Strategies for
Contemporary
Learners
Student Teaching Block Spring 2014
Jason McKibben
Kasee Smith
Ashley Stewart
Grab a paper and write this
down
O Most student teachers believe that
contemporary learners need either more
structure, more measurement, or more
engagement in order for teaching to be
effective.
How about this instead?
O http://www.polleverywhere.com/free_text_p
olls/R9s6fD4tKaPbJMa
Bottom line:
O When dealing with contemporary learners,
they need all three, and:
HOW YOU APPROACH THEM MATTERS!!!
By the end of this workshop,
you should be able to:
O Understand the unique qualities of
secondary students today
O Examine tips to make every lesson
successful
O Explore some resources to make your life
easier in the next 10 weeks
Some facts about today’s
students
O Digital Learners
How to succeed with every
lesson (a review)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Get their attention
Tell them the objectives
Tie it to prior learning
Give them the information
See if they are “getting it”
Make them do something with it
Tell them how they are doing
Test their knowledge
Make sure they retain it
Adapted from Gange’s (1965) Nine Events of Instruction
1. ATTENTION!!
O Attention – Prerequisite for learning!! Easy
to get, hard to sustain!
O Relevance – Why do I need to know this?
How will this affect my everyday life?
O Confidence – Influences achievement!
Confidence boosters will encourage persistence!
O Satisfaction – Appropriate reinforcement of
success builds confidence!
2. Tell them the objectives
O Studies have shown that telling them the
objectives increases student learning by up
to 300%
O Why?
O Human brains are preprogrammed to focus
and dedicate attention where it is directed
2. Tell them the objectives
O Methods for presenting objectives:
O TV Channel
O “To Do” Boards
O “Weekly Logs”
O ALWAYS Post at the beginning?????
O Discoverative learning doesn’t always need
up front objectives
O Don’t spoil the surprise
O Share them when they become apparent
3. Tie it to prior learning
(Scaffolding)
O Allows students to take risks
O Students comfortable making mistakes.
O The goal is not always the correct answer
but changing the way they think and
understand.
O Connects to information that the student
already knows or understands.
3. Tie it to prior learning
(Scaffolding)
O Modeling
O Bridging
O Contextualizing
O Schema Building
O Metacognitive Development
O (thinking about thinking)
O Text Re-presentation
4. Give them the information
CHUNKING!
O Breaking down information into bite-sized
pieces so the brain can easily digest new
information.
WHY??
O Our working memory (where we manipulate
information) holds a limited amount of
information at one time.
4. Give them the information
CHUNKING!
O Rule of Three
O Using Graphic Organizers
4. Give them the information
(presentation strategies)
O Note taking alternatives
O Know Books: make your own note packet
O Colored notes
O Notecard of success
O Ten questions
O Top ten
O Write me a letter
O Advanced Go Get It
O Clock Notes
4. Give them the information
(presentation strategies)
O Group projects- ALWAYS HAVE A RUBRIC
O Pitch Me!
O PSAs
5. See if they are “getting it”
6. PERFORM!
After modeling expectations, give students the
opportunity to prove mastery of the concept.
Good practice items SHOULD:
O Encourage cooperation among students
O Support active learning
O Communicate high expectations
O Provide for diverse learners
7. Tell them how they are
doing
O Give specific feedback on the effort they’ve
made and what they’ve accomplished. For
example, “You were well prepared; it paid
off.”
O When possible, describe both the work and
the process—and their relationship,
O Choose words that communicate respect for
the student and the work.
7. Tell them how they are
doing
O Positively phrased feedback is more successful
than negative feedback, even with negative
feedback
O Examples
8. Test their knowledge
9. Make sure they RETAIN it!
How do we encourage the retention
of knowledge BEYOND Test Day?
1. Provide meaningful context
2. Ensure continuous review through formative
assessment
3. Transfer previously learned concepts to new
tasks for reinforcement
Our Present to You!
O tamustudentteaching.weebly.com