Methods and
strategies to use
in planning
The following is a list of some of the strategies used in
this course to encourage active
learning. Active lecturing. An active lecture is not too different from
any good lecture, but it attempts to directly involve listeners. There is no
one best way to give an active lecture, but it involves any of the following
techniques. Give information in small chunks (about 10 minutes), and then have
class members do something with that information for a few minutes. Here are
some examples of activities, which you can repeat or vary: ¡ ¡ • Write a one-minute reaction to what you have
just heard. Talk to the person next to you about what you heard and see how your perspectives differ. Do you agree? Do
you have questions? • List as many key
points as you can remember. • Compare
notes taken during the chunk. Help each other fill in gaps or determine if crucial information is missing.
(Some people do not allow note taking during the lecture, but this is up to the
Instructor.) Give out cards or slips of paper in three different colours. When
class members are listening to your comments, have them hold up a colour for ‘I
understand’, ‘I don’t understand’, or ‘I disagree’. Then either stop and allow
questions or adjust what you are saying so there are more ‘understand’ colours
showing. This is particularly effective with large groups of 50 or more people.
Ambassadors. This is a useful way to get
groups or individuals to exchange information. Two or more members move from
one group to another to share/compare discussion etc. You may wish to have half
of each group move to another group. This is especially useful if you do not
have ample time for a whole-class discussion. Brainstorming. This is a
technique for generating creative ideas on a topic. It may be an individual
activity or organized as a group activity. Give people a limited amount of time
(e.g. one minute) to say or write as many ideas as they can on a topic. No
matter how unrelated an idea seems, write it down. (Alternatively, the
Instructor might ask the whole class to brainstorm and write all the ideas on
the board.) After the brief period of brainstorming, ideas may then be
analysed, organized, and discussed. This is often used as a problem-solving technique.
Ideas are then analysed in light of how useful they might be in solving the
problem. Gallery walk. This is a strategy that borrows its name from
a visit to an art gallery. Students walk through an exhibit of posters,
artefacts, or display of items they have completed. They can be directed to
take notes. The idea is to thoughtfully look at what is displayed.
Graffiti wall. A graffiti wall may be displayed in the
classroom for use all term. Students may write their thoughts, feelings, or
expressions before or following each session and sign their name. Anonymous
comments are not suitable. Ideas generated in class may
be posted on the ‘wall’. Use paper from a large roll of
craft or newsprint paper or join several cardboard boxes together to make a wall
that can be stored between sessions. Students can take turns getting and
putting away the wall each session. Group work: some tips for forming
instructional groups. There is no one
best way to form groups. The best way for you is the way that suits your
purpose. Use a more complicated strategy if students need a break or need to be
energized. Use a simple technique if time is short. Ways to form groups include
the following: • Ask people to count off
from one to five (depending on the number of people you want in a group).
Groups will form based on their number (e.g. all of the ones will gather
together). • Before class, determine how
many people you want in a group or how many groups you need. Give each class member
a different coloured sticker, star, or dot as they enter the class. Then when
it is time to form groups, ask them to
find people with the same sticker
etc. and sit together. • Put different
coloured bits of paper in a cup or jar on each table. Have people take one and
find people in the room with the same colour to form a group. • Have students get together with everybody
born in the same month as they were.
Make adjustments to the groups as needed. Mini-lecture. A mini-lecture contains all the components of
a good lecture. It is sharply focused. It begins with an introduction that
provides an overview of what you will talk about. It offers examples and
illustrations of each point. It concludes with a summary of the main point(s).
One-minute paper. Ask class members to write for one minute on
a particular topic (e.g. their reflections on a topic, an assigned subject).
