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Emilie Vest
ELED 300
Sharon Guynes
October 29, 2015
Module Three Writing Response
Many important topics are discussed in chapters seven, eight, nine,
ten, eleven, and in competencies seven and nine. An effective teacher
needs to have a large repertoire of strategies in order to teach diverse
classrooms and students with different learning styles. The strategies taught
in these chapters are: group work, cooperative learning, direct instruction,
lecture discussion, guided discovery, and different problem-based instruction
strategies. Another critical point from the competencies is the importance of
communication between teachers, students, and parents. Some strategies
are teacher-centered while others are learner-centered, but it is important for
teachers to know how to incorporate the strategies into their lessons to keep
students engaged and motivated.
Group Work
Group work is one way to promote student participation. There are
three elements to group work that make it effective: focus on lesson
content, interactive involvement, and feedback. Group work promotes social
interaction which plays a vital role in teaching and learning. Social
interaction helps students learn how to use language to express thoughts,
share alternative perspectives, view different ideas, and build knowledge

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using the ideas of others. Cooperative learning is another strategy a teacher
can use to teach content and develop interpersonal skills. During
cooperative learning, students are placed into teams by teacher, and they
are graded by the whole groups performance. This is used when teaching
basic and higher-level skills. Done effectively, the focus is on group goals
and individual accountability while providing equal opportunities for success.
Although group work and cooperative learning are similar, cooperative
learning is more structured and complex. Both forms encourage student
learning and development using social interaction. In order for any group
work or cooperative strategy to be successful the whole lesson must be well
planned out and prepared by the teacher.
Direct Instruction
Direct instruction is a strategy that is more teacher than student
center. Sometimes teacher centered learning is necessary, although it is
thought that students learn better and stay engaged with a student centered
learning strategy. With direct instruction the teacher provides well-defined
knowledge and skills, and explicitly guides the learning process. There are
three guidelines teachers should follow when planning a direct instruction
lesson: begin with the formation of a specific learning objectives, determine
prerequisite knowledge that servers as a foundation for new knowledge, and
find examples or problems to illustrate content being taught. For a high
success rate when using direct instruction, these steps should be sequenced.
There are four phases in a direct instruction lesson: introduction,

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presentation, guided practice and independent practice. Informal and formal
assessment are essential in direct instruction in order to supply teacher and
students with feedback on learning progress. A teachers goal when using
direct instruction is to develop the knowledge they are teaching to the point
of automaticity, in order for it to transfer to different contexts.
Lecture Discussions
Although lectures can be an effective way to deliver information not
readily accessible in other ways, lectures put the student in a passive role,
easily overload students memories, and do not allow teachers to monitor
learning progress. Teachers can make lectures more effective by turning it
into more of a discussion rather than just a one-sided lecture. When
teaching a lecture discussion, which combines the flexibility and simplicity of
a lecture and adding interactive activities, the students will stay more
engaged. The four steps in planning for a discussion lecture are identifying
topics, specifying learning objectives, structuring content, and preparing
lesson. A teachers goal when implementing a lecture discussion is for
students to understand and remember connections in the content, so that
organized bodies of knowledge can be linked together. There are five steps
to an effective lecture discussion: introduction, presentation, comprehension
monitoring, integration, and closure. When a lecture discussion is done
correctly it can be extremely beneficial for all students.
Guided Discovery

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Guided discovery is a learner-centered strategy in which teachers
specify learning objectives, arrange information so that clearly defined
patterns can be found, and guides student to objectives through questioning.
This strategy, like many others in this book has taught, is based on
constructivism, a view that focuses on students developing their own
understanding of topics. There are five steps teachers follow when planning
for guided discovery: identifying topics, specify learning objectives, selecting
examples and non-examples, planning for social interaction, and planning for
assessment. In order for guided discovery to be effective the teacher must
be well prepared. After planning the teacher can begin to implement the
lesson which combines five interrelated phases: review and introduction,
open-ended phase, convergent phase, closure, and application. There are
many positive aspects in guided discovery lessons the most important being
motivating the students. Motivated student will work harder and stay
engaged during the lesson.
Problem-Based Learning
Problem-based learning is a group of strategies that start with a
question or problem to solve. In problem-based learning the student is an
actively involved learner investigating the problem or question and finding
solutions, while the teacher is facilitating and guiding the efforts of the
students by questioning and other forms of scaffolding. This form of
instruction is used to help students learn to systematically investigate
questions and problems, develop self-regulation and self-directed learning,

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learn to interact socially with other students in productive ways, to learn
content. There are three variations of problem-based learning: projectbased learning, problem solving, and inquiry. All of these problem-based
strategies encourage students to actively solve problems in groups and how
to learn from one another. These strategies help form a strong community of
learners.
Communication
Competency seven discusses why effective two-way communication
between teacher-student, student-student, teacher-parent, or teacherteacher is important and how to accomplish effective communication.
Effective communication should include reflective listening and thoughtful
questioning using techniques such as: prompting, probing, verbal and nonverbal cues, discussion, modeling, guided practice, thoughtful questioning,
simplifying, restating or rephrasing, and specific meaningful praise. Nonverbal communication is just as critical as verbal communication. Non-verbal
cues are eye-contact, hand expressions or gestures, body language, and
facial expressions. Communication between student, teacher, and parents is
a critical part of effective teaching.
Effective teachers need to incorporate these strategies into their
lessons to keep student engaged and motivated in learning. It is important
to have a large repertoire of strategies because different students and
different learning environments require different strategies, you do not want
the students to get bored with a class where they do the same thing all the

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time. Teachers have to mix it up and keep it exciting so students will remain
engaged in learning. It is also critical for teachers to keep the line of
communication opened for students and parents. Being an effective teacher
takes a lot of preparation, but the reward of seeing your students accomplish
their goals is well worth all the work.