Module+7


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Amy Wolff Module 7 8 April 2010

In this module the focus is on teacher-centered teaching strategies. Many different strategies were discussed including teacher talk, demonstration, questioning, and whole class discussion. I have seen all of these incorporated in classes that I have taken and I plan on using them in my own classrooms. I think it is important to use a large variety of strategies as long as they are used correctly. All of these strategies have their own good and bad aspects but it wasn’t even the strategies that stood out to me. Instead it was the other topics discussed at the end of the chapter that caught my eye. The section about equality in the classroom really hit home with me. I am not always the most outgoing student and I found that even when I felt like I was ready to share I didn’t even get the chance. Often when classes progress, teachers see which students tend to share and which students tend to be correct in their sharing. When this happens the shyer students are overlooked even when they choose to share. This is why as one of those shyer students I will make sure that I do not make the same mistake. I want all of my students to be a part of the class. Of course, I will not make the mistake of putting those students on the spot either but I will give them the chance to share when they feel ready instead of depending on the “stars” as the book calls them. Another aspect I found interesting to read about was the section on giving students a second chance. Even though it was a very short section, this was one more area that I could relate to. I have been that student too. Sometimes issues arise that make it difficult to complete work or even to complete the work to the best of one’s ability. For me it has been the affect that personal issues have had where I have fallen into depression and with that fallen behind in classes. Because of that, I have found a great appreciation for teachers that do allow second chances. Since I have seen myself in those situations I also believe I will be able to understand the students that find themselves in falling behind and struggling. There is, however, a fine line between a second chance and a constant struggle with a student completing work. I feel that since I have had so many of my own struggles, I can be a great inspiration and role model to the students. I plan on incorporating all types of teaching strategies as well in order to focus on different learning skills, but it the way I can relate to students that I believe will make me a very strong teacher.

Scott Morrison Module 7 April 8, 2010

When looking over the module on teacher centered instructional strategies, it brings back a lot of memories of my high school and college classes. Teacher-centered strategies can be extremely beneficial when necessary, but can be detrimental from a learning standpoint as well. Teacher-centered learning strategies are definitely viewed in different lights by both teachers and student. Looking at these strategies from a teacher’s perspective, the teacher has complete control of the classroom. I could see how many teachers would like teacher-centered strategies for several reasons. The teacher monitors what information is exposed to the students and how quickly the classroom pace advances. The teacher can monitor student behavior directly. Teacher-centered strategies allow teachers to expose students to only the information they want exposed. They can concentrate their emphasis on what they want students to know. This can help the classroom to a degree, but it can also cause problems as well. Looking at teacher-centered strategies from a student’s perspective, the main downfall is that there is no active involvement or freedom. While it is true that teachers can get students to engage with these strategies, it is very difficult to get them to work hard if they lack autonomy. Students realize that they have no choices or options for the direction of the class. This can lead to behavioral issues and a teacher can easily lose control of the class if they use too much teacher-based teaching. In my classroom, I can see giving students autonomy as difficult. Sometimes I am too much of a control freak and, to be honest, I fear giving students too much control. I can see myself using teacher-based strategies, but, in the same degree, I want to let students feel as if they have a say in what they learn.

Trenton Mendelson Module 7

Teacher centered instructional strategies are perhaps the most common form of strategies used in the classroom. It is a form in which the majority of us are familiar with and have experienced throughout our school years and well into college. They are very effective when used correctly, and can result in a great deal of learning for students. As a future English teacher, a large portion of my curriculum will be teacher centered. When covering topics such as grammar, sentence structure, vocabulary, and spelling, using a teacher centered instructional strategy initally can be very helpful. These aspects of English require in-depth explanations and the use of examples to illustrate their significance. This module outlined a number of techniques and important factors to take into consideration when constructing a teacher centered instructional strategy. For one, it is important as an instructor to remember that just because the strategy itself is teacher centered, the students are still the most important aspect. The proper blend of teacher centered and student centered instructional strategies can result in a more impactful lesson. I believe that English is the perfect subject as far as using a combination of teacher and student centered instructional strategies are concerned. From my experiences as an English student, and in the field teaching I have found that combining these strategies creates more engaging lessons.

