social interaction. In this interaction
behavior changes and learning takes place. The social context involves
intrapersonal conflicts and interpersonal conflicts since schools are composed
of many different types of students, nationalities, races, religion and values.
(2) the emotional context: in involves that the teacher has a moral and
ethical obligation to CARE and to help all students to achieve their maximum
potential
through building trust and mutual support especially for low
achievers. There is a concept of emotional intelligence meaning that as a
teacher you should be aware of how you feel or react to all students.
(3) the educational context : this means that in the past schools were
teaching the basics math, science, history and geography but the basics
now extended to many topics that were once considered extras like health and
life skills, aids preventions.

The factors that affect the teaching process:

(1) the teacher ,
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the teacher is affected by :

Teachers background in the subject matter.

Teacher understanding of the students developmental stages.
Teacher preparation for each day of teaching,
And teaching strategy or how the teacher organize and deliver his
lesson plan.

(2) the student. The student success is affected by :

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Cultural background.
Language.
Age.
Gender.
Ability level,

(3) is the method or strategy adopted by the teacher:

There are many ways to teach, but the method you choose will depend on
teacher skills and experience. Each factor affecting student success call for a
separate solution and sometimes each student requires individual attention.
teacher should employ some guidelines to meet his students diverse needs,
to relate the material to students life and to provide additional help to those
who are struggling. These guidelines are called strategies or methods . And as
the teacher know more about these strategies, he will gain classroom
experience and be an intentional teacher.Teachers in general are mostly
familiar with three prevailing instructional models: Direct Instruction, Mastery
Learning, and the guided discovery (Douglas, 2010).
Direct teaching: is used widely since all instruction must begin with the
basic elements of direct teaching; these elements are presentation of
material, explanation and reinforcement (homework).
(1)What makes direct teaching successful ? : the lesson is well organized,
presented in a linear and clear manner, focus on specific information,
(2)When should we use direct instruction ? it is used for almost all lessons
and it is best used when to introduce material, when students need to
grasp the initial concepts of a topic , when students need to have some
working knowledge through lecturing before you address the problem. ,
and to make transition to other topic and concepts,
(3)What are the disadvantages of direct teaching ? lecturing leads to
students disconnection, makes the students passive participant, timeconsuming if the teacher did not monitor himself, and it requires a high
level of student attention which is something difficult .
Indirect Teaching:
Means any method used in which the student is an active participant. Linda
Meyer (1984) provides a clear definition: Indirect instruction is an approach
where the process of learning is inquiry, the result is discovery, and the
learning context is specific to problem-solving. In this definition meyer
mentioned two specific tequniques: discovery and inquiry and problem
solving. Both methods invite students to become actively involved.
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Guided discovery methods:

Guided discovery learning is a constructivist instructional model that

combines principles from discovery learning and sometimes radical
constructivism with principles from cognitivist instructional theory.
Jerome Bruner (1983) is credited with introducing discovery learning,
which is a teaching method whereby: The student is encouraged to seek
his or her own answers to problems or questions posed by the teacher.
The student then works with the material discovered to form his or her
own perspective relating to the material.
Discovery learning does the following:
_ Encourages student initiative and commitment, which is directly
related to cognitive comprehension
_ Creates an atmosphere of responsibility and therefore supports a
students accountability for his or her work

Is a key avenue for developing problem-solving skills that encourage

cooperation among peers
_ Provides the teacher with a clear picture of how well the student is
grasping the material and using it at the higher levels of cognition
People are generally better persuaded by the reasons which they have
themselves discovered than by those which have come in to the mind of
others.Blaise Pascal

When Should I use Discovery Learning ? it is appropriate for any grade and for
any lesson that seeks to involve students in an exploration of more ideas
associated with the main theme. It is also used for expanding and refining
stages of the teaching process.
What are the disadvantages of using DiscoveryLearning ?
- it requires additional classroom management and supervision of your
students.
- Discovery learning often takes students out of the classroom into
different areas of the school (the library, the computer center
- The high incidence of plagiarism from the Internet because students are
unfamiliar with citing references
- Student confusion as a result of no sequence of material being taught,
so you should provide clear instruction.
Problem based learning:
Project-based learning and problem-based learning (PBL) are often
seen as two teaching
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methods but overlap in principle The essential element of PBL is its use of realworld situations for which students must solve a problem by gathering
substantial information often in teams
using observational and criticalthinking skills.
What makes PBL successful and effective ? student like problem-solving, it
stimulates curiosity and engagement, it uses higher order thinking skills on a
natural level.
When Should I USE PBL ? it is used when teacher want to extend and refine
their learning of a concept. Use PBL at the point in your lesson when the
student is expected to grasp the essential meaning of the concept being
taught.

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