100 Teaching Methods, tmo, Uncategorised |
Time needed: 10-30 min
Why? The pair work is a possible social form, which is a must in the professional lesson work. Here distributes the teachers the tasks to two students, they should work together. A working partner is very positive for the development of a child, because this means that it learns social interaction. Similarly, the child learns to represent its interests and opinions. A dialogue is essential.
When? Objectives of partners work are to improve the social interactions of students to train their ability to coordinate and enhance exchanges and mutual assistance through their motivation and performance. Here, the acceptance of diversity is encouraged. In addition, it contains a way to utilize the natural desire of students to positive communication for teaching.
How? The students work in pairs. The interaction is enhanced if the teacher selects a task in which a dialogue is essential and students are prompted to help themselves if another or to express their constructive criticism of the ideas of others, which is in this partners work more acceptable, since this criticism is not „public“. In addition, the partners work is a form of work that can be very short insert in the classroom activities.
Any risk? Possible problems that can arise when partners are working, an unexpected time of increased demand, insufficient assessment of the student’s own share in respect of their work or an accomplished performance of students with unrelated issues. The counteracting is at least that the teacher let the students present the accountable outcome of their work and comment those. If students are not familiar with the method, it is recommended to start initially with a short time working group (5-10 minutes) and a mild form of partner work (partners call, checks or collective task). Important here is concrete and understandable, best expressed verbally and in writing tasks.
For younger students, the partners can work for example for improving spelling and reading ability. Here by can be achieved usually better learning outcomes if the partners correct each other. While students can practice reading by reading a text several times silently and then read it to her partner, who then corrected if necessary. While the partner dictation, the students alternately dictate a text, which the dictating students interrupts the writer, if this student is going to make a mistake and encourage him to recognize the error and gives him hints or suggests the correct the spelling. It makes sense that the performance starts to dictate to the weaker students to be able to memorize the words better. The teacher should organize it in generally that performance-homogeneous pairs are together and not always the same pair.
To ensure a positive outcome of group work in teaching and social behavior, the teacher should monitor not only the results, but also the partnership attitude of students and in the event of a dispute to help to reach a settlement, but otherwise as little as possible in the process intervene.
100 Teaching Methods, tmo, Uncategorised |
Time needed: max 15 min
Why? Everyone has idols and with them connected dreams and everyone likes to talk about those connections and dreams.
When? This method is promoting communication skills. You can use this method to check students grammar, communication and also social skills and abilities.
How? Every students will be asked to bring one photo from a famous person and introduce this person to the peers. Discussions between the students are promoting social connectivity and also this is a good method for team building in collecting information about someone together and decide which information is selective correct or incorrect. You can also let them write an newspaper article about that person in pairs or groups or also individually and form a kind of competition which article is the most informative or the most interesting, or the shortest with the most information, or containing the most gossips. Let them decide after reading and listening to their articles in which kind of newspaper would they publish it.
Any risks? Its time-consuming so give the students clear instructions and clear points they can follow and organize a clear time frame for that task.
100 Teaching Methods, tmo, Uncategorised |
Time needed: 5 – 10 min
Why? To structure and organize a task with active students participation.
When? Any time you want to agree about roles, or structure of new tasks, or you want to show students cross lines between topics and to teach them how to structure complexer tasks.
How? Give one complex task to students and let them develop their own mind-map by-self, later on you can compare the different mind-maps and find the cross-lines and strategies of organizing a complex task, or you develop one mind-map with all students together on the white board.
Any risks? It could be a little time-consuming and calculate the different student work and absorbing speed. Give from the very beginning a clear time frame.
100 Teaching Methods, tmo, Uncategorised |
Time needed: 3 – 5 min
Why? Including latest modern technology in the daily teaching process.
When? All the time students need to search for new knowledge, or if you make a review and students haven’t been able to solve the review tasks by self, let them search for help.
How? Several TV games shows using that method as a telephone joker. The students have four chances in case of competition or recall knowledge
- answer by self
- ask a classmate
- ask a classmate from a parallel class same level
- ask someone via phone call outside from school.
Any risks? There is a big discussion of using hand phones in class, of course we also agree to not allow permanently hand phone use in class, but for special situations it is very helpful to ease a lesson situation with difficult or boring topic background. Make the research as a game and competition as well. Once more of course general use of hand phones in class is disturbing a concentrated learning atmosphere. But why should we general exclude modern devices from our teaching methodologies? Just give clear instruction and roles about that special event in class, so that every student knows how to handle the special situation of using a hand phone special for that one lesson event.
100 Teaching Methods, tmo, Uncategorised |
Time needed: 3 – 5 min
Why? Better than punish students for less knowledge is motivating them to get a reward for gained knowledge and a competition is the best method to combine recall of knowledge and rewarding.