Brandon Krull Module 7 April 6, 2010 Teacher-centered instruction is something that most students have the most experience with. Lecture seems to be a favorite for teachers in my schools. Lecture can be boring, but I think it is important when there is a lot of information that needs to be taught. It should not be used everyday though. That’s when students begin to lose focus when exposed to too much lecture. I think a lot of college professors rely on it too much. Most don’t strive to find new techniques in teaching. History is difficult to get past lecturing. It is hard to find alternative ways, other than papers and videos, to make sure the students are receiving all of the content that is necessary. I can’t think of a history class that didn’t rely on lecture for the majority of classes. I wish my teachers would have implemented more student centered activities, but I understand that it is difficult to do so in a lot of cases. Questioning is something that I could implement as a teacher, especially for assessment. They need to be carefully designed to point the student in the right direction. This also gives the student an opportunity to see where is peers are in relation to them on content knowledge. Others can learn off their peers and possibly develop concepts that they might not have gotten before. Guided practice is helpful also. Especially in math and science oriented classes where there is a lot of structure in the problems and certain steps need to be taken. But teachers should also be careful not to use this too much as well. They need to develop multiple techniques to implement the material.

Kelsey Sammons Module 7 Teacher-centered strategies are something that I feel students become too used to. The first thing that comes to mind when I hear teacher-centered strategies is lecture. All students have had at least one teacher that did nothing to engage the class, thinking that lecture would be the trick, and that their students would stay interested. It is important that if education students are going to be taught teacher-centered methods, that they learn the most effective ways to go about it. The book makes a good point when it suggests mixing teacher-centered strategies with student- centered strategies. I do not think that lecture is always the wrong way to go about teaching a lesson, as long as there is another tactic involved to keep the students motivated and intrigued. I feel that this combination may be easy in my discipline. On one hand, I know that I will have to take the time to discuss the books that my students will be reading, and teach the topics that my students will be learning. However, English provides an easier outlet for students to use this knowledge and either work on their own or in groups to create, present and discuss what they are learning. Another part of this module that I feel was important to address was the use of question. Teachers will ask questions in lecture, in small-groups and through assessment. It is important for teachers to use appropriate questions that will increase students knowledge, not just reinforce it. I feel that the more students have to think to come up with an answer, the more they will learn from it. At the same time, I realize that I need make sure that the questions I give my students match their knowledge level. The section on how to avoid having many papers to grade at once really interested me. Both of my parents were educators for the majority of my life. My dad was always really on top of his school work, and usually had a moderate amount of work to do each night. My mom, on the other hand, usually let her school work build up through the week so that by the time the weekend rolled around, she had a lot of school work to do. I realize that my mom had a lot more to do, because she taught every subject in a first grade classroom, but it still looked like a lot to handle. I hope that I am able to stay on top of my student’s homework, because I feel that this will be a benefit both to me, and show my students that I respect their work enough to get it done in a timely manner.

Carrie Brooks SEED 400 Module 7 Reflection Teacher-centered instructional strategies are typically seen as the most straight-forward, simplest, and most used strategies. Module 7 reaffirms that statement, but it also provides ideas for effective implementation of the instructional strategies, it differentiates different types of teacher-centered strategies, and it clarifies how to avoid discriminating against students, while implementing teacher-centered strategies. In Spanish, much of the grammar will be taught through teacher-centered strategies, so I benefited from this chapter tremendously. Teacher-talk is commonly called “lecturing.” Students typically expect to walk into a classroom and to be lectured at, as they jot down notes. Module 7 gave some basic and obvious pointers, such as not talking to quickly nor too much, but I appreciate the new idea of using an advanced organizer. Through the use of an advanced organizer, students can connect new information to knowledge that they already possess. Students are more likely to take stock in the lesson plan, if they can apply the new concepts to already-existing knowledge. Another interesting “teacher-talk” tip involves the fact that students are accustomed to having “commercial breaks.” Kids rarely sit and play legos for hours on end anymore. They now use TV for entertainment, which has commercial breaks and ever-changing story lines. As teachers, we must give the students breaks, and accommodate their oh-so-short attention spans by changing our methods of instruction and keeping the students entertained. As a teacher-centered instructional method, I think that demonstrations are particularly useful. In Spanish, I can imagine a teacher having a conversation, in Spanish, with a student who volunteers, or a student, who has prepared ahead of time. I like that the book emphasizes that students can participate vicariously through the demonstrations. As demonstrations would be fun to implement, I believe that questioning would be difficult to implement in a Spanish classroom. I suppose that I could ask students what they know about a certain grammatical element in English, and then use Spanish examples so that they can compare Spanish to English. Unfortunately, students so often lack the skills in English grammar to firmly grasp Spanish grammar. I know that the USD Law School uses the Socratic Method, and I can imagine that it would work well in a Law school, an English class, or a history class. It would be more difficult to implement in a language classroom. I would need to witness another instructor, using questioning, before I would feel comfortable using it. Non-discrimination is one guideline that applies to all subject areas. For questioning, it is important to involve every student in the class. A teacher should ask “quiet Calli” as many questions as “loud-mouth Larry.” No matter the student’s disposition, gender, intelligence, or ethnicity, every student needs to feel involved. Such a goal is easier said than done. In my Spanish 101 class, I find myself asking the same people questions time after time. I know that they will willingly respond, and they typically give the response that I want. I need to go out of my box in asking the correct questions in the correct manner in order to involve every student. By doing this, they will all feel involved, and they will be more comfortable speaking the Spanish language. Even though questioning, teacher-talk, and demonstrations are “teacher-centered,” they should still strive to include the students and accommodate their learning needs. It is possible to create a learning-rich environment with the correct implementations of teacher-centered instruction.

