Instructional Practices

Objectives

• Describe the importance of teacher behavior with instructional practices.
• Understand the various types of teacher behavior in conjunction to student achievement.
• Be able to identity key themes in structuring the learning environment as psychologically safe and friendly.

3 Basic Rules for Competent Teachers

• You must know why you have selected a particular strategy.
• Basic teacher behaviors create the conditions needed to enable students to think and to learn.
• The effectiveness with which a teacher carries out the basic behaviors can be measured by how well the students learn.

Structuring a psychologically safe, learning environment

What may affect student learning

• Attend to the organization of the classroom as a learning laboratory.
• When you create classroom rules and expectations, ensure that it is clearly understood.
• Avoid negative criticism.
• Be cautious with the use of praise.
• Using techniques such as think-pair-share helps develop student meta cognition

Resource 1: Examining the Relationship Between Teacher’s Instructional Practices and Students Mathematics achievement.

Resource 1

• In regards to techniques, this study wanted to examine the relationship between instructional practices and student achievement.
• This study and previous research exhibited that these two instructional practices is beneficial to students’ mathematics achievement.

Talk Moves:

• Repeat and Check
• Think time
• Agree/disagree and why

Accepting and Sharing Instructional Accountability

For Teachers:

• Communicate clearly to parents and guardians, administrators, and colleagues.
• Communicate to students that the accomplishment of learning goals and objectives is a responsibility they share with you.
• Plan exploratory activities that engage students in learning.

Demonstrating Withitness and Overlapping

Overlapping (or multitasking) is the ability to attend to several matters simultaneously.
These behaviors are distinct, but relate to one another.

For overlapping:

• Attend to the entire class while working with one student or small group of students: by eye contact, hand gestures, or body positions.
• Continue monitoring the class during any distraction, even when a visitor enters the classroom.

Withiness – it is the teacher’s awareness of the whole group.

For Withitness:

• Avoid spending too much time with any one student or group.
• Avoid turning your back to the students or a portion of the classroom.
• Move around the room, not sitting at your desk.

Modeling Appropriate Behaviors

Teacher modeling:

• Be prompt in returning student papers and offer constructive feedback.
• Arrive on time at the class hour.
• Demonstrate respect for all your students if you expect the same courtesy.

Using Periods of Silence

Using silence when:

• Actively listen when a student is talking.
• Keep silent when students are doing coursework while you move around the class.
• Pause while talking to allow thinking and reflection.

Resource 2:
What Happens When First Year Teachers Close their Classroom Doors? An Investigation into the Instructional Practices of Beginning Teachers.

Resource 2:

• So what do all these behaviors mean to us as future teachers?
• It asked whether the teachers were using the instructional strategies they learned in their teacher preparation program.
• Yes, but not all.

Activity Time!

Fishbowl

Directions:

• Classroom desks arranged in a large circle.
• A smaller, inner circle will be arranged with four chairs.
• Those sitting in the inner circle are in "the fishbowl."

Rules:

• Those in the fishbowl have the task of discussing a topic from the presentation, while the rest watch.
• Any students in the fishbowl, after having contributed, may leave their seat.
• Those who haven't been in the fishbowl must take the empty seat and contribute.
• Ends after all have taken a turn.