Effective Teaching Strategies’ Implementing to the Classroom Case Study

Introduction

The world today is riddled with information of all sorts, and it is important for any person to learn to “filter out” the low-quality information, as well as to be able to process more valuable data and provide meaningful and adequate interpretations of it. In addition, it might be argued that critical thinking skills may even sometimes be more essential than concrete material knowledge due to the pace of changes in the humanity’s pool of knowledge (Zohar, 2013). This creates an urgent need to develop higher-order thinking skills in students, which requires the implementation of more complicated teaching strategies. In this paper, we will discuss the implementation of such strategies that took place in a hypothetical history classroom for high-school students.

Developing Higher-order Thinking

In a history classroom for high-school learners, it is possible to implement various strategies for developing higher-order thinking. The latter may be viewed according to the revised Bloom’s taxonomy (Krathwohl, 2002, p. 215); therefore, the students are taught not only to remember and understand the materials but also to analyze, evaluate (make judgments about the events), and create (provide their own interpretations). To do this, in our lessons the students were engaged in discussions where they were asked questions that brought them closer and closer to building their own interpretation of events.

The implementation of the strategy can be assessed in the following way:

• The strategy was rather hard to implement at first, for the students who were not used to discussions in the classrooms were initially shy. However, with time, the learners became accustomed to discussing and ceased being afraid of giving their opinion.
• Asking concrete students direct and particular questions and providing them with tips on how to build an answer was especially useful at the beginning. Of course, some students were not able to answer the questions, and it was necessary to explain to them that it is quite normal, and that they will learn with time. After a while, the students learned to answer the questions, and there appeared more volunteers in the lessons.
• It was hard to make the students read all the necessary materials; however, they needed to be read in order for the learners to have at least minimal grounds to build interpretations on. Because not all students completely read the assignments, some of them benefited less from the lessons. However, they still appeared to have caught the gist of the discussion.
• The students were rather interested in the lessons, and grew more engaged with time. Even those who did not read all the materials appeared interested in listening to what their classmates had to say.
• It is possible to enhance this strategy by encouraging students to ask their own questions about the materials they have read before the lesson. Some of these questions may also be discussed during the lesson. Students who ask such questions may be rewarded with better grades.
• The strategy is somewhat similar to the Socratic maieutics and is rather effective. It requires the teacher to spend some additional time to develop the questions, but proves valuable in teaching higher-order thinking skills by not providing students with direct answers but pushing them towards building their own interpretations. Because the students take part in creating the interpretation, they are more engaged in the learning process, and, even though the coverage of material may be lower than what the methods of direct instruction allow, the outcome is better due to the fact that students retain much more in their memory, as well as learn to think critically.

It is clear that achievements of some teaching theories were employed in the process. For instance, the process of teaching included some elements of the model of cognitive apprenticeship, one that can be used as a method of implementation of achievements of cognitivism (Yilmaz, 2011, p. 209). Also, the method of asking students questions in order to have them construct their own meaning of the discussed events on the basis of the provided data and their own knowledge and experience can be viewed as a part of the constructivist perspective, according to which knowledge is “something that is constructed within a social context in a collaborative way” (Gaytan, 2013, p. 1).

Promoting Collaboration

It is considered that one of the best-practice strategies for classrooms is collaboration. The collaboration may take place between the teacher and students; it can also occur among the teaching staff, for instance, by using co-teaching methods. (Clearly, these approaches can be combined.) It is stated that co-teaching provides numerous benefits, such as varying the content of the curriculum, monitoring the students’ comprehension (Graziano & Navarrete, 2012), developing new ideas, and creating better relationships (Wilson, 2011). In some of the discussions with students of the type that was described before, we also implemented collaboration strategies by inviting another history teacher, our colleague, to a number of lessons. The results may be assessed as follows:

• The students were initially surprised to see a new teacher they had not known before in the classroom, but after the least shy ones started participating in the discussion, the rest of the learners also began taking part. In the following collaborative lessons, students seemed to feel comfortable, so the strategy was implemented rather smoothly.
• The most effective aspect was the fact that the two teachers had somewhat different views on the problem and debated it in the lesson to a certain extent (which was planned). This allowed the students to better understand the possibility of conflicting interpretations.
• It was difficult to moderate the lesson, for students needed to be asked questions, the teachers had conflicting interpretations, and certain learners also wanted to participate. However, most people who desired to say something had their say. It also made students attempt to be brief.
• The students were highly engaged in the lesson.
• It is possible to modify the lesson and further promote collaboration by assigning the role of the moderator to a student. Clearly, the student needs to be additionally prepared for this.
• The strategy proved to be effective and engaging, and let the learners see the conflict of interpretations. The disagreements between the teachers’ interpretations added some “spice” to the students’ learning experience. We would recommend using the strategy in the future, but perhaps not in all the lessons, so that it remains more unusual and engaging.

Conclusion

To sum up, it should be stressed that critical thinking skills are of crucial importance today, and more advanced teaching strategies are needed to develop such skills in learners. The implementation of some of such strategies, as it was shown, proves to be effective in high-school history lessons. These strategies allow the students to learn to use higher-order thinking, also making them more engaged in the lesson and allowing them to retain more materials in their memory.

References

Gaytan, J. (2013). Integrating social media into the learning environment of the classroom: Following social constructivism principles. Journal of Applied Research for Business Instruction, 11(1), 1-6. Web.

Graziano, K. J., & Navarrete, L. A. (2012). Co-teaching in a teacher education classroom: Collaboration, compromise, and creativity. Issues in Teacher Education, 21(1), 109-126. Web.

Krathwohl, D. R. (2002). A revision of Bloom’s taxonomy: An overview. Theory into Practice, 41(4), 212-218. Web.

Wilson, D. E., M.A. (2014). Ten reasons why classroom collaboration is worth the time: A teacher’s perspective. Early Intervention & School Special Interest Section Quarterly / American Occupational Therapy Association, 21(2), 3-4. Web.

Yilmaz, K. (2011). The cognitive perspective on learning: Its theoretical underpinnings and implications for classroom practices. Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas, 84(5), 204-212. Web.

Zohar, A. (2013). Scaling up higher order thinking in science classrooms: The challenge of bridging the gap between theory, policy and practice. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 10, 168-172. Web.