Abby Suelflow Module 7 Reflection 6 April 2010 After completing the module reading on teacher-centered instructional strategies, I learned a number of different techniques that will be important for me to remember in my future classroom. With my previous teaching experiences, I have definitely learned that something cannot be repeated too many times. Although I may think that I have “beat a certain topic or statement to death”, I still find that at least one student either wasn’t paying attention or simply didn’t understand the concept. Therefore, the general and specific guidelines sections there were mentioned cannot be emphasized enough. In addition to speaking slowly and repeating important concepts and principles, I have also learned that I can never make assumptions that the students know a particular concept or know how to use a specific instrument. I have learned my lesson several times working as a laboratory assistant. For example, I thought that students in a biology major’s course would know how to correctly operate a microscope; however, I was too quick to jump to this conclusion. Like it was mentioned in the book, “Resist believing that students have attained a skill or have learned something that was taught previously by you or by another teacher.” Although it can be frustrating at times, I have found that going over the basics with the entire class saves me a lot of hassle in the long run. The section on questioning was very thorough and included a lot of important information concerning the importance of questioning and how to appropriately implement this into the classroom discussions. In most of my classes, I have found that teachers try to stimulate classroom discussion by posing questions; however, they never give enough time for the students to think about the question and respond with a clear, concise answer. More times than not, teachers pose a question, wait about one second, and then answer their question. In addition, I have found that teachers use shotgun questioning, in which they pose the same questions in several different ways or ask several questions in a row without any student feedback. I will be honest and say that I have been guilty of shotgun questioning and answering my own questions simply because I feel awkward waiting for students to respond. One of my professors that teaches biology for elementary education majors had a great technique that she implemented from the very beginning. After she posed a question, she would wait up to thirty seconds before she would say another word in order for students to have an adequate time to think about the question and present it to the class. In the beginning, she said that it took nearly thirty seconds for a student to respond to her question; however, after a while the students realized that she would wait the full thirty seconds and so they responded more quickly because they didn’t want to wait every time. It is important to explicitly write out your policies and procedures in order for students to understand from day one what is expected of them. Likewise, it is important that the instructor doesn’t deviate from these policies; otherwise students will quickly realize that they can bend the rules because the teacher is not strictly enforcing the original classroom policies.

Kellen Moser Module 7 Reflection April 2, 2010 Module 7 was a little more familiar to me than the other modules, because I have been taught in this manner for basically my entire academic career. I like the idea of informal and formal teacher talk. The book said that informal teacher talk should be spontaneous and should be used in 5 to 12 minute intervals. I think that this is a great idea. If I am lecturing on something and I see that the kids are starting to fade, I can try and make the atmosphere more informal and be sure to get them in on the conversation. I also think that it is appropriate to have notes or an outline for a lecture. I have heard many stories about beginning teachers who think they can give a lecture off the top of their head. Once the discussion begins, they have no clue what they are doing. They get lost. It is important to have some sort of guide while lecturing. Sometimes, I think that teachers can get in too big of a hurry when speaking. They may race through a lecture or discussion, because they want to get through the material and on to something else. This is a terrible practice. The teacher must be able to adjust and make time if they need to. I also think that demonstrations can be useful, especially for science. Some kids tend to understand better when they see how they need to do something. By demonstrating what needs to be done, some kids will have a better understanding of what is expected of them when they start. Also, they will be more enthusiastic about what they are doing if they fully understand what is going on. A big section of this module was about questioning, which I had no idea could be so complex. I think it is important not to try and embarrass a student. I have seen occasions where teachers will call on a student because they aren't paying attention. I don't believe this does any good. Simply grab the kids attention another way. Maybe give them a warning. For example: "Ted, could you explain how to do this if I asked you right now?" When the kid says no, then reply, "Well, then let's pay attention so we can get it right, ok?" Something to this effect should work better. The final two important aspects of this module apply to giving students a second chance and warnings about peer-checking. First, I think it is very important to give students multiple opportunities on assignments. If a student is way off base on an assignment, I think it is important to let them redo the assignment, or give them another form of the assignment to complete. It shouldn't matter when the student grasps the material, but simply that they do grasp the material at some point. Just because they learn the material at a slower pace, they shouldn't be penalized. Peer-checking is something that I think most teachers have done away with, which is good. Teachers should not put kids in the postition of checking others assignments. They will feel pressure to give their peer a good grade and maybe even cheat. A teacher should never put a child in that position. Don't be lazy! Do the work teachers!

