Instructional Practices
Effective Teaching Practices
A typical lesson begins with the hook, usually a video clip, that introduces students to the topic. Next, the students will read the objective, beginning with "I can". To accomplish the objective, I scaffold lessons. Typically, this begins with fairly simple concepts within the objective to build students' confidence. I am constantly relying on informal assessment to gauge whether or not the students are mastering the material. These informal assessments include cold calling, white board answers, clickers, and group work. Once students have grasped the concept, the lesson moves on to the advanced concepts that prepares the students for independent practice. On the right is an example of a scaffolded guided notes hand out on the forces that affect aircraft. The lesson begins with a video of Lebron James discussing Newton's 3rd Law. |
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Engaging The Students
The most effective ways to relate the content to students' lives is through the use of funny demonstrations, analogies, and videos. For example, while teaching combustion, I soak a dollar bill in alcohol, hold it with tongues, then light it on fire. When teaching about embryos, I pass around the pig fetus and explain the developmental process from a cell, embryo, and fetus. Then I explain to the students the chemical reaction that occurred. While teaching about air pressure, I pick up student binders with plungers. While teaching anaerobic respiration, the students have a pushup contest and learn that the pain is the result of muscle cells running out of oxygen, resulting in the production of lactic acid. Examples of videos to explain Archimede's principle and the history of aerospace are shown below. |
Pig Fetus |
Review Games
The student's favorite way to review for a test is by playing my version of jeopardy. The students form groups of three to four and each group selects a member to be the scribe. Each group has the opportunity to answer each question by silently writing the answers on the paper. After the thirty seconds of jeopardy music, I quickly check their answers and assign points. At the end, the students write their bets next to their answer in hopes of winning the extra credit. Before the first jeopardy review, I show the video below to explain to the students that spelling will count.