Teaching Strategies Catalogue

Due: October 21st, 2016

Curriculum and Instruction: Ed 3501
Ann-Marie Giannetti
001172219

Classroom Mingle
Description:
Classroom Mingle is a strategy that begins with teacher facilitation. Based off
of a unit, the teacher gathers a group of questions, enough for one per student.
Once they have enough questions, they will cut them out individually, and give
one question to each of the students. The teacher will then model to the students
how to mingle around the room properly. Each student with find a partner.
These partnerships will share their questions with one another and answer each
others question as well. Once these have happened, the students then switch
questions with each other and go find a new partner. This mingling and switching
of questions will continue to happen until all students have had an opportunity to
answer most questions or until time has run out.

Logistical Considerations:
Its important for the teacher to understand how the students work and learn.
If group work isnt ideal for some students, then this strategy may not be the
best to use in the classroom. It will involve pre-work and a lot of moving around
the classroom. There needs to be modeling done from the teacher and
volunteers from the class in order to show the students how to properly
participate in this activity. There needs to be enough room for the students to
have space around the room to move and talk with one another. One thing to
keep in mind, the volume levels in the classroom. If there are time constraints for
the activity, it needs to be stated and to have the students follow it. If that
means only allowing a few minutes for each group, then that needs to be
followed. Something else to take into thought when planning this activity comes
from the length of each question and/or the answer.

Assumptions about Teaching and Learning:

Looking at this activity, its about the students learning. Having an activity
such as this in the classroom helps the students to review important concepts
and ideas that they have learnt in class previously. The teacher is the one who
facilitate this activity by preparing the questions and slips for the students. They
also draw the students back together in the end to discuss the most difficult or
important questions that were brought up. Students get a chance to review
course material with one another, which is allowing student-to-student
assessments. The teacher will also be assessing students throughout this process
as well.

Pros:

Gets the entire class involved in a review that is separate from a class
discussion.
Each student can share information and knowledge that they have learnt
throughout the unit.
The teacher can use it as a form of formative assessment, being able to
see who knows the information and who is struggling to understand.
With switching questions, it prevents the students from becoming too
familiar with one. They have a chance to be exposed to more questions
when constantly switching.

Cons:
-

It could be difficult to do if they class has an odd number of students.

If the groups are too big, it could take too long for all the students to be
asked all the questions.
Some questions could take longer to answer then others. This could delay
some students from switching in time, or not having enough time to
answer/hear the answer to the questions.

Appropriateness of Strategy:
This strategy would be one to use with grade 4 up. The reasoning I have
behind this would come from the material that students are learning in the
younger grades, and the amount of students that would actually stay on track for
this activity. For high school students, the questions can be made more difficult,
and all students could be required to answer all other questions later on. No
matter what grade you give this activity to, it allows the students to share ideas,
meet all students in the class, and review the important topics for the lesson.

K-W-L Charts
Description:
K-W-L charts are a way of getting students to see what they know, what
they want to know, and what theyve learnt about a unit or lesson. When the
students are introduced to the topic coming ahead in class, its good to have
them fill out the know column of the chart. Once they have something written
in this column, they move to the next. The want column gives them a chance
to write down ideas or questions that they want to know about based off the
topic. These two columns give the students a chance to think about the topic
more critically and in depth. As the teacher goes through the lesson, teaching on
that specific topic, the students can refer back to this chart and add in

information on the learned column. As they do this, they can continue to add
questions in or mark off the ones that had been previously answered.

Key logistical considerations:

This chart will take class time in order to fill out. The first two columns would
be done at the same time/same day. With that, the teacher has to allow time for
this to be done. This is an activity that is lead by the teacher. It gives the
students a chance to individually look at themselves and see what they know
and want to learn. Once the charts have been completed at the end of the lesson
or unit, the teacher can then look back on these and see how the students grew
throughout the learning. It also allows for student self-assessment, as well as
formative assessment of the teacher.

Assumptions about Teaching and Learning:

The ownership of this activity is placed on the students. It gives them an
opportunity to really look upon themselves and see what they know, want to
know, and have learnt. Its important for the students to do this assignment
individually because not every student is going to know or learn the same things.
The instructions have to be explained from the teacher and the students need to
be kept on track with following the proper order and steps given by the teacher.
This will be beneficial to the students with there own self-assessment.

Pros:
-

Gives students a chance to self-assess. It gets them to pre-think about the

topic, come up with questions about it, and keep track of the concepts
they have learnt.
This is a form of formative assessment for the teacher to look at. They can
see where the students are at before beginning the topic or unit of study,
and what kinds of things they want to know more about or learn. At the
end of the unit, the teacher can collect it and see what the main ideas
were that the students learnt.

