Flexible Teaching Strategies In a traditional course, some activities are synchronous, like listening to lectures or participating in discussions, labs and small group work. I initiated one-on-one conferences, and during the class break I praised students for making progress with behavior and attention. Students designed original writing tasks, exchanged and completed them, and then evaluated the final products. Aim for 4 praises for every 1 correction. Volunteer to cover a colleague's work while he is on leave. Hours & locations | Flexibility and Adaptability in the classroom are two of most important qualities that every teacher must possess. The system is increasingly flexible as it becomes clear as the semester progresses which modes students are opting for. At the end of the course, for the first time in my university teaching career (although I did this regularly as a high school teacher), I provided a two-page, detailed study guide for the exam. The purpose of the following materials is to present current research and theory on student learning in a way that can inform and guide effective teaching practices. My current working pattern is Monday to Thursday, 9am to 5 pm, with one hour’s lunch per day (28h). Clearly, what I had done before in this course was not going to work with these students. Flexible teaching techniques help a child with OCD succeed in a classroom setting. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. This is the scene: A teacher stands in front of the class, telling her … Make it fun. As a third issue, some students appeared unaccustomed to norms of academic conduct, a problem I had rarely encountered at my university or even when teaching at the high school level. Certainly in the past year, the wholesale firing of an entire Rhode Island high school's teaching staff and the dismissal of hundreds of teachers from the District of Columbia schools were premised on the idea that teachers are all-important. This is the scene: A teacher stands in front of the class, telling her … This may occur through the use of internet-based tools such Consider breaking the hold our devices have on us by powering down the TV, computer, tablet, and phone for a while and put an old fashioned pen to old fashioned paper. Only recently has it occurred to a number of otherwise bright people that effective teaching is central to education success. Internship. Alexandria, VA 22311-1714, December 2010/January 2011 | Volume 68 | Number 4 Because the goal is learning, effective teachers must adjust curriculum, methods, and pacing to meet the needs of the students. I also deleted a quarter of the journal entry assignments, doubled the time allotted to writing-group revision, and initiated rewards for completion of minor assignments. Given the requirements of the teaching timetable, and the core responsibilities of classroom teachers and support staff flexible working for teachers and education workers is more likely to take the form of part-time work or job sharing. Grammar-translation Approach. And although good teaching is integral to student success, it cannot by itself supersede the many other factors that contribute to educational success or failure. Consider allowing people to work from home to help them achieve a better work/life balance. They have both high seating and low seating for engagement and reward. Make it interesting. After some awkward class sessions during the first weeks of the semester, I checked student records and discovered that a number of those enrolled in this 300-level course had current grade point averages of 2.5 or lower. Obsessive compulsive disorder is … Many teachers are nervous about moving from their current classroom configuration to a completely flexible classroom. Finals Schedule | GPA Calculator. Making a flexible working request. It responds to individual students, school and classroom communities, and societal needs. Flexible teaching techniques help a child with OCD succeed in a classroom setting. cohorts that experience flexible learning environments achieve significant growth above and beyond the excellent results already achieved in stand alone classrooms In this context, what did effective teaching look like? Kids use flexible thinking for learning and everyday life. Effective teachers put a priority on student needs rather than on the strictly interpreted demands of the school district curriculum guide or the year-end test. The resources were organized into the content areas noted here and presented as weblinks with the URL’s embedded. For example, a combination of distance and face-to-face contact (blended), flexible start and end dates, the full assessment of an individual's skills and understanding prior to starting a course, smaller courses to pick and mix, individualised or negotiated assessment, open access for wider participation. Flexible teaching and learning involves delivery in a number of forms. http://education.nationaljournal.com/2010/07/defining-effective-teachers.php#1604499. Because of a scenario that has become common during these recession-plagued days, my university instituted a new round of budget cuts, and I found myself unexpectedly teaching an undergraduate writing course that is cross-listed in English and in education. Christenbury, L. (2007). My current working pattern is Monday to Thursday, 9am to 5 pm, with one hour’s lunch per day (28h). Tiered Activities. A least three students, early in the semester, routinely missed assignment deadlines despite an explicit syllabus and reminders. I individually