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Students may be coming from other classes with teachers who give them a hard time or not feeling comfortable. I know students need friends or “they come to school, in most cases, looking forward to seeing their teachers and friends” (Lynette, 2015, “Greeting Students,” para. 1).  Lynette (2015) suggested greeting at the classroom door where students come in before class starts. “If a student has a new hair style, I make sure to notice” to show him or her that a teacher does care about them (Lynette, 2015, “Greeting Students,” para. 3). That idea of greeting is brilliant since I believe students can become motivated for the class. Motivation helps students’ engagement.

In American Sign Language class, I think it is a good idea for a teacher to use sign language by saying HELLO or HOW YOU when students come in. That should help students know that their teacher is ready to work with them. The positive attitude can influence students’ attitude and their participation. Also, a teacher greets students at the door can give a warm-up interaction since sign language requires students and teacher work together.

Reference

Lynette, R. (2015, March 1). Positive behavior management strategies for the primary classroom [Web log post]. Retrieved from https://minds-in-bloom.com/positive-behavior-management-strategies/

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by: Rachel Lynette

Hi there, everyone! My name is Marine Freibrun. Elementary school teacher, mom, wife, and blogger! I am the author of Tales from a Very Busy Teacher. I am so honored and excited to be writing a guest post for Minds in Bloom today! I am sharing TEN positive behavior management tips for the primary classroom with you today.

Classroom/behavior management is one of the most important things to master in your classroom. Having solid behavior management helps maintain a positive classroom environment while enabling teachers and students to accomplish LEARNING!

Here are TEN tips and tricks for behavior management I use in my classroom:

The way you start your day is the most important factor of having a good day! Even if you have had a rough start at home, hit traffic on your way to work, or forgot your morning cup of coffee, you shouldn't let those little blunders ruin the day for your students. They come to school, in most cases, looking forward to seeing their teachers and friends.

So, to start the day off right, I greet my students at the door! I love, love, love, shaking my students' hands at the door as they come into the classroom. I always start the day by having my kiddos form two lines. I grab their attention and wait for listening ears. I let them know what they're expected to do when they enter the classroom (put things away, morning work, etc.).

After checking for understanding and getting feedback from my kiddos on what my expectations are, I greet each student as they go through the door. It can be a handshake, hug, high five, or fist bump. I always say, "Good morning," and I try to find something to say to each student as they enter. For example, if a student has a new hair style, I make sure to notice. If another student got new shoes, I make sure to compliment. The list goes on and on. I just try to personalize their greeting and make sure they know I care and that it's going to be a great day!

Brain breaks are a great way to enhance student engagement and to keep students on their toes throughout the day. It breaks things up, and it creates some blood flow for the brain! I created these brain break cards that you can cut out and glue to some popsicle sticks. When you and your kiddos are in need of a break, pull out a card and complete the task! These breaks help get students movin' and groovin'.

As teachers we are aware of our lessons, and we notice that our students may need to get up and change pace. Using brain breaks are a great way to get that change of pace.

Click here to download them for FREE.

Displaying students' negative behavior for the whole class to see is kind of a pet peeve of mine. When I was in Kindergarten, my teacher would always put a happy face and a sad face on the board. Of course, my name was ALWAYS on the happy face board. Well, one day this classmate of mine decided he wanted to kiss me on the cheek. He was definitely not a boy that I wanted to kiss! LOL! So, when he kissed me, I screamed. My name then went on the sad face board. I WAS HORRIFIED. It scarred me for life. Obviously, I am now in my thirties and am still upset over this tragic event. When I became a teacher, I told myself I would never let this happen to my students.

In my first year teaching, I decided I was not going to use any type of behavior system that would call my students out. I quickly learned that not having anything in place would be a disaster. I used a lot of positive reinforcement, but I didn't have any consequences for unacceptable behavior. I decided it was time to move on and try a behavior chart. I found a lot on TpT and really liked the fact that these charts had a lot of positive factors that students could strive to reach. Using these charts proved to be a huge success.

