Effective instruction is one of the central teaching practices facilitating students’ learning. Teachers try to employ diverse techniques and strategies to ensure that the given instructions are clear and students are able to achieve their learning goals. Scaffolding is one of the helpful instruments enabling teachers to provide proper instructions (Cambridge English, 2019; Christin Adams, 2020). The major goal of this approach is to ensure that students will be able to complete the task successfully and teaching objectives can be attained (Dagoc & Tan, 2018). Scaffolding encompasses the use of diverse techniques and methods to provide instruction (Education Week, 2017). Breaking larger units (skills, content, instructions) into smaller units is one of the effective strategies enabling educators to give effective instructions (Brower et al., 2018; Ancora Publishing, 2019). Moreover, Park et al. (2019) note that emotional scaffolding should also be used to help students be motivated and engaged, which is specifically critical at the early stages. It is noteworthy that the interviewed teachers use scaffolding on a daily basis as this method is instrumental in delivering material and assessing students’ progress.
Another important and helpful practice that has become common in teaching is collaboration. The interviewed educators mentioned that they communicate quite closely with their colleagues teaching in other grades. They explained that the collaboration of teachers between grade levels is beneficial for educators and students as the materials and the overall teaching and learning are placed into diverse contexts. The interviewees stated that they often wanted to understand what topics would be discussed in the following years and what ways would be used to deliver the necessary material. This information helps the teachers to prepare students for upcoming challenges and novelties. The discussion of teaching strategies to be utilized is a potent tool enabling teachers to improve their teaching skills and make their lessons more effective and more engaging. Teachers share their knowledge and ideas, which improves the quality of the services they provide.
When discussing standards-based instruction, teachers noted that standards help teachers to remain focused and concentrate on certain milestones. They set specific targets that are clear and attainable based on the existing standards. The interviewees also added that they articulate the objectives they set to make the students aware of the goals they need to reach. Being focused is essential for teachers and students. Hence, teachers provide instructions and deliver the necessary material based on the corresponding standards and use different strategies (Teaching Statistics Across Any Setting, 2021; Coalition on Adult Basic Education, 2020). Clearly, assessment is another component of teaching that is closely related to standards. At that, one of the interviewees noted that it was difficult for her to fully integrate (and especially understand the value of) the key standards into practice during her first years in practice. However, the collaboration with more experienced educators made her see the positive outcomes of this approach.
In conclusion, it is possible to note that the information the teachers shared is helpful, and I will definitely use it in my teaching practice. I will try to communicate with colleagues (between grades) to understand what students will encounter in their future years. It is quite clear that discussions with previous teachers are quite common as current educators want to know about students, their levels, as well as some specifics regarding the learning process. It is also quite helpful to have a glimpse at further academic goals and practices to make students prepared for those challenges.
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References
Ancora Publishing. (2019). Explicit instruction academy follow-up webinar with Anita Archer [Video]. YouTube.
Brower, R. L., Woods, C. S., Jones, T. B., Park, T. J., Hu, S., Tandberg, D. A., Nixa, A. N., Rahminga, S. G., & Martindale, S. K. (2018). Scaffolding mathematics remediation for academically at-risk students following developmental education reform in Florida. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 42(2), 112-128. Web.
Cambridge English. (2019). Teaching mixed-ability groups [Video]. YouTube.
Christin Adams. (2020). Scaffolding instruction for English learners in the second grade [Video]. YouTube.
Coalition on Adult Basic Education. (2020). Invigorate Math instruction with contextualized resources [Video]. YouTube. Web.
Dagoc, D. A., & Tan, D. A. (2018). Effects of metacognitive scaffolding on the mathematics performance of grade 6 pupils in a cooperative learning environment. International Journal of English and Education, 7(4), 378-391.
Education Week. (2017). Webinar: Blending Math instruction for elementary grades [Video]. YouTube. Web.
Park, M. H., Tiwari, A., & Neumann, J. W. (2019). Emotional scaffolding in early childhood education. Educational Studies, 46(5), 570-589. Web.
Teaching Statistics Across Any Setting. (2021). Standards based grading: Make it stick! [Video]. YouTube.