Cons:
-

It can be hard for illiterate students to participate in this task. They may
find it difficult to come up with ideas and concepts, and then have to write
them on paper.
Some students may know very little about the introduced topic, which can
cause them to worry about the amount of information the other students
may have. They may begin to feel as though they know nothing and it
could bother them.

Appropriateness of Strategy:
This strategy is one that I would uses for upper elementary into junior high.
Younger students wouldnt necessarily be able to grasp the concepts that this
chart brings. High school students might lose interest in these charts as well.
Upper elementary to junior high school students could use this charts for each
unit that they study in class. For high school students, this would be good to have
students fill out at the beginning of the semester and then go back to it at the
end. They can look at it, add more information/questions throughout the
semester, but that would be ownership on the students to keep up with it
throughout the year. Its important to keep the differentiation of students in mind
when doing this activity. Some students may not be able to fill the chart out, or
they may not know any prior information on the topic.

Think-Pair-Share
Description:
Think-Pair-Share is a way that gets the students involved in sharing ideas
with classmates. If the teacher proposes a question to the class, the think
portion of this strategy comes from the students thinking on their own, and
coming up with some sort of answer by themselves. In the pair portion, the
students can go into pairs of little groups and discuss the answers that they
came up with for the question. For share, the students can then pick on
individual or two from their group to share the answer they have with the rest of
the class. This can be done in many other ways as well. Students could be paired
with a partner and then share with more students or the class as a whole, or the
students can go in groups. It depends on how the teacher wants the classroom to
be during this activity.

Key logistical considerations:

One of the main things that need to be considered with Think-Pair-Share would
be the pairing aspect of the activity. The teacher needs to plan groups in a way
that will allow for all learners to be placed with different learning abilities. Its
important in this activity to share the differing ideas of all the students with one
another in the room. Pairing up different learning abilities, allows for a more
diverse learning environment. It also prevents all the groupings of friends to take
place. Another important point for the teacher to take into consideration would
be the classroom environment. There needs to be enough space in the room for

al students to partake in this activity, as well as the controlled volume levels. If

students are being too loud, it could lead to others not being able to listen/hear
or focus properly.

Assumptions about Teaching and Learning:

This activity allows for student learning in the classroom. It allows for the
students to think about the posed question themselves before having the
opportunity to share their thoughts and ideas with another. Once the students
have been paired, based on how the teacher goes about doing so, then they get
the opportunity to share what they came up with. For these groups, the
ownership of learning is placed on the students. Its up to them to stay focused
and on track with the topic. Once they are brought together to share ideas
overall with the class, the students can then have the opportunity to talk with
other classmates and compare/collaborate ideas.

Pros:
-

Each student will have a chance to think about a response to the question
before sharing with a partner or group.
All students will ideally be able to share the ideas they came up with on
their own.
For the students who do/dont like to speak out in front of the room, they
have an opportunity to only do what they are most comfortable with.

Cons:
-

Some students may not be able to get their ideas shared among the
groups if they happen to have too many people in them.
The students who are most willing to talk aloud (or the most outgoing)
many want to pair up together, which leaves the students who do not want
to speak in front of everyone get into a group as well.

Appropriateness of Strategy:
I strategy can work for all ages. It would be good to use this strategy for all
subjects, especially math and science. It encourages learner centered learning in
the classroom environment, which can lead to more hands-on activities for the
students as well. Its important to keep in mind the students who work better on
their own. If you know of students that are like this, its best to give them option
during this activity. It can also be important to change up the pair sizes for the
groups. Depending on the questions/topic, and the environment of the classroom
(grade level), it could be useful to have larger groups over just two people per
group.

Conferencing
Description:
Conferencing with the students is a one-on-one activity that the teachers get
to do with each student individually. It allows the teacher to see the progress of
the students overtime in the classroom with their learning. The students get a
chance to work on goal setting, self-assessment, and an analysis of their work
(from student and teacher). This is a way for students to build upon their literacy
skills, involving writing, speaking and reading.
There is also student- to-student conferencing that can take place. In this
case, the teacher would give out a sheet with instructions for the students to
follow when working with one another. These instructions need to be strict and to
the point to help guide students through the conferencing process. This requires
a lot of accountability from the students and the ability to stay on task and
focused.

Key logistical considerations:

An important thing to keep in mind is the rest of the class when meeting oneon-one with a student. It could be hard to keep the rest of the class focus and on
topic when you are in a meeting with one singular student. It might be easier to
have another person in the room that can watch over the class when you step
out. With the student-to-student conferencing, the students need to have a lot of
trust and accountability for one another, and the teacher needs this with the
students as well. For students to be giving one another assessments/feedback,
there has to be the learning how to do so involved. The teacher should be
teaching the students how to properly conference with another student before
allowing them the opportunity to do so.