Jamie Wickham April 3, 2010 Module 7 This module was interesting to me because I believe that many of the ideas that were implemented thus far in my unit overview, and many of the things I have seen in the classroom during my internship have revolved around teacher-centered instructional strategies. The module states that these strategies are easier to implement and lists several other strengths, however it is important to note that is also encourages one to “mix [these strategies] with strategies that are more student-centered or make the strategies themselves more student-centered” (264). I have not noticed a lot of this with the time I have spent in the classroom, especially in regards to teacher talk. The majority of what I have witnessed has been teachers lecturing to students rather than engaging in informal discussion with them. This is detrimental to the learning process because not only do students have very short attention spans, but they are also less likely to take away a great deal from a lecture because there are not actively involved in the learning process. I believe one way to continue with the lecture format but include students more actively is by using the advance organizers they discuss in the module. By giving students either form of the organizer (comparative or expository) they are able to see what is being presented to them and make associations between the material they are reading and what they are hearing. This idea of having them read and listen incorporates the various learning modalities and learning styles. When we studied differentiated instruction we learned that opportunities need to be provided for students with different learning styles so that the information may be given to them in a meaningful way. This text reaffirms this concept by suggesting that “perhaps the most useful strategy for recapturing student attention is changing to an entirely different strategy or learning modality” (265). It later suggests that an instructor “augment your talk with multisensory stimulation” (269). These bits of information demonstrate that while teacher-centered strategies are indeed an important part of the classroom environment, they should be executed in a way that involves different of every different learning style so they may understand what it being taught to them. Demonstrations and questioning are ways that students become more involved in the learning process, because they are doing more than simply listening or reading along. With demonstrations, students are actually able to see what it is that they are supposed to be learning. By watching a science experiment or having a foreign language teacher read a passage aloud and underline specific verbs the student is able to see what it is that they will actually do with the information that was likely taught to them in a lecture situation. They go into the demonstration with a certain amount of knowledge, see their instructor actively engaged with the information/concepts, and then have the opportunity to discuss what they have seen and learned after the demonstration has concluded. Questioning is likely to take place after an experiment, as well as frequently throughout the learning process. There are a large number of purposes for using questioning, including helping students with their own metacognition, and helping them to organize and interpret materials. The three levels of questions that are discussed in this module align with the level of thinking outlined in Bloom’s Taxonomy, illustrating the appropriateness of the questioning method for any instructional objective. The text says “Questioning: the cornerstone of critical thinking, real-world problem solving, and meaningful learning,” (282) which brilliantly emphasizes the true purpose of method. The module was full of information that demonstrated how teacher-centered instructional methods could be carried out in a variety of ways to involve students more actively.

