An effective teacher has a toolbox of teaching approaches, or instructional strategies, from which to select the appropriate tool to develop engaging learning activities. As a teacher plans, they will consider the instructional strategies and technology tools most suited for their students to achieve the learning objectives for the lesson. These instructional strategies range along a continuum from teacher-directed to student-centered. A teacher may start with a teacher-directed instructional approach and then move to a student-centered approach after students have been introduced to a new concept, allowing students to learn to take responsibility for their learning. For this assignment, you will either begin filling your instructional strategy and technology toolkit or you will add to one you already have. This will be a very helpful resource as you begin developing lesson plans for your own classroom.
Research the following topics:
- Teacher-directed and student-centered teaching approaches and instructional strategies that have proven to be effective in the classroom
- Technological tools and devices that can be used to support student learning
Create a 2- to 2 ½-page toolkit that can be used as a future reference for instructional planning. Complete the following in your resource:
- Describe teacher-directed instructional strategies, including 2–3 examples for classroom use.
- Describe student-centered instructional strategies, including 2–3 examples for classroom use.
- Describe a minimum of 4 questioning strategies that lead to increased student engagement, develop higher order thinking skills, and/or promote student reflection.
- Describe a minimum of 5 technological tools and/or devices that promote student engagement and learning.
- Provide a minimum of 10 links (5 links per topic below) to websites that provide articles, videos, or other resources on the following topics:
- Effective instructional strategies for the secondary classroom
- Technology tools and/or devices that can be used to support student learning in the secondary classroom