Chapter+6+Instructional+Strategies+for+Student+Success

Chapter 6 Summary
This chapter focused on instructional strategies used for student success and how to plan and incorporate these into the classroom. Several of the instructional strategies were things that we, as a group, do on a regular basis. Others, we have heard of and have tried to implement into our classrooms on a more regular basis. The beginning of the chapter focused on how the brain works and how information is received and processed by the brain. You are then directed to how you would plan instructional strategies based on the needs of your students. Not all students learn the same and as a teacher you should be able to recognize what types of activities would benefit your students. The remaining elements of the chapter are comprised of instructional strategies. These strategies include many graphical organizers that we, as a district, have already been exposed to. Other strategies included were: group work strategies, independent work assignments, questioning strategies, types of organizers, cubing and role playing. Several of the activities discussed were tied to Blooms Taxonomy. Examples of assignments and activities were given that were associated with each level of Blooms.

Chapter 6 Reflections
 1. Assigning Homework and practice, Using cooperative learning, providing questions, cues, and advance organizers.  2. Summarizing and note taking, and setting objective and providing feedback. We teach ninth graders that are usually very weak in their note taking abilities. Also, the added feedback helps students feel better about their learning experiences. Our students often seek out the feedback. If we begin to provide this for them on a regular basis, the students can focus more on the skills being taught and less on seeking feedback.  3. We will attempt to incorporate this into our content on TAKS review, quadratics, exponential functions and end of year review topics. We will try to provide feedback on graded work, during lessons with verbal feedback. We will begin to structure our lessons around note taking and use more structured methods of note taking. Students will be required to take notes and as we work through a lesson we will provide feedback on their notes, assignments, and daily work.  4. We will continue to work as a PLC group on these two strategies. As we begin incorporating these into our daily lessons, we will continually provide each other with feedback on our experiences. Each of us has a different note taking style and method of instruction. We will discuss on a weekly basis which methods we use, what we found that works, and how we can improve for next lessons.  5. We will monitor our students’ progress through our grading, student comments, and through daily work success. Since we do not always take up daily work or homework, we can walk the room to see if students understand topics and taking notes as well. Any time we answer a student’s question on an assignment, we ask to see the notes first and help them use the notes to answer any questions they may have.