My favorite part was getting students to reach the blue or purple section of the chart. Everyone else tried so hard to get there too. Students who made it to the "top of the chart" received a special little card that acknowledged their accomplishment for that day. I even let those students choose a stuffed animal from our class library. The stuffed animal they chose would be with them the whole day at their desks, learning with them! I rarely had students go below the green section of the behavior chart. Plus, I always made sure that students didn't end on yellow, orange, or red. They always had the opportunity to get back to green or higher.

Here are some sample behavior charts from Pinterest that foster positivity and better behavior:

I really enjoy using a class marble jar as a whole-class behavior incentive. It's easy, fairly inexpensive, and gets the point across very well. Just get a large jar at Walmart, Target, or the Dollar Tree. While you're there, pick up a couple bags of marbles.

As your class behaves well, add marbles to the jar. Once the jar is full, they'll receive a class prize: free recess, pizza party, movie, Friday free time, etc.

The only recommendation I make when using the marble jar: Don't take the marbles out if the class has done something bad! The marbles in the jar are marbles the class has already earned; therefore, they should not be taken away as a consequence. The class should receive other consequences that fit the bad behavior.

I love these! I used to have a pretty awesome treasure box with pretty awesome prizes. I would buy a bunch of things at the Dollar Tree and fill my treasure box. Soon, the DOLLAR tree became the HUNDRED DOLLAR tree! I couldn't afford to continuously by prizes for my treasure box. Then, I stumbled upon these beauties...prize box tickets! There are quite a handful on Pinterest. You can pick and choose the ones you want your students to have to choose from. THEY ARE A HIT! I also think the best part is that they're FREE!

Students will love these prize box tickets as a behavior incentive. They'll be doing all they can to get a trip to that treasure box.

This is a cute one! And...it's FREE and SIMPLE!

All you have to do is draw a big heart somewhere on your whiteboard. You can even laminate a large construction paper heart and hang it on a wall in your classroom. Throughout the day, add students' names to your heart! These can be students that are sitting nicely, listening to directions, being polite, etc.

When I completed this in my classroom, I would always say, "OH MY GOODNESS! I love how so-and-so is sitting so nicely. She's quiet, calm, and ready to learn. Please come write your name in my heart, so-and-so."

Immediately, all of the other students would sit quietly, calmly, and be ready to learn. I would continue to ask students to come up and write their names in my heart, too. My kiddos LOVE it. Some days I would try to get all their names in my heart.

But, I would always make sure I got all of my students in my heart throughout the week, especially those students who struggle to make good choices. Sometimes all they need is LOVE!

This one works well if you have your classroom divided into groups. Just assign names to each "table" of students. Write those names on the board. I would usually name my tables with numbers. Each time a table or team is sitting nicely, following directions, being polite, and all that good stuff...add points to their team. The team that wins at the end of the week gets to go to the treasure box to pick a fun prize box card! I also feel that taking away table points is completely unfair, similar to that of taking away marbles. There should definitely be another type of consequence.

This is another one of my favorites. At the end of each day, I pick three to four students that have exemplified great citizenship, workmanship, and behavior. I fill out my little Student of the Day slip and write something about them that they did that day that made them earn Student of the Day. They get to take that slip home and show it off on the refrigerator. My kiddos love being Student of the Day! It's a great incentive and a great way to give your kiddos some recognition. Throughout the day I would remind students about Student of the Day by saying, "Oh, WOW! It's going to be so hard to pick a Student of the Day today!"

There were other phrases I would use in my favor to gain the class' attention and promote positive behavior. You can grab some of my Student of the Day papers here.

These cones are so much FUN! I grabbed a bunch of these at the Dollar Tree (aka my favorite store). My students and I call them "Cones of Excellence."

