Effective Instruction

Instructions are directions that are given by mentor to do an activity (instruction).

Effective instructions are the understandable, applied, and well-designed directions.
Teachers have to design their instructions carefully so they help students in achieving the
objectives. When I design my instructions I usually use the same statement I use for the
objectives which is students will be able to and I even say it in the class when I give
students instructions. For example, when I gave my students the instructions of creating a
poster, I said to them you will be able to do a poster that summarizes the ideas of the
lesson and you will present it to your peers. I do this because I believe that instructions
are tied with the objectives, and according to Brown (1995) using instructions this way
will help students to achieve the outcomes or the objectives. The teacher has to take into
account also the differences among students. In my class, students form a combination of
different abilities and because of this I had to differentiate my instructions sometimes like
using simple words for low abilities and repeat the instructions to them. I do this because
it will help to enhance students learning and to create a meaningful environment
(Kyriacou, 2009).
Moreover, in any learning environment, there are many things to consider not
only students differences. Are these elements connected though? And what do they
mean to teachers? These elements might include students cultures, the classroom
environment, and students parents besides students different abilities. Students have
different values, beliefs and norms and we have to consider them so they feel they are
part of the class. In this TP I didnt teach a very diverse class but I did previously. I will
not say that I considered their differences in all my classes, but small things could make
differences. For example, I taught an Egyptian student once and while I was monitoring
their work I realized that she needs help. This student refused my help saying that in her
culture they must depend on themselves to finish their tasks, otherwise her parents will
get angry. Such situation makes teachers think of how to reach every student, and for that
particular student, I didnt mind giving her space to work on her own. It is challenging to
teach very different students (Price & Nelson, 2013) but it is still manageable if teachers
knew their students and knew how to deal with them. I have to use various strategies in
my teaching and I will consider this in future. A game like tell me more about you can be
enough to know my students. It is different when I was teaching in private school,
because the variety of the religions and cultural behaviors must be counted when I was
teaching lessons. To solve that problem, I had to ask the mentor teacher about them, and
then the teacher will tell me. On the other hand, teaching in public school is easier for me,
because I am one of the local community members so I know what to do, and what not to
do. When it comes to segregated classroom it will be better, because I will have small
amount of students. The focus can be more to individual students, and the lesson plans
can be flexible enough to handle segregated classroom.
For the classroom environment, I believe that having suitable displays will benefit
me in the classroom because displays can be assistive aids if created to support the
curriculum (Smawfield, 2006). The arrangement is also important and I remember that I
inspired by some ideas because of the arrangement. Students were sitting in two groups
and they were very noisy, because of this, when I saw the two big groups I changed the
plan and I got them to do a debate which engaged them highly in the lesson and they
enjoyed it. Another source of inspiration to me was students parents. They would always
come to the class and tell us about their kids. This is beneficial, and I will always try to
be open-minded and accept their comments because they know much more about their
children. I can then change my instructions depending on what I know about the students.
However, when should we not consider parents opinions and why? Can they really help
us to change our plans? It is a critical issue and we have to know when to accept
suggestions and adjust our plans and instructions and when to not accept every
suggestion.
















References
Active Learning. (n.d.). Retrieved from National Dropout Prevention :
http://www.dropoutprevention.org/effective-strategies/active-learning

Brown, J. D. (1995). The Elements of Language Curriculum: A Systematic Approach to
Program Development. Boston: Heinle & Heinle.
instruction. (n.d.). Retrieved from vocabulary:
http://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/instruction

Kyriacou, C. (2009). Effective Teaching in Schools: Theory and Practice. (3
rd

edition). Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes.
Price, K. & Nelson K. (2013). Planning Effective Instruction: Diversity Responsive
Methods and Management (5
th
edition). California: Cengage Learning. Retrieved
from
http://books.google.ae/books?id=pN0xt99CoCwC&printsec=frontcover&dq=effe
ctive+instruction&hl=en&sa=X&ei=znlbU9miM6GM7AbptIDoBg&redir_esc=y
#v=onepage&q&f=false
Smawfield, D. (2006). Classroom and School Display: A Guide for Teachers and for
Teacher Training. Retrieved from
http://www.davidsmawfield.com/assets/img/classroom-display-handbook.pdf
21ST CENTURY SKILLS. (n.d.). Retrieved from The glossary of education refourm for
journalists, parents, and community members : http://edglossary.org/21st-century-
skills/