It goes without saying that as soon as the curriculum has been formed, the obvious necessity of choosing the proper instructional strategies that will help implement the curriculum into practice and will ensure the sequence of delivery of the material and its comprehension by students comes to the fore. Teachers may experience greater challenges in this respect each year because of the growing number of material on the subjects, the list of instructional strategies that are enriched annually, and the methods of material delivery that become more advanced each year with the development of computer technologies. It is also necessary for every teacher to understand that there is no universal procedure for finding appropriate instructional strategies for any particular element of learning due to the fact that they cannot be labeled and a unique situation at the lesson the teacher experiences with each separate group should be taken into consideration (Curriculum: Select Instructional Strategies, 2009).
Thus, the ultimate goal of every educator in this context should be finding appropriate strategies that he or she will effectively use in classes and will this way achieve the set of goals stipulated by the curriculum. There has been much work conducted in the sphere of instructional strategies that will aid every teacher to make classes more effective, and as a result, there appeared a list of six strategies that are more or less universal, but always helpful when implemented in a lesson (Instructional Strategies, 2009). They are:
- Emphasize major concepts. The main implications of this strategy are to organize the material in such a way so that the students grasped major themes within the topic and would be able to use that knowledge in cross-topical studies. This effect can be achieved through efficient generalizing and structuring work and visual representation of the material in a schematic manner, or inclusion of big ideas in the study – they will outline the most important ideas and concepts that should be the indispensable minimum for student’s comprehension (Instructional Strategies, 2009).
- Give a proper explanation for links and relations. This strategy is essential to ensure students understanding not only of concepts themselves but of the relationships between them and the way they are connected into the coherent scientific entity. The proper effect of this strategy’s implication may be achieved through much verbal explanation and application of schematic visuals that will help students understand the links. Teaching students to apply such techniques as mind mapping and outlining has also proven to be highly successful (Instructional Strategies, 2009).
- Ensure proper treatment of background knowledge. This strategy is highly important for the teacher to be able to connect the students’ prior knowledge to the new concepts that are being learned according to the particular curriculum. To ensure such effect, the teacher should ask questions to raise associations of the currently studied material with the background knowledge in students, should be able to provide transparent comparisons of learned elements and, in case students lack background knowledge relating to the topic, provide access to proper educational materials for the students (Instructional Strategies, 2009).
- Ensure proper support for learners. Along with the process of learning new material the teacher should optimally choose the portion of support that he or she will provide for students, gradually reducing it while students grasp the material and move toward independence in their studies (Instructional Strategies, 2009).
- Apply universal strategies and models. The teacher should teach students how to apply particular strategies and models for problem solution, gradually reducing prompts as soon as the independence and proficiency of students are clearly felt (Instructional Strategies, 2009).
- Arrange continuous revision and checks. This strategy is vital when the teacher needs to incorporate revision tasks in the overall curriculum – it involves checking knowledge of previously learned items, helping students to apply their knowledge in practice, thus ensuring that they have grasped and fixed the material in their heads (Instructional Strategies, 2009).
Proper application of these strategies will make any lesson efficient and will enhance the teaching effect in a group disregarding the curriculum chosen. These strategies are more student-oriented than curriculum-oriented, so before choosing the strategies and implementing them in a lesson or a course of studies the educator has to combine information both about the curriculum and the group in which he or she will work, moving further in the selection of instructional strategies.
References
Instructional Strategies (2009). Teaching Resources for Florida ESE. Web.
Curriculum: Select Instructional Strategies (2009). Web.