Before reading this article, I assumed because it was entitled “Teaching Strategies” that it would be about various means and methods that would better enable me as a teacher to reach each and every one of my students. The prior knowledge that I brought into this topic was that every student learns differently and it is my duty as an educator to find the way to best help them learn. I knew that good teachers use a myriad of different strategies and methods of instruction in their classrooms. The experiences that I brought into this topic are that I know that I am a visual learner but not all of my classmates learn visually; some were auditory learners, others kinesthetic or tactile. I’ve had positive and negative experiences as a student as far as teacher’s instruction go; some did their best to cater to all kinds of learners and some taught in only the way they were most comfortable.
From the article, I learned that it is important to continuously cognitively challenge students by asking questions because this will build comprehension. I also learned that it is important to incorporate various forms of reading into every day instruction, including read-aloud, shared reading, independent reading, and guided reading because they all have importance and significance that will turn children into better readers.
Use your promo and get a custom paper on
"Learning Strategies".
I also learned that asking comprehension questions is implicit to the learning process. Asking the who/what/where/when/why’s will not only start the cognitive wheels in student’s minds turning, but also give me an idea as to where they are all falling in grasping the concept and what I need to focus on to ensure that no child is left behind. It is also important to use a variety of comprehension questions to gain this information; text explicit questions, critical thinking questions, and questions that require reflection into our personal lives. These types of questions are useful because they do not always have to be used, but can be employed individually or as a combination when useful or necessary.
One of the most interesting points that the article makes is “writing facilitates the development of reading and reading facilitates the development of writing”. I have always found this to be particularly true to my life. I am much more eloquent on paper and can better gather my thoughts when I write them out. The article stresses that children should write every day and I agree with this. It is crucial and beneficial for both students and teachers because students can express what they truly know and think about a topic being covered in class without the added pressure of verbalizing their thoughts while teachers will get a deeper understanding of just where their students fall on the comprehension scale.
I found the discussion of using visual aids to also be particularly informative. The article lists and gives examples of five different varieties of graphic organizers and explains how they are all useful for classroom instruction. As a visual learner myself, I appreciate their usefulness in explaining concepts.
The article challenged me to do all that I can as a future teacher to ensure that each and every one of my students is taught in a variety of manners to best grasp the concepts that are crucial to their educations. I am left considering how I will manage to incorporate them all without overusing any concepts in particular. I am excited about trying these methods myself to see how well I can execute them. I wonder if there will be students that I will have to explore even more methods with, and I am certain that there will be.