Alisha Limoges Module 7 Whenever I think about teacher-centered learning strategies I think about the standard teaching methods that I have been exposed to as long as I can remember, lecture. However, this is not necessarily a bad reaction that I have to the word. I do think there are times and places for lecture and sometimes students need to be exposed to information though lecturing. I also think that teachers tend to fall back on lecture and use it without really thinking about what they are doing or how the students are really learning. I think all students should be exposed to lecture, especially if they plan on attending a post-secondary school where the majority of professors use lecture and do not care to stray from that method. I have done very well with the lecture method although it has taken time to get to that point, most of the time while I was younger, I found it hard to concentrate and got bored easily. Demonstration is a second kind of teacher-centered strategy and I have found that this type of teaching method has worked very well for me to relate to in a classroom. I also appreciated when teachers show us how to do something, whether it was science class or English class, before they expected us to complete it. I also liked when the teacher was nearby to help if you had a question, but they were guiding you to find the answer more than flat out telling you what the answer is. I also like the guidelines that the module gives you that can help you maximize the effectiveness of lecture and demonstration. I really appreciate the point they make about not talking more the 12 mins without switching topics. Even in my field experiences if the teachers talked more than 20 minutes without stopping to check for understanding they totally lost my attention. I think that teachers need to be aware that while they may find information exciting and new, their students need to know that the information is relevant and meaningful to their daily and future lives. I also think that it is important for teachers to make the information standout in lecture if it is especially important. If your students are consistently exposed to lecture and you happen to stumble upon some information that is super important that they may need to know for an exam, then you need to find a way to make that information stand out so they are properly encoding that as well as the other information that you are giving them.

Andy Cahalan Module 7

My favorite kind of teacher centered instructional strategies to learn on is questioning. In several classes the teacher uses questioning a lot to get the students to think and also to see how much the student knows. It is also used to determine whether the student has done their homework. In one class that really utilized different questioning techniques was my US Government class. Mary Pat Bierle would expect every student to read the material assigned. In each class she would incorporate many questions into her lecture. This forced the students to read the material because they knew there would be questions asked. Some students did like her approach, but that is because they didn’t want to do the reading. I learned more in Mary Pat’s classes then any other class I have taken and that is because when you know you are accountable for the work, you learn more because you do the work. It is important that you ask the right questions though, rhetorical questions are questions that should be avoided, as are questions that require little to no student thinking, these include questions where the answers are yes or no. Also, it is important to stay clear of questions that embarrass, or punish students. It is important to develop good questioning skills because questioning can be an excellent way to teach students and acquire information from the students to help determine what is well understood and what needs more help.

Rob Cunningham Modulo 7 4/5/10

Modulo 7 directly covered teacher centered instructional strategies. It is my firm belief that even though students learn best through student centered activities like a PBL approach to learning, but the most time efficient way to present information is through one of these strategies. I believe that the most information about a subject can be delivered through lecture, demonstration, and directed questions made by the teacher. I do think, however, that these techniques need to be infused with student interaction. I think that if students are allowed to be a direct influence on a lecture or demonstration then not only will the student gain more knowledge from the experience, but the teacher will better understand the kind of material that inspires their students. I believe that the main teacher centered activity that I will use most in my classroom is that of demonstration. Many times, I feel, students want to memorize the procedural way with which a mathematical problem may be solved. Therefore I do think that demonstration will be useful in showing students a particular way to work through a problem that may appear on their homework, test, or standardized test. That way students will feel accomplished in learning a procedure that works for them. The next great step in teaching, however, is to be able to get students to look at a problem and realize what technique is best suited for a given situation. Better yet, the ability to have students apply a procedure to the “terrifying” story problems that make students so apprehensive about learning math. During the procedural demonstration, however, I hope to have students walking me through a given problem. It may take a few steps given by me until they can take over and walk me through the rest of the problem. The questioning part of the modulo I found very interesting. Many times I find it difficult to formulate the right kind of question to trigger a response from a student. While I was at my internship this semester I would walk around and help students work on their homework. I struggled greatly in trying to lead students to the right answer through asking the “right” questions to make it click in their head. I guess I did not realize how many different kinds of questioning techniques there are out there to better manage not only a discussion, but also the flow of a given class. There is one part of the modulo that I tended to struggle with, and that would be about rhetorical questions. Many times I think that teachers may be able to get across a disciplinary action by merely asking a rhetorical question. I think that saying “Johnny would you please start paying more attention” is just as embarrassing to a student as saying “Johnny, can you explain what I just went over?” Besides, students know when they are not doing what they are supposed to do, and their peers can recognize when one of their classmates is either unprepared, not paying attention, or are being very disruptive during a presentation. So I think that rhetorical questions can be used to discipline some students to get them motivated to work harder in class, and participate in a manner that is more conducive to learning.

Emily Schaefer Module 7 April 7, 2010

I was glad that the text discussed teacher-centered learning because, although not always the best choice for teaching, it is inevitable at some times in the classroom. For example, in Spanish, there are many concepts that need to be explained and modeled for the student by the teacher. I like how the book suggested planning three or four learning activities in a class period, using both student-centered and teacher-centered practices. Changing the activity every ten to fifteen minutes or so will help keep students engaged, especially in situations where teacher-centered instruction is necessary.

