Instructional Strategies

Suzanne Dreyer and Garrie Gillaspie

Aspect 1: The Syntax

Learning Goals

Instructional Strategies

Instructor Actions

Student Activities

Student Goals

1. Students will deepen understandings of problem solving through authentic, self-directed activities.

Whole Group Classroom discussion: problem identification and clarification

Modeling:

  • move from concrete to abstract: skills are taught/practiced within authentic contexts
  • demonstrate/discuss strategies

Cooperative groups

Evaluation-rubrics
  • Elicit background knowledge
  • Model questioning and reasoning (clarification, reasoning by analogy, simplifying)
  • Representing the problem: Use interactive white board and Inspiration to document key ideas to assist students in visualizing the problem. Write concepts on board and link them to develop relationships. Do at least 3 problems
  • Scaffolding/Guided Practice: engage students in articulating the issues, teacher gradually fades back and lets the students direct
    • Read the problem correctly
    • Paraphrase the problem orally.
    • Visualize, graphically display, or draw a picture of the problem.
    • State the problem.
    • Hypothesize
    • Estimate
    • Calculate
    • Self-check
  • Evaluation/assessment: pass out teacher created problems to each group to solve; explain the rubric
  • Discuss the problem
  • Students ask the questions and students answer the questions
  • Restate what someone else has just said or summarizes a key point
  • Summarize information and think through steps for further analysis
  • Practice strategies in small groups

    S tudy the problem.

    O rganize the facts.

    L ine up the plan.

    V erify the plan with computation.

    E xamine the answer

  • Student groups develop a fraction word problem: use think sheets and graphic organizers for planning
    • Students analyze the information
    • Students choose a strategy for solution of the problem: findings and recommendations
  • Student groups make a paper Fraction Puzzle Book Problem with illustrations
  • Groups go on a treasure walk to view the other "books"
2. Students will use critical thinking and problem solving skills to design a "fraction" word problem Power Point presentation.

Whole group discussion/demonstration:

Independent work

Teacher has prepared a power point presentation from one of the group created fraction word problems. She does an oral presentation and asks the whole group if there is another way to solve the problem.

Next, she demonstrates how to create another Power Point fraction word problem presentation.

Finally, she invites a volunteer to choose a group problem and to demonstrate how to create a power point presentation.

  • Students create their own fraction word problems and solve.
  • They story board their presentation
  • They go to the lab to begin their work and to save it in their network folder
  • Presentations will be finished in the classroom
3. Students will present their work with classmates and other classes.

Presentation

Evaluation

 Teacher will use a rubric to evaluate student presentations.
  • Communication of the problem, strategy, and solution through Power Point oral presentation (3 per day in the classroom)
  • Assembling a book from the Power Point slides
  • Peer evaluation

Teacher Goals (Instructor)
1. To design a LoTi Level 4 lesson that infuses higher level thinking skills into their classroom practice.

     
2. To articulate which technology "tool" to support student achievement.      

Professional Goals (Mentor)
1. Develop skills in mentoring/coaching to facilitate teachers in effectively implementing technology integration into their routine classroom practice.

Research web sites on mentoring, coaching, technology implementation, and lesson design

 

Create a mentoring folder in my Backflip account

Create an online discussion board.

 

2. Collaborate with colleagues to facilitate the implementation of a LoTi Level 4 lesson.

Develop a schedule to designate time for collaboration

Create staff development training materials
Aspect 2: The Social System Students work in whole groups, cooperative groups and as self-directed learners through out this project. Activities allow for learner choice.
Aspect 3: The Role of the Instructor The teacher needs to create and maintain an environment that in which students feel safe in stating their ideas. She uses questioning and modeling strategies to initially direct student learning. She then facilitates the students as they create their own problems to produce a book. The instructional focus is on students creating real fraction word problems for others to solve and giving others a strategy for the solution (knowledge construction).
Aspect 4: The Support System Students use graphic organizers and think sheets to structure activities. Teacher and other students (peer-mentoring) can act as support. Computer lab manager and the instructional technologist can assist with activities in the lab or classroom setting.