Interesting notes from the best practices
Posted: - Modified: | education, teaching2http://northonline.sccd.ctc.edu/eceprog/bstprac.htm603
Guided Lecture: Students listen to 15-20 minutes of lecture without taking notes. At the end, they spend five minutes recording all they can recall. The next step involves learners in small discussion groups reconstructing the lecture conceptually with supporting data, preparing complete lecture notes, using the instructor to resolve questions that arise.
Immediate Mastery Quiz: When a regular immediate mastery test is included in the last few minutes of the period, learners retain almost twice as much material, both factual and conceptual.
Individual Task With Review: Problems to solve that apply the concepts presented. Students complete a worksheet or other task and compare the results with their neighbors before the whole class discusses the answers.
Intrinsically-Phrased Reward Statements: Positive expressions about emerging learner performance and achievement highlight internal feelings of self-worth and self-satisfaction (without praise, which is an extrinsic judgment). Enjoyment “That was fun!” “I get pleasure from that, too.” Competence “You did it!” “That is mastered!” Cleverness “That was tricky.” “Creative.” Growth “You’ve taken a step forward.” “Change has occurred!”
Construction Spiral: Ask a sequence of questions, beginning at a reflex level, in a three-step learning cycle—(1) individual writing for 3-5 minutes, (2) small group sharing in trios or pairs, and (3) whole class, non-evaluative compilation. Used to construct understandings and concepts.
Peer Teaching: By explaining conceptual relationships to others, tutors define their own understanding.
– Question Pairs—learners prepare for class by reading an assignment and generating questions focused on the major points or issues raised. At the next class meeting pairs are randomly assigned. Partners alternately ask questions of each other and provide corrective feedback as necessary.
– Learning Cells—Each learner reads different selections and then teaches the essence of the material to his or her randomly assigned partner.