I think an important part of this module was the discussion of how to utilize questioning. Questioning is something we will all use in our fields, so incorporating the concepts behind Bloom’s taxonomy in our questioning techniques is beneficial to improve the inquisitions we make. The concept about questioning that I think will be difficult for me is the timing of my questioning. Many times, I find myself rewording a question a second after I asked the first question, simply because I am uncomfortable with the silence. I see my professors doing this also at times. We just want to keep moving so there isn’t that awkward silence. A lot of times, I start thinking that maybe I worded the question weird, or maybe I am not asking it right, so I ask again just in a different way. Instead, I should wait two to five seconds and let the students think about the concept. This will allow them to think about the question more deeply and in turn, come up with a more thoughtful response.

Another concept that may be difficult, although unintentionally, would be trying to treat and call on all students equally. For another one of my classes this semester, I had to write my thoughts about gender discrimination in the classroom. While I hadn’t done any sort of research, I was sure it existed without intention. I think all teachers will have to make a conscious effort to ensure that they are treating all students equally. The text provided some useful tips to make sure that we as teachers are treating everyone the with the same level of respect in the classroom such as having someone tally how much time we spend interacting with students in the classroom and marking students off on a seating chart when they are called on by the instructor.

The text also discussed reviews. I think class reviews are extremely necessary. I can recall many times being in a class and when the test approaches, I can remember what we just learned, but have no idea about the concepts we learned at the beginning of a unit. This is especially true in Spanish, when one learns certain concepts or certain vocabulary. It is necessary know all the information to improve in the language, so review of prior concepts is necessary. The text makes a good point about providing reviews at times other than just before exams, which becomes a cram tool for passing the exam, rather than a learning tool. One constraint might be time when it comes to reviewing; it might be necessary to keep moving on to the next concept before one has enough time to review prior concepts. Using games as review tactics is also another valuable tip, as I can still remember the games we played in my Spanish class to review material.

Rita Buschbacher 4/6/10 Module 7 Module 7 is about teacher centered instructional strategies and since I view the actual teaching part of a math lesson teacher centered, this module was very interesting for me. I believe that students need a teacher to communicate math correctly to them the first time, through teacher centered methods, and then they can move on to student centered methods. Often times, there is a limited number of ways to do a problem correctly and the students need to learn the rules first before they think of their own way to solve the problem. Teacher talk is something that I am going to try and use every day in my classroom because I feel that it will involve the students in a more teacher centered strategy. The idea of starting with an advanced organizer is a great way to connect new math concepts with old ones. If students can have a quick review of old material, it will benefit the lessons coherence for the students. The text gives helpful guidelines on how to use this strategy without losing the interest of your students during a long period of time. Some of the most important implications of teacher talk that I found are to rehearse your talk, establish eye contact, and vary between informal and formal talk. I have had professors and high school teachers lose the attention of the students because of their poor organization. The implications that I found most important about teacher talk all are closely tied to organization. It will take practice to perfect the art of keeping student’s attention, but I feel that that is exactly why we are practicing teaching through classes like the internship; to learn how to keep students engaged even when teachers are the center of attention. Another part of the text that I felt strongly about was the part about peer checking. I remember absolutely hating peer checking for the reasons that the text states; “students could cause emotional or social embarrassment to students.” I was always worried about who would get my paper and what they would think of me if I did poorly. I also feel that this also could result in students cheating by changing the answers on the assignment. Students grades are private and personal and I think students have a choice on whether they should be shared with the class or not. This module has shown the benefits of reviewing, questioning, and informal and formal communication to keep students engaged and active in their learning.

Josh Freier Module 7 4/12/10 Teacher-centered instruction is the most commonly used form of the instruction, and though I know it is important and is necessary in teaching, I am wary about overusing it. To me, methods like lecture don’t seem to work for most students. They can get the information across—this is the major advantage of lectures—but teacher-centered strategies seem to lack in the critical thinking and experiential opportunities that other, more student-centered, activities have. If I viewed getting information across as the most important point of education, then teacher-centered strategies would be much more important to me, but if one overuses them—even does it well—they are depriving students of more interactive, immersive ways of learning. What I mean is, put in simpler terms, even if teacher-centered strategies are done well, they are still teacher-centered, and education should be student-centered.