When? Any time you need to call back students to concentration, and any time you want to recall already absorbed knowledge, you can use it as review as well.
How? Better than using a competition between single students is forming groups and let them compete. This method is also forcing socialization between the class mates. There are many styles of competition existing:
- Give them certain questions or tasks to answer on time. the quickest group is the winner.
- Ask the students to give connective terms to the topic, the group which could collect in a limited time the most connective words is the winner. Let the students explain their choice.
- Write a poem and read it in front of class, let the class decide which is the best poem. Use those works for a final school year event.
- Make a painting contest, and let the class mates decide which is the best painting. Hang those works in class as decoration.
- Install a monthly contest ritual, so that students know that they can win every month periodically, this is giving a lot of motivation for the learning process in general.
Any risks? There is no risk just that students wanna over-use the time, limit the time for those contests, organize those competitions correctly before and give a clear time frame, students like to make such competition games, never forget that.
100 Teaching Methods, tmo, Uncategorised |
Time needed: 1 – 20 min
Why? Use their natural curiosity.
When? Any time in bilingual or language classes are questions about meanings of terms.
How? If students dont understand the second language (English) don’t always just deliver them translated solutions, let them translate themselves, it is much more effective and supports the proud at their own achieved results. You can force them to translate for each other, or in group work as well in pairs. Use their natural curiosity to find out meaning by self. Provide dictionaries in class. You also can use this method while you continue teaching other students, to let more advanced students find out unclear terms for weaker students.
Any risks? Before you involve the use of dictionaries in class, you have to teach them how to use a dictionary, otherwise it will take too much time to find out the meanings of new terms and those advanced students will miss new introduced knowledge.
100 Teaching Methods, tmo, Uncategorised |
Why? Teaching outside the classroom always breaks the usual rituals and makes teaching interesting and relevant to life.
When? Whenever you can imagine that the subject you are teaching has a very close connection to everyday practical life, even sometimes when you cannot imagine that there is a practical connection, look for it and you will be surprised how much everyday connection you will find.+
How? Just prepare your lesson in a very connective way for an outside environment, find cross-connections outside the classroom. You can also use this method to give students a self-directed task to find things outside the classroom that are related to the subject being taught, and later you can bring it back into the classroom and let them explain the reasons why they chose their items. Visit companies, shopping centres and any other place related to everyday life to teach your topic.
Any risks? There are no mistakes to be made in making connections to everyday life, it is very enjoyable for everyone to find these connections and the self-directed learning effect is also enormous. The only risk is that students get easily disrupted, so be aware of this and structure the field trips cleverly to allow space for disruption and to involve back to the theme leading methodologies.
100 Teaching Methods, tmo, Uncategorised |
Time needed: 20 – 30 min
Why? To work on a fictive CV is supporting the connection between phantasy development with topic connected knowledge, as well teaching students how to make an effective CV for themselves later on.
When? Any time you can imagine to repeat absorbed knowledge in a different unusual format.
How? Give the students the task to develop a CV of a fictive person, as an example in Biology, this person is a Specialist for Oceanology, let them form the CV, starting from Place of birth: near the ocean? etc., hobbies: fishes in an aquarium etc., educational background: high school in a city near the ocean, vocational education as a aquarium caretaker, study of biology, dr. in oceanology, involve all special certifications, etc. Let them after finishing the CV introduce this person imagine the student is that person and let them tell about their reasons why they learned or studied this or that, including background and interests.
Any risks? If your are not clear in your instructions, the students will be confused and probably explaining anything else than topic connected content. So be very clear about the result of that method and what students should achieve with such a format.
100 Teaching Methods, tmo, Uncategorised |
Time needed: 5 -10 min (one lesson involved)
Why? Everyone like to feel special once a while.
When? Any time students have birthday.
How? Install a ritual to praise someone in class at this special day. This method is clear a socialization and classroom management method. Those students could take special roles for that day, helping the teachers, being the leader in any decision for one day, celebrate the lessons in a small party situation. If you are forming this special days and including it in your lesson it is not only for the birthday child enjoyable, also for all other students its a break from normal usual rituals and a refreshment for your class.
Any risks? Don’t let those parties get out of control, its not a party replacing a lesson, its a lesson in party atmosphere.
100 Teaching Methods, tmo, Uncategorised |
Time needed: 5 -10 min (one lesson involved)
Why? Everyone like to feel special once a while.
When? Any time students have birthday.
How? Install a ritual to praise someone in class at this special day. This method is clear a socialization and classroom management method. Those students could take special roles for that day, helping the teachers, being the leader in any decision for one day, celebrate the lessons in a small party situation. If you are forming this special days and including it in your lesson it is not only for the birthday child enjoyable, also for all other students its a break from normal usual rituals and a refreshment for your class.
