Instructional Strategies

Instructional strategies are an important part of every teacher’s lesson plans.  But sometimes, after years of teaching we get into a funk of how we teach certain units.  After learning all about instructional strategies in my master’s class, I began to look at what strategies I am using in my classroom and how effective they are.  When looking at Marzano’s most effective strategies, the one I find myself using the most is the Similarities and Differences strategies.  This week I used it in my fairy tales unit to compare and contrast two different versions of The Three Little Pigs.  This strategy seems to be very effective.  The kids are actively engaged in the lesson and have to work together to come up with answers.  They often fed off each other’s thinking leading to new discoveries and more discussion.  I also used the Cooperative Learning strategy.  We are working on a measurement unit and the kids had to work with a partner to measure and record various things in the room.  This too seemed to be an effective strategy.  The kids were engaged and had to pull from prior knowledge to complete the project.  They also had to work on their teamwork skills in order to work together and accomplish the task.  The last strategy I found myself using was the Homework and Practice strategy.  For math, I have a specific homework schedule that we follow.  The amount and content varies based on the units and lessons we are working on.  It is an effective strategy based on the fact that it gives the kids an opportunity to refine and extend their knowledge of our subject matter but is ineffective as it really provides the kids no feedback other than they corrections I have made on it.  All in all, I feel like most of the strategies I use throughout the day are effective but there are always ways I can improve my instruction by changing ineffective strategies for effective ones.  What strategies are effective in your classroom?