I would let my students put these cones on their desks if they were Student of the Day from the day before. They could have the cone all day on their desks to show how proud they were of their good behavior. Sometimes I would bend the rules a little bit and just hand out cones to students who were behaving well. I didn't do that too often because I didn't want to take away from the importance of the Student of the Day. I guess you just gotta go with the flow of the class!

This one is easy and doesn't require any downloading!

Be HAPPY! SMILE! And be POSITIVE! Your kiddos will thank you for it! There's nothing like having a happy, smiley teacher to greet you and help you every day. Students spend the day with their teacher at school. Why not make it a happy day?

My name is Marine Freibrun, and I am an elementary school teacher in Southern California. I earned my BA from UC Irvine, my teaching credential from CSU Bakersfield, and my MA in Educational Leadership from CSU Northridge. I have taught 2nd, 3rd, and 6th grade, but I actually began my teaching career as an 8th grade teacher. I am staying home this school year to be with my first baby, Jacob. I love teaching and sharing educational ideas! Check out my blog and TpT store!

Your privacy is protected.

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Positive Behavior Management Strategies for the Primary Classroom - Minds in Bloom

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by: Rachel Lynette Hi there, everyone! My name is Marine Freibrun. Elementary school teacher, mom, wife, and blogger! I am the author of Tales from a Very Busy Teacher. I am so honored and excited to be writing a guest post for Minds in Bloom today!

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Students may be living in another world if the school environment does not provide a room for them to be themselves. Almost every part of the world is now packed with a diversity of people, so there should be a room with diverse background setting that matches their personality. The unfamiliar environment is distracting for the student, so they would not engage in learning. The goal is for students to “feel they are accepted and affirmed” in school (Weimer, 2012, “Ensure that institutional,” para. 1).

In American Sign Language class, a teacher should modify or accommodate students’ learning preferences to enable their participation. For example, one of the students may learn sign language as his or her third language, so there will need an interpreter to assist him or her first language. The background setting in the classroom should be friendly and religiously neutral,  such as not including Christmas decoration since some do not believe in Jesus’ birth date.

Weimer, M. (2012, July 26). 10 ways to promote student engagement [Web log post]. Retrieved from https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/effective-teaching-strategies/10-ways-to-promote-student-engagement/

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Faculty Focus | Higher Ed Teaching & Learning

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Student engagement is another of those buzz phrases popular in higher education. As with many regularly used terms, everyone assumes we are talking about the same thing; but when asked for definitions, either we are hard pressed to come up one or what's offered is a decidedly different collection of definitions. Here's an article that includes clear definitions and, based on a creative synthesis of research, offers 10 ways to promote student engagement.

The authors propose definitions broad enough to include more specific descriptions. For example: engagement is "students' cognitive investment in, active participation in, and emotional commitment to their learning." (p. 168) Or, engagement is "students' involvement with activities and conditions likely to generate high-quality learning." (p. 168)

Based on this synthesis of research, student engagement can be promoted in the following ways:

1. Enhance students' self-belief - There is no agreement in the research literature as to what motivates learners to engage, but the dominant view is that students engage when they act as their own learning agents working to achieve goals meaningful to them. This means that what students believe about themselves as learners is very important. They must believe they can learn, including that they can overcome and learn from failure. Giving students some control over learning processes helps develop this confidence and commitment to learning.

2. Enable students to work autonomously, enjoy learning relationships with others, and feel they are competent to achieve their own objectives - "When institutions provide opportunities for students to learn both autonomously and with others, and to develop their sense of competence, students are more likely to be motivated, to engage and succeed." (p. 170) Not unrelated to the first recommendation, the focus here is on cultivating intrinsic motivation, which fosters the self-determination that leads to engagement.