Any risks? Don’t let those parties get out of control, its not a party replacing a lesson, its a lesson in party atmosphere.
100 Teaching Methods, tmo, Uncategorised |
Time needed: 2 – 5 min
Why? A healthy laughter is the secret of a happy life.
When? Any time you get the chance to laugh in your class – do it.
How? Did you every recognized that jokes are a clever conclusion out of reflection of the daily life. We are proclaiming daily life connected teaching – so cleaver jokes are the basis of our lessons. Allow students and yourself to absorb and live funny situations. Allow students and yourself to tell spontaneously jokes in class. Laugh about yourself, this is teaching students to handle own weak moments humorously. Go one step forward and let students create topic connected jokes, you will be surprised how much knowledge you need to create such jokes and how much skills students developed already in that field. Hahahahahahahaha
Any risks? Laugh as often you can it is taking pressure out of hard learning situations and the process of laughing refreshes the brain by taking an enormously amount of fresh air inside your lounges in a very short moment. The only role you should install in that case is laughing about yourself its a quality, but laughing on the expense of others is a bad character trait.
100 Teaching Methods, tmo, Uncategorised |
Time needed: 10 – 30 min
Why? Modern latest technical devices are the future of the daily life, as sooner students get in contact with those instruments as easier, more comfortable and confident they will be in their usage.
When? Any time when a topic is introduced or completed.
How? Let students make topic connected photos with their mobile cameras and send it to their friends, the effect is that this friends will ask what those pictures are about, than the students will have to explain by themselves to their friends like a teacher. You can also form a competition which photo reflects as best the taught topic.
Any risks? There is no risk, it is a very enjoyable method for students and teachers to control and use absorbed knowledge.
100 Teaching Methods, tmo, Uncategorised |
Time needed: 5 – 10 min
Why? Its a method to force self-responsible thinking about topics.
When? Special before introducing a topic you can ask students to bring something connected to the new topic to school, so they will be curious and you can already understand what students know about the new topic already.
How? Ask students to bring an item from home connected to a special topic and tell them to prepare reasons why they choose this item, in some cases you can also give them the task to search for background or functional explanations.
Any risks? There is nearly no risk, students love to show things from their private environments and the method connects the theoretic knowledge with very practical life experiences of the students.
100 Teaching Methods, tmo, Uncategorised |
Time needed: 10 – 30 min
Why? This method is supporting self-responsible reflection of own already absorbed skills and a good control for teachers of gained knowledge.
When? Any time when a topic duration is completed as well as examination and test preparation.
How? Give students one or several questions or discussable sentences they have to reflect about. You can give this task as a lesson exercise or also as a test, but please dont just use it as testing method, it is for students also very enjoyable to just write their own opinion about taught topics from their own perspective, if you always use this method just for your own control of the absorption process in class, students will loose their interest for such an enjoyable task. Give students the task to answer a huge topic very compact and short noted. This is the method, to think bigger and write understandable short notes.
Any risks? Not every student is able to reflect absorbed knowledge in a way of such a summery, if you know students with abilities of writing those summaries in essay format, support them and force them to shorter the essay after that as much as they can. If you find students in your classroom which like to answer questions in short sentences or short comments, give them also the chance to do that, but always think the method is to think about the whole taught subjects in a very compact format. Every student is actually using this method for themselves to prepare tests and examinations with cheat-sheets, that’s exact this method. And because every student knows how to do it, why not using it in class as an absorption and control instrument. Teach them how to make a very effective cheat-sheet as a learning instrument, the only risk is that they will use it in the examination, but also with that – don’t be afraid, if students prepared a real effective cheat-sheet they know what is this short note about, no-one else than the creator of a cheat-sheet can understand it, because this person absorbed the knowledge already with creating the sheet.
100 Teaching Methods, tmo, Uncategorised |
Time needed: 5 – 20 min
Why? Modern latest technology is the future of the daily life. As sooner students get to know those things as easier it is for them to find effective orientation in those devices.
When? You can involve this any time in your lesson, for new researches, to lay fundamental basics for absorbed knowledge, provide interdisciplinary problem solutions etc.
How? If you start to work on a new topic, students love to search in the internet by self already in advance, use this chance and guide them to find out by self, in case of providing fundamental additional information, let them search by their own, its an ideal method to teach them self responsibility and force curiosity.
Any risks? There is no risk every student love to search in the internet because its nearly border-less entertaining and endless full of new knowledge from many different perspectives. Just one risk is that students get lost in the diversity of the internet, so they need a clear guidance and clear roles and structured research requirements. Don’t underestimate students with thinking they will misuse those time for private fun, this is also a part of understanding how to research, guide them correctly with clear specifications and than private fun plus educational needs are meeting in a productive very effective way.