They are to focus on writing their ideas, without worrying about grammar and
spelling. A one-minute paper differs from brainstorming because there is more
focus. Pair-share. Use this technique
when you want two class members to work together to share ideas or accomplish a
task. Simply ask them to work with a neighbour or have them find a partner
based on some other criteria. It is very useful when you want people to quickly
exchange ideas without disrupting the flow of the class. (Sharing in triads and
foursomes are also small group techniques.) Poster session. This is useful when you want students to
organize their thoughts on a topic and present it to others in a quick but
focused way. Have individuals or small groups work to create a poster to
explain or describe something. For example, if they have been doing an inquiry
on a particular topic, they would want to include their focus, methods, and
outcomes, along with colourful illustrations or photographs. The poster can be
self-explanatory or students can use it to explain their work. As an in-class
tool, a poster session is often combined with a gallery walk so that the class
may review a number of posters in a short time. Readers’ theatre. readers’ theatre is a group dramatic reading
from a text. Readers take turns reading all or parts of a passage. The focus is
on oral expression of the part being read rather than on acting and costumes.
readers’ theatre is a way to bring a text to life. It is a good idea to go over
passages to be read aloud with students so they are familiar with any difficult
words. Sometimes readers’ theatre is used to get student interested in a text.
They hear passages read first and then read the longer text. KWL. This is a
strategy that provides a structure for recalling what students know (K) about a
topic, noting what students want to know (W), and finally listing what has
already been learned and is yet to be learned (L). The KWL strategy allows
students to take inventory of what they already know and what they want to
know. Students can categorize information about the topic that they expect to
use as they progress through a lesson or unit. Text-against-text. This is a way of helping students learn to
analyse and compare written documents. The idea is to look at two documents and
search for overlap, confirmation, or disagreement. It is a way of looking at
different perspectives. Sometimes it is useful to give students readings prior
to class and ask them to compare the readings based on a set of study
questions, such as: 1. Look at each
author separately. What do you think the author’s main point is? 2. How does the author support his/her argument?
3. Look at the authors together. In what
ways do the authors agree? 4. What are
their points of disagreement? 5. What is
your opinion on the issue? Text-against-text may be used to compare a new
reading or new information with material that has already been covered. In
classrooms where the whole class uses a single textbook, Instructors often find
they are teaching against what is in the textbook. Sometimes it is hard for
students to accept that a textbook can and should be questioned. Putting
together a text-against text activity using the textbook and outside materials
(e.g. an article) can help them understand that there are legitimate
differences of opinion on a subject. Articles need not contradict each other.
They may be about the same topic, but offer students different ways of seeing a
subject. Another way to use the activity is divide the class into groups, give
each a set of materials, and have them debate the texts. Some university
faculty like to put together text sets that include both scholarly and
non-scholarly works and have students think about differences. For example, you
might provide all students – regardless of their reading level or learning
style – with easy-to-read materials as a way to introduce themselves to a
topic. Even competent adult learners seek out ‘easy’ books or materials to
learn about a new or complex topic. Providing a picture, newspaper article, or
even a children’s book in a text set might give everyone the means of
connecting to or understanding some aspect of the larger subject. Roundtable technique.
For this technique, divide the class into small groups (i.e. four to six
people), with one person appointed as the recorder. A question that has many
possible answers is posed, and class members are given time to think about the
answers. After the thinking period, members of the team share their responses
with one another. The recorder writes the group’s answers. The person next to
the recorder starts and each person in the group (in order) gives an answer
until time is called. Quizzes. Prepare
and give a short quiz (15 minutes) over the different aspects of child
development covered in the unit. As students take the quiz, ask them to circle
items they are unsure of. They can review and discuss their work in the
following ways: • Triads. Have students
meet in groups of three to review the quizzes so that they can help each other with their weak
areas. (10 minutes) • Review. Go over
the quiz with students, and have them look at their own work and make
corrections. (30 minutes) ¡ ¡ ¡ 85 ¡ ¡ ¡ Notice points class members had
difficulty remembering and take time to review them. You may ask students to
assist with this and discuss how they were
able to remember. Use this time to correct any
misconceptions. Have students save their quiz for future study.