3. Recognize that teaching and teachers are central to engagement - Much research places teachers at the heart of engagement. For example, one study found that "if the teacher is perceived to be approachable, well prepared, and sensitive to student needs, students are committed to work harder, get more out of the session, and are more willing to express their opinion." (p. 170)

4. Create learning that is active, collaborative, and fosters learning relationships - "Findings acknowledge that active learning in groups, peer relationships, and social skills are important in engaging learners." (p. 171)

5. Create educational experiences for students that are challenging and enriching and that extend their academic abilities - Easy learning activities and assignments are not as effective at engaging students as activities and assignments that challenge them. When students are reflecting, questioning, conjecturing, evaluating, and making connections between ideas, they are engaged. "Teachers need to create rich educational experiences that challenge students' ideas and stretch them as far as they can go." (p. 171)

6. Ensure that institutional cultures are welcoming to students from diverse backgrounds - To become engaged, students must feel they are accepted and affirmed. They must feel they belong at an institution.

7. Invest in a variety of support services - Sometimes it seems as though students don't take advantage of support services like learning and advising centers, but a wide variety of research findings confirms the importance of these support services. They are perceived as part of the institutional culture, and students engage when that culture values and supports their efforts to learn.

8. Adapt to changing student expectations - An institution should never be satisfied with how it is promoting student engagement. As students change and new research evidence emerges, institutional practices should be adjusted. Engagement cannot just be promoted, it must also be maintained.

9. Enable students to become active citizens - "What is needed is a democratic-critical conception of engagement that goes beyond strategies, techniques, behaviours, a conception in which engagement is participatory, dialogic and leads not only to academic achievement but to success as an active citizen." (p. 173)

10. Enable students to develop their social and cultural capital - This kind of capital derives from a sense of belonging, from active relationships with others, and from knowing how things work around the institution. It is especially essential for minority students who need to be successful not only in the classroom but beyond it as well.

Reference: Zepke, N., and Leach, L. (2010). Improving student engagement: Ten proposals for action. Active Learning in Higher Education, 11 (3), 167-177.

Excerpted from Ways to Achieve Student Engagement. The Teaching Professor, 25.6 (2011): 8.

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Student engagement is another of those buzz phrases popular in higher education. As with many regularly used terms, everyone assumes we are talking about the same thing; but when asked for definitions, either we are hard pressed to come up one or what's offered is a decidedly different collection of definitions.

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Students may feel burned out from learning all day at school. Give some time for students to cool up their brains to help continue their participation in class. One of the strategies is “for every 10 minutes of instruction allows the students 2 minutes to process and respond to the instruction” (Hurst, 2013, “Use the 10:2 method,” para. 1). I believe students would appreciate this effort to give some time to refresh themselves for the next educational activities.

In American Sign Language class, a teacher should know that students would be overwhelmed by learning sign language in next 30 minutes because of using their body movement and maintained eye contact. Thus, students may be bored out quickly with their mouth wide opened to stretch up their brains. The students should have a few minutes to refresh themselves for the next educational activities. I believe students feeling refreshed would boost their energy for more concentration so they can continue participating in the class.

Hurst, S. (2013, September 18). Seven ways to increase student engagement in the classroom [Web log post]. Retrieved from https://www.readinghorizons.com/blog/seven-ways-to-increase-student-engagement-in-the-classroom

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It is probably not surprising that one of the most consistent findings in educational research demonstrates that the more time students spend engaged during instruction, the more they learn (Gettinger & Ball, 2007). Schlechty (2002) defined the five levels of student engagement so we can learn to gauge student interest and increase the effectiveness of our structured literacy instruction .

