Research-Based Instructional Strategies- Standard 10

Researched-Based Instructional Strategies

Standard 10:

Teacher leaders will understand effective use of research-based instructional strategies.

Standard Aligned Course(s):

EDU6526: Survey of Instructional Strategies

Reflection:

Prior to taking Survey of Instructional Strategies, I knew the basics of instructional strategies.  I knew that when I went to a training, I was supposed to take down notes on every new strategy that was presented.  But what I could not figure out was how to successfully incorporate many of them into my classroom.  It is one thing to be told how a strategy works, it is completely different to successfully utilize it in your own classroom.  Survey of Instructional Strategies, forced me to think about the different instructional strategies I use in my classroom every day and the instructional strategies I could be using.  It also made me think about the instructional strategies my colleagues use in their classrooms every day.  Throughout this course, I learned about different instructional strategies, tried them in my classroom and received feedback on my implementation of the instructional strategy.  "Knowing what we want our students to know, what skills we want them to attain, and what attributes we would like to see them acquire is only the starting point" (Sagor, 2011, p. xi).  During this course, we used two different books, Visible Learning by Hattie and Classroom Instruction that Works by Hubbell, Pitler, Dean, and Stone.  Both texts were able to break down a lesson from beginning to end and point out the key aspects of each part of the lesson.  While I gained a lot of knowledge around instructional strategies from the reading, the two aspects of this class that were the most helpful were the bimonthly feedback on my classroom instruction, and the professional development I put together for my department.

Every two weeks, I was expected to video a specific instructional strategy in my classroom.  "We so often make claims about students, their learning styles, their attitudes, their love or not of schooling, their families and backgrounds, and their culture" (Hattie, 2012, p.25).  It was helpful to have the videos to see where my biases were with the students.  Each week, I would incorporate a teaching strategy from the reading and then upload the video for my classmates to watch.  I would then receive feedback on my teaching from my classmates.  This was incredibly helpful for me.  The school I work at has a high turnover rate making it hard for my Assistant Principal to visit my classroom and provide feedback on a regular basis.  A large percentage of our staff is on the comprehensive evaluation system taking up a lot of the focus of our Admin team.  Being able to video myself teaching not only gave me something to watch and improve on, it also gave others a window into my classroom from afar.  I have included one of the videos, along with its supplemental material, I uploaded to receive feedback on. This video focused on cooperative learning in the classroom.  Cooperative learning is one of the three categories of instructional strategies included in Classroom Instruction that Works.  Cooperative learning is one of the foundational strategies because it, "involves the articulation of what students will learn, how their learning will be evaluated, and how closely they pay attention to tee affective aspects of learning" (Dean, & Marzano, 2012, p. 153).  With creating videos to receive feedback from my classmates, the idea for my department professional development began to form.

Geometry Video

Geometry Video Lesson Plan

Geometry Lesson Student Work


With the growth I was experiencing from receiving regular feedback on my teaching, I wanted to come up with a way to help teachers in my department grow as well.  I wanted to figure out a way to pass on the strategies I was using and to give my department the same style of feedback I was receiving.  For my professional development I focused on our Professional Learning Communities [PLC] and how we can provide feedback to each other around our teaching.  "Teachers want opportunities to learn alongside each other.  They crave conversations and opportunities to engage in practices that will give them more data to make informed decisions about the work they are doing with students" (Zepeda, 2012, pp. 3-4).  Keeping this in mind, I decided to design my professional development around the idea of drop-in observations.  This project was particularly meaningful to me because I was able to implement the idea of PLC drop-in observations starting in the fall.  I provided three different templates for my department to look at, and three different goal ideas for PLC's (Template 1, Template 2, Template 3).  The idea behind my professional development is for teachers to come up with goals in their PLC's and then get into each others classrooms and watch each other teach with their specific PLC goal in mind.  Here is my professional development PowerPoint on PLC's (PLC's).

Overall, this course has made me think about the instructional strategies I am using in my classroom and if they are truly benefiting all of my students.  "This is why good teaching is so extraordinarily difficult.  It is relatively easy to think up cool stuff for students to do in classrooms, but the problem with such an activity-based approach is that too often it is not clear what the students are going to learn" (Wiliam, 2011, p. 61).  It has made me look at the planning I am doing for my lessons and ask new questions before I start my day such as, am I going to be able to reach all of my students with this strategy, is there another way I could present this to give students more access points, is this strategy going to meet the needs of my students who are struggling and my students who are excelling, etc.  I still have a lot to learn when it comes to making sure the instructional strategies are working for the majority of my students but I will continue to try new strategies to hopefully help more students feel successful in mathematics.

This past school year, I was able to apply my project around PLC's in my department.  I started the year strong and was able to get into a few classrooms a month for mini feedback observations.  I was able to have conversations with my colleagues about their classrooms and the strategies they are using with their students as well as address any curricular concerns they may have had.  Although this idea was one that I hoped to continue throughout the year, it only lasted about a quarter in reality.  With all of the responsibilities I was not able to keep up with my own work and observations.  Although this was not carried out through the entire year, it was beneficial for both my colleagues and myself while it was being employed.  I hope to revive drop-in observations by myself and expand it to the rest of the department in the coming school year.

Resources:

- Dean, C. B., & Marzano, R. J. (2012). Classroom instruction that works: Research-based strategies for increasing student achievement. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
- Hattie, J. (2012). Visible learning for teachers: Maximizing impact on learning. London: Routledge.
- Sagor, R. (2011). The action research guidebook: A four-step process for educators and school teams. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
- Wiliam, D. (2011). Embedded formative assessment. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree.
- Zepeda, S. J. (2012). Professional development: What works. Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education.