Standard 8: Instructional Strategies
The teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies to encourage learners to develop deep understanding of content areas and their connections, and to build skills to apply knowledge in meaningful ways.
FL 295 Fall 2016 Decision Point 2 Reflective Statement:
I plan on being an educator that consistently utilizes the various resources that are available to me in order to make my classroom the best that it can be for my students. More specifically, I will work to understand and use a wide array of instructional strategies so that I am able to continue working towards creating an inclusive and comfortable classroom where all learning needs are met. The need to vary classroom activities is about more than just preventing boredom in the classroom. I believe that its importance stems from the fact that no two learners are the same, which means that educators need to be aware of these diverse strategies as well as put them into practice. For example, I must realize that the students I will have in the future could be bilingual, speak little to no English, have diverse talents, be exceptionally able, or have certain disabilities. These are all factors that will drastically affect how these students perceive and retain information. It can not be expected that students are able to fully grasp the content as well as apply it in various contexts if their basic learning needs are not met. Furthermore, it is my responsibility to be able to modify and change instructional time and activities in order to ensure that these disparate students feel appropriately challenged and embraced in the classroom. As mentioned previously, I do not believe that teaching is an occupation that warrants the saying “one-size fits all,” which means that educators must constantly work toward finding and including various instructional strategies. At the end of the day, what I do as an educator is for my students and not for me. Therefore, it is a huge possibility that I will have to utilize instructional approaches that push me out of my comfort zone, but effectively meeting learner needs is more important than falling into a comfortable routine.
When discussing instructional strategies, it is important to realize that this includes the fundamental knowledge a teacher should have in addition to teaching methods that are unique to his or her subject area. As a foreign language educator, one of my personal goals includes providing students with multiple opportunities to actively and meaningfully communicate in Spanish. Some of the instructional strategies that I plan on implementing in order to encourage my students to do this include using English as rarely as possible, teaching vocabulary in context, and discussing culture using authentic cultural resources. It can be determined that a math teacher would probably not work towards using a minimum amount of English in the classroom, because this instructional practice is unique to foreign language instruction. Therefore, it is essential that I am aware of what I should know as a teacher, and more importantly, what I should know as a foreign language teacher, because instructional strategies can be specific to content area.
FL 150 Fall 2015 Decision Point 1 Reflective Statement:
Standard eight discusses the importance of utilizing the various instructional strategies in order to aid in learning development. Some of the different types of instructional strategies are lectures, group projects, discussions, and case studies. Teachers should not use the same approach to teaching every class, because students could become quite bored. Boredom is fatal in the classroom, due to the fact that students tend to become unengaged. In high school, when I felt bored in the classroom, I would usually zone out, therefore missing the majority of the information that was presented to me. On behalf of this information, I find it important to vary classroom activities each day. This allows students to learn in a variety of ways, and find the approach that works best for them.
I have various goals for my future classroom, and one of the most important goals to me is to include fun and diverse activities in the classroom. I want my students to look forward to coming to my classroom every day, and expect the unexpected. I do not want to run a predictable classroom, because most students dread going to these types of classes every day. If I present information in a more interesting and entertaining way, then students are more likely to obtain a deep understanding of the content areas. This is due to the fact that students are more likely to engage and pay attention to the content at hand if it is both interesting and presented in an interesting way.
The teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies to encourage learners to develop deep understanding of content areas and their connections, and to build skills to apply knowledge in meaningful ways.
FL 295 Fall 2016 Decision Point 2 Reflective Statement:
I plan on being an educator that consistently utilizes the various resources that are available to me in order to make my classroom the best that it can be for my students. More specifically, I will work to understand and use a wide array of instructional strategies so that I am able to continue working towards creating an inclusive and comfortable classroom where all learning needs are met. The need to vary classroom activities is about more than just preventing boredom in the classroom. I believe that its importance stems from the fact that no two learners are the same, which means that educators need to be aware of these diverse strategies as well as put them into practice. For example, I must realize that the students I will have in the future could be bilingual, speak little to no English, have diverse talents, be exceptionally able, or have certain disabilities. These are all factors that will drastically affect how these students perceive and retain information. It can not be expected that students are able to fully grasp the content as well as apply it in various contexts if their basic learning needs are not met. Furthermore, it is my responsibility to be able to modify and change instructional time and activities in order to ensure that these disparate students feel appropriately challenged and embraced in the classroom. As mentioned previously, I do not believe that teaching is an occupation that warrants the saying “one-size fits all,” which means that educators must constantly work toward finding and including various instructional strategies. At the end of the day, what I do as an educator is for my students and not for me. Therefore, it is a huge possibility that I will have to utilize instructional approaches that push me out of my comfort zone, but effectively meeting learner needs is more important than falling into a comfortable routine.
When discussing instructional strategies, it is important to realize that this includes the fundamental knowledge a teacher should have in addition to teaching methods that are unique to his or her subject area. As a foreign language educator, one of my personal goals includes providing students with multiple opportunities to actively and meaningfully communicate in Spanish. Some of the instructional strategies that I plan on implementing in order to encourage my students to do this include using English as rarely as possible, teaching vocabulary in context, and discussing culture using authentic cultural resources. It can be determined that a math teacher would probably not work towards using a minimum amount of English in the classroom, because this instructional practice is unique to foreign language instruction. Therefore, it is essential that I am aware of what I should know as a teacher, and more importantly, what I should know as a foreign language teacher, because instructional strategies can be specific to content area.
FL 150 Fall 2015 Decision Point 1 Reflective Statement:
Standard eight discusses the importance of utilizing the various instructional strategies in order to aid in learning development. Some of the different types of instructional strategies are lectures, group projects, discussions, and case studies. Teachers should not use the same approach to teaching every class, because students could become quite bored. Boredom is fatal in the classroom, due to the fact that students tend to become unengaged. In high school, when I felt bored in the classroom, I would usually zone out, therefore missing the majority of the information that was presented to me. On behalf of this information, I find it important to vary classroom activities each day. This allows students to learn in a variety of ways, and find the approach that works best for them.
I have various goals for my future classroom, and one of the most important goals to me is to include fun and diverse activities in the classroom. I want my students to look forward to coming to my classroom every day, and expect the unexpected. I do not want to run a predictable classroom, because most students dread going to these types of classes every day. If I present information in a more interesting and entertaining way, then students are more likely to obtain a deep understanding of the content areas. This is due to the fact that students are more likely to engage and pay attention to the content at hand if it is both interesting and presented in an interesting way.