Five Levels of Student Engagement

Authentic Engagement-students are immersed in work that has a clear meaning and immediate value to them (reading a book on a topic of personal interest)

Ritual Compliance-

the work has little or no direct meaning to students, but there are extrinsic outcomes of value that keep them engaged (earning grades necessary for college acceptance)

Passive Compliance-students see little or no meaning in the assigned work but expend effort merely to avoid negative consequences (not having to stay in during recess to complete work)

Retreatism-students are disengaged from assigned work and make no attempt to comply, but are not disruptive to the learning of others

Rebellion-students refuse to do the assigned task, act disruptive, and attempt to substitute alternative activities

Measuring Engagement in the Classroom

The level of student engagement can vary from student to student and lesson to lesson, so it can be challenging to get a general feel for how engaged a class is as a whole. To that end, Schlechty (2002) also outlined three categories that can measure the level of engagement for an entire classroom.
The Engaged Classroom
In the engaged classroom, you will observe that all students are authentically engaged at least some of the time or that most students are authentically engaged most of the time. Passive compliance and retreatism rarely occur, and rebellion is non-existent.
The Compliant Classroom
The compliant classroom is the picture of traditional education. This type of classroom is orderly, and most students will appear to be working, so it would be easy to infer that learning is taking place. However, while there is little evidence of rebellion, retreatism is a genuine danger prevalent in the compliant classroom.
The Off-Task Classroom
Retreatism and rebellion are easily observed in the off-task classroom. This type of classroom is every student for themself, so you will see some degree of authentic and ritual engagement, along with passive compliance. Teachers in the off-task classroom spend most of their time dealing with rebellious students rather than teaching lessons that engage

Seven Student Engagement Strategies

Student engagement is a byproduct of effective instruction that has significant payoffs. When students are engaged during explicit phonics instruction , they learn and retain more information. Student engagement during reading instruction also increases the likelihood that your students will become passionate about reading. So, how can you increase the amount of time that students in your class are engaged during reading instruction? Here are some suggestions:

1. Use the 10:2 method. For every 10 minutes of instruction, allow the students 2 minutes to process and respond to the information or reading material. You can do this in various ways: have them write about what they have learned or read, ask or write down questions about what they have read or understood, or have students discuss the lesson or reading material with a partner.

2. Incorporate movement into your lessons. Require students to respond to a question about a reading passage or lesson by moving to a particular spot in the room, writing on whiteboards, standing (or sitting) when they are done thinking about the question, etc.

3. Pick up the pace. One misconception is that we must go slow for students to understand and engage in a lesson or story. There is a lot of evidence that shows that when teaching and reading are done at a brisk pace, students have more opportunities to engage, respond, and move on to the next concept or idea (Carnine & Fink, 1978; Williams, 1993; Ernsbarger et al., 2001).

4. Provide frequent and effective feedback. Correct students as they learn new decoding skills or reading strategies. Be sure students know how to use each method correctly to experience success and mastery.

5. Allow students 5-7 seconds of 'think time' when asking a question about a story or reading passage. At the end of the time, draw a random name to answer the question.

6. Use the 3-2-1 method of summarizing. At the end of a lesson, have students record three things they learned, two interesting things, and one question about what you taught or read. Allow time to share their findings with a peer.

7. Periodically pause mid-sentence. Require students to fill in the blanks when you suddenly go quiet.

Learn more about teaching reading strategies ›

Pinterest Reference Guide:

Conclusion

At the end of a recent day-long training session, a teacher approached me and said, "This was a great training. I know because I didn't get my knitting needles out one time." Whether we are teaching young people or adults, it is important to remember that student engagement is more than just listening. If we are constantly monitoring student engagement in our classroom, we can consciously work to increase the amount of time students are involved in learning and expect greater success in our teaching.
Are you interested in learning more about Early Literacy? Explore our free educational resources to learn how you can help the young readers in your life! Take a look at one of our Reading Horizons reviews (from California - the state).
Resources

*Carnine. D., & Fink, W. T. (1978). Increasing the rate of presentation and use of signals in elementary classroom teachers. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 11, 35-46.