Assumptions about Teaching and Learning:

This strategy benefits the student and the teacher. The teacher very much
take lead with this strategy and gets each student involved. Benefits for the
teacher come into play with getting to work one-on-one with each student and
gets an opportunity to assess where each student is. With the goal setting, it can
let the student know what the teacher is looking for in future sessions, and what
they should be doing in order to reach that goal. Its a great way of formative
assessment. With the student benefit, they either hear feedback from other
students or the teacher. This time gives each student and opportunity to really
let the teacher know where that are with learning and what they would most like
to improve on in the future. Student-to-student conferencing can provide the
same benefits. By proving students with a guide to follow, the teacher still gets
that formative assessment, but each student gets to received feedback for
another, or have an opportunity to work with someone more or less advanced
then they may be.

Pros:
-

This allows for the students to get a good understanding of where they are
at with their learning.
Students can set goals for themselves with the teacher to work at
throughout the year.
It can help to gather information, for the teacher, in order to assess the
students, share with parents, and help with reporting season.

Cons:
-

For the student-to-student conferencing, it can be difficult to do with

younger students, elementary. It takes focus, accountability and trust
among the students to be able to go through a guide and conference one
another.
It can be difficult to have one-on-one time with the students if the class
overall is misbehaved. It can be hard to get away from the class and work
with students individually if the class isnt focused on a task themselves.

Appropriateness of Strategy:
Teacher-Student conferencing should happen at the younger grade levels. Its
more important for the teacher to gather information and assess the students
rather than for other students to assess one another. With younger students,
especially in language arts, it helps to improve the literacy of all the students.
Each student would have a goal to work on, the teacher can see what they need
to work towards, and this information can easily be shared with parents as well.
Student-Student conferencing can happen middle school grade levels and up. By
these ages, students should be mature and accountable enough to handle a
guideline and provide good feedback for another student. Its an easier age
group to teach peer-assessments with, and the students are more likely to take
the ownership of learning upon them selves.

Expert Jigsaw
Description:
Expert jigsaw groups bring collaboration into the classroom and requires all
students the opportunity to learn something new and share that information with
other classmates. For the groups, expert groups, these students will be given a
topic or lesson. They need to look at this lesson, learn it and study it. They will
share it amongst their expert group and create an overview to be able to share
with others. The home groups that students will have will consist of one student
from each expert group. When the home groups are brought together, each
student will share what their expert group has learnt about. Once all students

have shared and taken in information, they all will then have an understanding of
each lesson or topic all the expert groups looked at.

Key logistical considerations:

Considerations for this type of strategy could be the topics each group will be
learning about, the number of people in each group, how many home/expert
groups there will be, the important points they should be reaching or looking for
when researching, how the presentations will happen when in home groups, and
the length of time needed for an activity requiring this strategy. There are many
things that the teacher needs to consider before using this strategy in the
classroom.

Assumptions about Teaching and Learning:

Learning in this activity is all put on the students. This strategy is very much
learner centered and requires a lot of student participation and focus in order to
make it work. The teacher facilitates this activity, but the remainder of it will be
placed to the students. The teacher can be there for guidance and answer
questions, but the rest is ownership of the students. The students in this case are
learning in order to teach others. This is done in a way that takes the teacher out
of that teaching position they hold. Students, all of them, are responsible for
learning enough about a topic to be able to teach other students and have them
grasp the importance of it.

Pros:

This gives all students an opportunity to learn something new from their
classmates in smaller group settings.
This helps alleviate the teacher from having to teach all these
lessons/topics to the class as a whole.
Smaller discussions among the students can help to build confidence with
talking and sharing with peers, as well as helps them to grow individually
as a listener and learner.
Being in groups, students share the amount of work that is given to them.
It helps them to not have so much on their plates.
It forces students to all be involved in the research and learning. If they do
not understand what they are learning about, then it can affect them when
it comes time to teach/share with others.

Cons:
-

If one student doesnt do their part in the work, then it can affect the
group as a whole.
If someone is not there the day of presentations and sharing, then one
group could potentially miss out on that amount of information.
Some groups may not have enough students in them to be able to have
one of each expert group in the home groups. Again, this could cause
some students to miss out on that information.
During the sharing on information, the teacher may not be able to be there
to listen to each group member. This can cause some of the students to
either lack in that area, or not get the feedback they needed to help
improve.

Appropriateness of Strategy:
This strategy is great to use with late middle school to high school students.
Young kids may not understand how this activity works, and it can be challenging
for them to take on such big responsibility such as this. There are other ways in
which jigsaws can be done, which can be modified to work well with young

students. Having the expert jigsaw groups with higher-grade student, allows for a
more diverse classroom. Its important to consider the strengths and weaknesses
of the students. Some may not want to partake in an activity such as this, or
some students may not put in the same amount of effort as others. Its about
understanding and working with the differentiations in the class environment.