Now, that being said, I do find teacher-centered strategies effective. I see myself as learning best from a lecture. Although more student-centered projects are fun and allow for creativity, for me, nothing gets important information out better for me than a lecture. But that’s just me. In both high school and college classes, I feel I learn more in lecture classes than project classes (though classes like this one are an except, as we are dealing with concrete items such as how to create lesson plans, and this requires hands on practice). This module lists several different teacher-centered strategies, but I liked all the different tips on how to improve these age-old techniques. I think I’ve said it before, but I like how this book sometimes gives simple pragmatic advice. Sections like the “questions to avoid asking” may not huge concepts, but little details like this will matter when I’m teaching. Now, I say I like lectures, but I should rephrase that: I like good lectures. They have to be done well, and unfortunately, there are many teachers who seem to think lectures are simply spelling out the information to the students. Teacher-centered strategies are useful when you want your students to take a backseat in the class—sometimes this is necessary—but you still need to find ways to engage your students. I feel that, especially with lectures, it needs to be more of a conversation between the teachers and students, rather than the teacher telling and the students listening. The best lecturers I remember having where those that involved us continuously, developing the lecture through the students, not dragging us through it. There is a danger in teacher-centered strategies because of their over-reliance on a more one-way communication system. They rely on “abstract symbolization” and on “words and on skill in listening, a skill that is not mastered by many adolescents (or for that matter, even many adults).” Most adolescents can’t handle dealing with a subject so abstractly, and need more hands-on experiences. Yet, because I am going to have to lecture sometimes, I’ll have to make sure to create my lectures and other teacher-centered strategies in a way that adolescents can relate to. The way I see it, you use a lecture, as well as other teacher-centered activities, as a way to develop student thinking, not using the students as trash cans to dump information into. The information and the way it is presented should help get students thinking. In the real world, years after school, most of the students aren’t going to remember much of the information anyway. But they will, if the strategies are used right, still have with them the most important items and the higher thinking abilities that they need to operate in the real world.

Amber Hegge Module 7

The reading of this section of the text could not have came at a better time for me. I am scheduled to teach a lesson this week at my internship school Elk-Point. The different tips that I read throughout this section were greatly beneficial to me. The math lesson I will be teaching is mostly centered around “teacher talk”, me demonstrating to the students how to complete inequalities. First of all I thought that this method was the best way to introduce a new concept, so that is why I chose it. I think the student-centered instructional strategies of last chapter are also very important, but in mathematics and learning new things, it is hard for the students to make their own conclusions and teach themselves the material, thus the teacher centered instructional strategies are more beneficial for me in my lesson planning. I liked reading through the guide lines of teacher talk, and think that these tips will greatly benefit me. For example some keys I will focus on are establishing frequent eye contact, allowing students think time during concept, and using things familiar in the students lives to bridge the content to the things they already know. The section about questioning will also be very beneficial for my lesson, as I feel like after and during my talk questioning will be a good way of keeping the students tuned in and processing what I am saying. For example I plan on using cueing questions if the students aren’t quite grasping the new material I’m presenting to them in order to guide them to what I would like them to learn. Also, Convergent-thinking questions will definitely help me to know if the students are comprehending the material as well as keep them tuned in to what I am saying. When asking questions however, I want to make sure not to let the same elite end of the class answer all of the questions. I somewhat know most of the students names in the class, so I plan on calling the names of a few of the students who really don’t participate much in class so as to keep everyone involved. I think this chapter of the book really is going to be useful to me in my immediate future in teaching my lessons and in the long run of my professional career as a teacher.