*Ernsbarger, S. C., Tincani. M. J., Harrison, T. J., Frazier-Trotman, S., Simmons-Reed, E., & Heward. W. L. (2001, May). Slow teacher/fast teacher: Effects on participation rate, accuracy, and off-task behavior by pre-K students during small-group language lessons. Paper presented at the 27th Annual Convention of the Association for Behavior Analysis. New Orleans. LA

*Gettinger, M., & Ball, C. (2007). Best practices in increasing academic engaged time. In A. Thomas & J. Grimes (Eds.), Best practices in school psychology V (pp. 1043-1075). Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists.

*Schlechty, P. (2002) Working on the Work. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

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Seven Ways to Increase Student Engagement in the Classroom - Reading Horizons

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How to Measure and Increase Student Engagement During Reading Instruction? The level of student engagement can vary from student-to-student, and lesson-to-lesson so it can be difficult to get a general feel for how engaged a class is as a whole.

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Students may feel more entertained by seeing things that help with learning. I believe pictures are more explicit for the mind to comprehend the concept taught in the delivered lessons. Therefore, the graphical images are a quick way “to understand the interrelationships between the aspects of what you have taught them,” for example (Killian, n.d., “Evidenced Based Teaching,” para. 1). When something is understood quickly, then the process of learning would continue, and that is what the goal of students’ engagement is all about.

In American Sign Language class, a teacher would always use such as Venn diagrams to compare two different ideas. For example, students try to compare phonemes and morphemes or other linguistic terms may not be easy tasks to comprehend. Graphical images or Venn diagrams are ideal for teaching a complicated concept to lure students’ attention and to save times with the delivered lessons. Another example of visual learning is with stimulus pictures of people, places, or things to understand sign language without a voice. Students would give up quickly if they do not understand sign language or what being asked of them.

Reference

Killian, S. (n.d.). Top 10 evidence based teaching strategies [Web log post]. Retrieved from www.evidencebasedteaching.org.au/evidence-based-teaching-strategies/

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Most teachers I know care deeply about helping their students succeed at school, and if you are reading this article, you are undoubtedly one of them. Yet, research has revealed some teaching strategies have far more impact than others. These are evidence-based teaching strategies. Busy teachers have so many demands on their time that it is hard to keep abreast of what the research really says - especially amidst the noise of trendy fads.

That's where I can help. I am a passionate teacher who recently had both my legs amputated. This gives me time to read the research and share my findings with teachers like you.

If you want to make a larger difference in how well your students do, then learn about these 10 evidence-based teaching strategies. Some of them may surprise you!

Evidence-Based Teaching Strategy 1: A Clear Focus

A clear focus enables you to focus everything you do and everything you get your students to do on achieving this intended learning. In turn, this has a sizeable impact ( d = 0.75) ¹ on your students' learning.

Note, the impact of a clear focus relies on you adjusting your teaching and learning activities in line with that focus. It doesn't come from fancy names such as learning intentions or learning targets. You can call them goals, intentions, objectives or anything else - it doesn't matter.

Teaching Strategy 2: Pretesting

The term 'testing' tends to get a bad rap in teaching circles. Yet, when viewed more broadly, it actually a potent teaching strategy that underpins x strategies in this list. Pretesting is the first of these.

Teaching Strategy 3: Show & Tell

I call the second evidence-based teaching strategy show and tell, although the research refers to be various other names. It is grounded in the idea that novice learners learn best with explicit instruction ² and represents the I Do phase of the I Do - We Do - You Do model. instruction should make use of:

The nature of show and tell varies slightly between procedural and conceptual knowledge.

Procedural Show & Tell

With procedural learning, show and tell involves:

Modelling often involves working an example, which has a moderate-to-large impact on students learning ⁴.

When worked examples are coupled with verbal explanations of the steps or actions needed, they have even more impact ⁵.

Conceptual Show & Tell

With conceptual learning, show and tell involves:

Visuals may include text, but they are not text-based. Research on the modality and multimedia effects 3 show that combining meaningful visuals with verbal explanations enhances learning.

However, visuals must be used carefully. See The Use of Visuals article.

