Throughout the course of this field placement, I implemented several different instructional strategies at various times. Some of those included:
Gradual Release of Responsibility- I have used the strategy of Gradual Release of Responsibility in almost all of the lessons that I have taught. I have found that it is often the most effective way to ensure students are grasping an activity or concept before actually conducting it. It has allowed for me to add in additional clarification when it seems that my initial instructions were not clear enough. This instructional strategy is one that I would definitely bring forward into my career.
Centers- I used a variation on centers in a science lesson during my pre-internship placement. It was not a true use of the centers instructional strategy as the students were doing the same activity at each table, but were able to interact with and observe different items. I found that, especially with the group of students I taught, centers were a good way of keeping students engaged and on-task because they had the opportunity to move around and interact with each other.
Class Discussions- During most of my lessons, I introduced my activities and concepts using class discussions almost every time, and I felt that this was the easiest way for me to begin lessons, although it was not always the most effective or engaging. I often had to refocus the students several times as they quickly got distracted or antsy, and there were also issues with students talking over one another or calling out questions or comments when other students were speaking. I would try to implement this in my own classroom in the future, but I would also likely have to do more work prior in order to have them go smoothly and respectfully.
Questioning: I have also often been using questioning in most of my lessons to gauge the knowledge that my students already have and to help them use that knowledge to formulate answers to new questions. After teaching a new concept, I also asked questions to help the students review and recap what they just learned, and to determine the areas in which I need to do more explanation. I found that this worked well and I would definitely employ this strategy in my future lessons. It is a straightforward and fairly effective way of understanding what students know and understand themselves.
Lessons with these strategies: