-
What practices do you currently use in your classroom to help your students learn concepts on a deeper level? Do you feel these are effective? Why or why not?
-
I am learning to start with the ‘why’ we do something and let the student have a conversation about it, coming up with their own reasons. I think this helps motivate them to learn something like grammar that may not seem all that important to them. I also try to incorporate higher ordering thinking skills. I think the easiest to use is compare and contrast. It opens up students to thinking beyond facts taking them to a deeper level. Also, letting students create something helps them effectively learn. As far as biblical integration, I haven’t done a lot of it as an ESL teacher. I would like to learn ways to do it better.
-
In my classroom I try to help students learn concepts on a deeper level by presenting information and activities in different ways over several days. For example, if we are learning about space then one day we might read and discuss our textbook and answer questions. The next day we might watch videos that reinforce what we read and learned. Next we will do a hands on experiment that relates to the concepts, and then possibly play review and quizzing games, or make collaborative posters about what we have learned. I love to hear from students about their thoughts and opinions so I always revisit or allow more time for course discussion. As at we walk through a unit this way I am challenging students and asking them to think more critically at each step. With every step we are discussing biblical principles such as God’s creation, his order of the universe, his laws that the world is subject to, (gravity) our ability to use our senses he gave us to do our experiments, offering praise and gratitude for his marvelous and interesting creation. We seek to recognize his involvement and plan in all of it and ask what does God desire for me to do with the information I have learned. I do find this to be an effective way to teach them. It appeals to many different learning types and allows time for processing and making connections.
-
One of the practices I try to use is having students write their own questions based on a prompt that I give. Students typically write something meaningful and it give me and them a lot of information about how deep they are understanding a concept (and how well they can communicate it).
-
I tell lots of personal stories to the students. The students love to listen to me talk about my life. I use these stories as a medium to infuse God into the conversation and teach them content.
-
I am a pre-k through 12th grade art teacher. I teach a concept, give a demonstration, show examples and give guidance as students produce their artwork. I feel this has been an effective way of teaching. Since moving from the public school system to the Christian school, I desire to have Biblical integration into my lesson plans. What I have been teaching is not bad, I just need to add in the Christian worldview to ALL my lessons.