Checking for Understanding

Models of explicit instruction, such as the I Do - We Do - You Do framework, advise that you should check for understanding before moving on from this stage.

Strategy 4: Integrate Prior Understandings

Pretesting is a powerful way to activate prior understandings. Yet, activating prior understandings is only the first step. You also need to prompt your students to integrate the new information with what they already understood, with questions such as, how does/is this new information:

Relationships could be sequential, hierarchical, cause-effect or comparative. You can ask your students to show these relationships using some form of a graphic organiser:

And, the impact is even larger in mathematics when integrating prior understandings is coupled with worked examples.

Strategy 5: Retrieval Practice

Research shows that retrieving information from memory is a powerful way to learn. In psychology, we refer to this as the testing effect.

In fact, students who practise retrieving information from memory do far better than students who spend an equivalent amount of time restudying.

You can also ask students to practise using a mixture of the above methods.

Strategy 6: Feedback

Feedback is the breakfast of champions, and it is the breakfast served by extraordinary teachers around the world.

Giving feedback involves telling a student:

Feedback is different to praise. Praise focuses on the student, while feedback focuses on what your student did. It provides your students with a tangible understanding of:

In John Hattie's view, any teachers who seriously want to boost their children's results should start by giving them dollops and dollops of feedback.

If you want to learn more about giving feedback, subscribe to our email list. You will then receive a free copy of our eBook How to Give Feedback to Students: The Advanced Guide. You should also check out our student feedback infographic.

Teaching Strategy 7: Spaced Practice

We know that retrieval practice works well, that it works better than restudying material, and that it gas even more impact when accompanied by feedback.

Yet, research shows that students learn more when they practice the same thing repeatedly with spaces in between than they do when they study the same thing intensely for a block of time.

For more details see Distributed vs Massed Practice.

Teaching Strategy 8: Productive Group Work

Group work can have a potent and positive impact on your students' learning.

Yet, group work done at the wrong time or in the wrong way can backfire. Kids can muck around and leave one or 2 group members to do the work. So, follow these tips:

1. Don't use group work as teaching strategy until your class is routinely behaving well as a whole class

2. When you first use group work, make the task easy enough that students won't need help. Then spend your time watching all the groups, offering praise and positive correction when appropriate.

3. Only use group work once all indivdual students have a basic mastery of the task

4. Choose tasks that have a small number of discrete steps

5. Make group sizes equivalent to the number of steps in the class

6. Have each student complete one step, then rotate roles with repeat tasks

7. Hold groups accountable for their behaviour, effort and results

SHAUN KILLIAN
(MEd., MLead.)

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10 Evidence-Based Teaching Strategies for 2023

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Some teaching strategies have more impact on your students' results than others. Discover this core list of 10 evidence-based teaching strat ..

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Students may learn better by starting what they already know, and then move on to the next steps which may be more challenging. This strategy for students’ engagement is called “scaffolds” and that “may be tools, such as cue cards or checklists, that complete part of the task for the students” (Rosenshine, 2012, p. 18). Accordingly, students need to recheck themselves if they are on the right track, because if not then they may lose interesting in learning. I believe that staying interesting is part of the motivation.  Students are engaged in learning because of basic, familiarity information from previous lessons, then they would be prepared the next advanced tasks (Rosenshine, 2012, p. 18).

In American Sign Language class, one must be ready for a silent classroom since voice is turned off during signing practice. Not just only voice off but maintained eye contact for visual learning, body movement, and especially working with a Deaf teacher. Students need time to get used to this kind of communication approaches. The teacher should start with basic such as introduction conservation that only requires a few sign words. Then a teacher and students will move on to the next steps such as using more words and phrases to warm up their body movement and eye contact. This method should occur with every lesson in sign language courses.

Reference

Rosenshine, B. (2012). Principles of instruction- research-based strategies that all teachers should know [Web log post]. Retrieved from https://www.aft.org/sites/default/files/periodicals/Rosenshine.pdf