Jeff Sebern Module 7 Reflection

This module focuses on how to use organization and proper guidance to promote student learning. Teachers act as guides on the road to learning and teacher-centered learning strategies are used because the teacher is the most knowledgeable person in the classroom and should understand how best to teach a given subject matter. Organizing lectures, demonstrations, and discussion is the first step to being successful. Allowing students to see the bigger picture and provide meaning to course material helps make the work seem more meaningful and worthwhile. Regardless of subject matter, organization is key. Demonstration is a teaching strategy which allows the teacher to show an example and therefore apply knowledge which has been discussed in a meaningful way. In the sciences, labs are a perfect example of this method, but usually in the traditional sense where the instructor hands out an instructional guide for an experiment and the student performs it. It is therefore important that the teacher uses a pre-lab discussion or lecture to attach some sort of meaning and relevance to the experiment and show why this experiment relates to class material. Demonstrations work best when the students enjoy the experiment and understand why the experiment is relevant. Discussions also are a valuable teaching tool. Whether in small groups or with the entire class, discussion provokes the answers to questions that may be preventing learning. Use of proper questioning can probe the class for deeper thinking about an issue and sometimes produces a step-wise discussion that allows the student(s) to answer their own questions. Using the right questions in the right scenarios is another important factor. When students are forced to consider some aspects they hadn’t thought of before, they are forced to use higher order thinking skills and reconsider previous ideas about scientific data and theory. Discussions are essential to promoting communication skills and the use of discussion allows students to play an active role in the learning process. Finally, homework and assignments should relate lecture, discussion, or demonstration strategies to real-world applications and help the student to learn throughout the process of completing their homework. Assignments shouldn’t just work as an assessment tool to find out what the students already know, but should take what knowledge the students have and help them understand the topic in new ways. In science, assignments must provoke some deeper meaning and show how everyday life can be related to intricate scientific data and theory.

Kevin McKinstry Module 7 April 20th 2010

Teacher centered instructional strategies are a teaching style that if used more often than it should be. Often in many subjects teachers think that lecturing to students again and again is the best way to teach them. Often this is in conjunction with “teaching out of the book” and using quizzes that the book provides. When this is done the students do not learn the material. Instead what it becomes is a way for the teacher to keep the students in line and not promote any sort of growth in their learning. This is in the extreme cases. In moderation teacher centered strategies are important to help break up activities or other student centered discussions that may take place. Students need to have background knowledge that they might not otherwise be able to access and that is where strategies such as teacher talk or demonstration come into play. A teacher must be careful though not too make these activities boring because if this happens the students will lose focus and tune out what is being taught to them. To adequately use teacher centered strategies in my opinion takes three different things. First off a teacher must be prepared to teach the topic at hand. If a teacher comes to class unprepared for a lecture or a demonstration the teacher will lose focus or could just get many important facts just plain wrong. Which would not only cause confusion among the students, but will also makes tests almost impossible to use. This is because the teacher would be unsure what they covered in class and they will just rely on what they students read from the book. Which will not reach the students who do not learn well from just reading. The second important factor that a teacher has to be enthusiastic. If a teacher is enthusiastic it does not matter what type of teaching style they use. The students will be engaged and the lessons will be fun to be in. When a teacher is not enthusiastic the students start to fall asleep, write notes, do other homework, or otherwise find something else that they would rather be doing. The third important factor is making sure to implement other teaching styles in with the teacher centered strategies. What we often forget is it is not one teaching style or another. Often what happens is styles start to run together. If a teacher only uses one style their teaching will get dull and tasteless like a flat soda. The strategies must be different and incorporate for different learners, because just because one student learns in a certain way that does not mean all students do. Teacher centered strategies are important yes but they should not be the cure all for a rowdy classroom or a solution to the fact that a teacher wants certain material covered and this is the only way. Yes it might be quick and yes it might be easy but it does not reach all of the students. Instead what it does is make the classes boring, the tests boring, and students realize that doing their homework is pointless because everything is gone over in class anyway. Students want to learn and they want to be challenged even though students need lecture for background information, there is a limit to the amount of time that a teacher should use teacher centered strategies

Tyler Maxwell Module 7 April 8, 2010

This module goes into discussing the many teacher-centered approaches there are to teaching. It goes in depth on many of the approaches and has scenarios and examples to provide backing for the subject. I think math education is mostly done in this fashion. There is really nothing to get out of this. It is hard to make a math class less like a lecture class and still get your point across when it is needed. Student-centered strategies may work, but most likely I find them much more difficult to pull off In a lot of high schools, you will generally see teacher-centered classrooms. These classrooms are basically set in lecture form with the teacher hopefully not speaking monotonously in front of you. As a teacher in this type of approach to teaching, it is important to be responsive to students questions and try to clear up any questions they have as good as possible. Most, if not all of my high school classes were teacher-centered models. In other words our teachers stood up at the front of the class, lectured us for a certain amount of time, gave us homework, and then go around the classroom answering any questions the students might have. In conclusion, this module expands from module 6. This one goes into talking about teacher-centered approaches to teaching. It then compares and contrasts them to each other as well as different approaches all together. Teacher-centered approaches to teaching might not be useful in many classroom situations. However, teachers must be very responsive to student questions and also vary your instructional approach from day to day to take some of the monotony out of our repetitive days, especially in math.