tutored two students whose literacy skills were below par. I used humor with the cougher and with those who needed repeated questioning. Employees who approach their job with a flexible mindset are typically more highly valued by employers. Should it become necessary, for example, to shift all teaching online in response to a new outbreak, this would be relatively easy. Social distancing becomes easier as an element of it is built into student teaching schedules. Although, from a legal perspective, it’s long been something headteachers are required to consider, it wasn’t always an easy thing to negotiate. After almost 35 years in secondary and university classrooms, I know something about effective teaching. Flexible teaching and learning involves delivery in a number of forms. You become more flexible to go with the flow. Ask, Advising | Catalog | Tutors Flexibility is the idea that your plans can change very quickly, sometimes with notice and sometimes without. Retrieved from National Journal Expert Blogs: Education at For example, I might teach myself how to fix a vacuum cleaner using different resources and at a different pace than you might. Make it exciting. As you well know, telling is not teaching and listening is not learning. More information on these forms of working can be found on the National Education Union (NEU) website. Half brainer [blog comment]. English Education, 42(1), 61–90. It’s about utilizing student voice, creating buy-in, heightening collaborative learning, and prioritizing students’ needs concerning the environment in which they learn. Once we more fully integrate our efforts to improve teaching with school context and student need, we can look more confidently to a future in which all students experience success. In my classroom, which is a self-contained, first-grade classroom, many of my flexible groups are what I call “pull-back groups”. Effective teaching is contextual. At first, I welcomed this last-minute change in my schedule, confident that I was in touch with the course focus and the kinds of students who traditionally elected to enroll. Make it interesting. Whereas students often lose interest during lecture-style teaching, interactive teaching styles promote an atmosphere of attention and participation. 1703 North Beauregard St. Should it become necessary, for example, to shift all teaching online in response to a new outbreak, this would be relatively easy. Flexible learning approaches are often designed using a full range of teaching and learning theories, philosophies and methods to provide students with opportunities to access information and expertise, contribute ideas and opinions, and correspond with other learners and mentors. The goal was to balance brief and audience-appropriate research-based articles with critical University and COVID information and a variety of enrichment, engagement, and perhaps even a little evasion opportunities. Leila Christenbury. I also moved to more direct instruction, which I rarely used in my graduate-level courses. Most substantially, I concluded that few of these students would pass the course as currently constructed. The teacher imparts information to the students via lectures, assigned readings, audio/visual presentations, demonstrations, role playing, and other means. Some would prefer the deceptive comfort of Chester E. Finn Jr.'s (2010) reductionist definition, "An effective teacher is one whose pupils learn what they should while under his/her tutelage.". The 2010 Teaching Writing Skills course promised to be one hot mess. Another way in which flexibility is important for a teacher is the need to respond to different learner abilities, needs and interests. Similarly, students’ variations in processes for and speeds of learning […] Flexible Learning. Most people outside the classroom, especially those who want to regularize and routinize teaching and learning, do not. Regardless of the path taken, however, the vacuum cleaner gets fixed. In recent years, I had taught almost exclusively graduate students, and returning to teach this favorite undergraduate course would, I thought, be interesting. 23 April 2019. … My teaching style is very flexible and student-focused. In short, these students were not an optimal group. New York: Harcourt Brace and World. … Phone Effective teachers also differ from one another; both teachers who use traditional methods and those who employ the most up-to-date pedagogy can be successful. They do not teach the same way and use the same instructional repertoire year after year. Alexandria, VA 22311-1714. And I found that the students were smart—perhaps not smart in the way I had assumed they would be, but in terms of their own interests. For some kids, this skill comes naturally. The following persons have been designated to handle inquiries regarding the nondiscrimination policies and are the Title IX coordinators for their respective campuses: Director of the Office of Institutional Opportunity & Access, IOA@ku.edu, Room 1082, Dole Human Development Center, 1000 Sunnyside Avenue, Lawrence, KS 66045, 785-864-6414, 711 TTY (for the Lawrence, Edwards, Parsons, Yoder, and Topeka campuses); Director, Equal Opportunity Office, Mail Stop 7004, 4330 Shawnee Mission Parkway, Fairway, KS 66205, 913-588-8011, 711 TTY (for the Wichita, Salina, and Kansas City, Kansas medical center campuses). Another way in which flexibility is important for a teacher is the need to respond to different learner abilities, needs and interests. 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