Instructional Strategies
InTASC Standard #8
The teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies to encourage learners to develop deep understanding of content areas and their connections, and to build skills to apply knowledge in meaningful ways.
Introduction
I intentionally incorporate a myriad of instructional strategies to create engagement in mathematics and increase learner understanding. Instructional strategies are used at various points within my classroom during the do now, classwork, homework, and parent communication. In order to develop a deep understanding of content areas students complete multi-step word problems that build upon their fluency work, complete inquiry-based activities, and evaluate chart-the-error lesson plans based on formative assessment data. Students build upon these skills in a meaningful way by creating personal word walls, engaging in classroom discourse, and participating in challenges such as the Present Challenge. Each of these instructional strategies provides all students access and success with 5th grade standards.
Conclusion
In order to effectively teach students, instructional strategies need to be in intentionally selected that support student's growth. Within this section, I have demonstrated evidence of instructional strategies used to develop deep understanding and apply knowledge in meaningful ways. While planning lessons, I utilize information collected from the Tell Ms. T survey to make my lesson culturally responsive by engaging students in the design and implementation of relevant learning experiences; a principle of Universal Design Learning. The next layer of developing student's deepened understanding is fluency and homework which allow students to practice skills until they become automatic. This is essential for critical thinking problems that require high-level executive functions which allow all learners to develop higher order thinking and metacognitive processes. With this understanding, I choose to engage students through inquiry-based activities and chart-the-error work, which allows students to use a range of learning skills and technology tools to interpret knowledge that drives their own learning. Finally, I have chosen word walls, discourse, and real-world projects to engage students in meaningful applications of knowledge. This type of learning and its corresponding strategies support all students to achieve mathematical success.