Five Teaching Strategies

A Universally Designed classroom has to be one that can overcome the limitations that students may have.  There has to be multiple options for students to present their work, participate and express themselves.  Not every student learns the same way and it is up to the teacher to ensure that students have equal opportunities to learn.

There are many learning strategies that not only incorporate technology in the classroom, but these strategies can also provide students with special needs an opportunity to learn.  Differentiation needs to occur in the classroom.  Teachers have to consider the fact that not all students are the same.  They walk into our classes with many differences.  Teachers need to plan for the diverse needs of each student.

One of the teaching strategies that I think is excellent when generating ideas on any given topic is brainstorming.Brainstorming occurs in all classrooms, no matter the grade level.  Brainstorming helps with students thinking skills.  When students are asked to think of what comes to mind for a certain topic, they really get their mind thinking.  The best thing about brainstorming is that you are never incorrect.  We accept all ideas in my classroom.  In some way, their thinking and ideas can always relate back to the concept.  This is great for students who may have special needs because they are able to say whatever comes to their mind for a certain concept.  There is no right or wrong answer and all students are more likely to share because of this.Students also have an opportunity to see other students’ ideas and can then use those to think of their own.   Some students just need that reassurance that they are on the right track.  Brainstorming includes everyone in the classroom and is also a great way for teachers to determine what students already may or may not know.  

Here is a brainstorming activity for a Grade 4 classroom.  You are beginning your unit on Light.  You want to brainstorm with the class their ideas to determine what they already know and to help guide your future instruction.  I would use Google docs, the SMARTboard and ipads in this activity.  I really like to get students involved during the lesson.  That is why if every student had an ipad, each one could add ideas faster and easier.  Rather than having each one (which could be 29) come up to the SMARTboard and write their idea down.  I would set up a Google Document and share it with each student.  They would access this document and begin adding their ideas about Light, at the same time.  I would project the document on the SMARTboard where I could point out ideas that were being brainstormed.   In order to differentiate even further, I would give students the option of writing an idea about Light or adding an image that came to their mind about Light.Some students have anxiety about having to get up in front of the class and write an idea down, this activity allows them to quietly add their idea at their seat.  It may even elicit more ideas from students because they can add them so quickly and they aren’t waiting for their turn.  This would give me an idea of where I need to go next with this topic.
Here is a link to further explore the teaching strategy Brainstorming.

Another teaching strategy that is used in primary classes is Learning Centers.  I have to be honest, I have never taught in a primary classroom, but I do see this strategy as being beneficial.  Teachers would be able to differentiate and could set up their Learning Centers to enhance the learning opportunities for students that may have special needs.  A Learning Center is a section of the classroom where students engage in independent, self directed or small group learning activities.  In Learning Centers, teachers can organize them by areas of study, learning styles (kinesthetic, visual, auditory), by subject or by student interest.  The possibilities are endless.

You can incorporate so many things into learning centers.  Here is a list of ways that came from the following source:
Instructional Strategies

1. topic, theme with different levels of difficulty. (this would help students with special needs)

2. Interests centers for further investigation of a topic.

3. Free inventing centers for experimenting, discovering, and inventing.

4. Computer centers with multimedia resources. (incorporating technology, computers and ipads (certain apps))

5. Resource centers with a wide variety of leading materials

6. Art media table to create artifacts.

7. Role-playing centers to demonstrate characters and sequence of events.

8. Manipulative centers for hands-on learning

9. Skill centers for adjustable assignments

10. Writing centers for a variety of writing tools and paper (could incorporate technology for some or all, use of computer (word processor))

11. Challenge centers for problem solving (technology could also be incorporated, could use apps on the ipad depending on the interests of your class)

12. Listening centers for music or readings from both fictional and factual content (technology could be incorporated, ipads or computer).

13. Multiple intelligences center that provide students with choices.

You can create your centers to meet the needs of all students in your class.  Every student in the class would have an equal opportunity to learn.  As well, when they are working in groups, there is great collaboration occurring.
Here is another great link that speaks about learning centers and what to consider before implementing learning centers in your classroom.

Reading Response Journals is another idea that is used in many classrooms to enhance learning.  Technology can also be incorporated into this idea to enhance the learning of your students, as well as differentiation can easily occur.  Reading Response Journals are where students make personal connections with a literary text (about ideas, emotions, characters, etc).  Students are able to gain a deeper understanding and meaning from reading response journals by reflecting on what they have read.At first, the teacher would need to model what a reading response letter would look like (this would be more beneficial for some students, but useful for all).

Reading Response Journals can be shared with the teacher and other students in the class.  Teachers can respond to the student by sharing their own ideas and by asking thought provoking questions.  This would get students to think a little more deeply about what they have read. This journal could be kept electronically using Google Docs or even as a student blog.  To enhance learning even further, reading response journals could be shared amongst students.  When shared on a blog, students could respond to each other.  This would allow students to make connections and share ideas with each others’ reading.  It would create dialogue and discussion amongst the students.

There is a lot of differentiation that would occur here.  For the most part, students are able to choose their own reading materials, at their own level.  Students would have access to speech to text software to meet their needs.  The teacher would respond to letters in different ways depending on the needs of the student.  The teacher could even give students the choice of videotaping their response to their reading in order to meet the needs of every student.

A Research Project is another teaching strategy that is beneficial in the classroom.  This an effective strategy for developing language arts skills while a student is also learning in another subject area.  I think that the key to research projects is giving students choices.  In order to meet the needs of all students, they need to have a variety of ways to present their findings.  The use of technology is definitely beneficial to the success of all students when researching.  There are many tools (text to speech) that can enhance the learning opportunities of special needs students.  All the students in a classroom come with many different skills.  By giving students choice, it allows them to choose to present their findings according to their abilities.
Here is an example of a research project in a Grade 7 or 8  for Geography.

Geography Tic-Tac-Toe Project

*students select a country outside of North America and complete the tic-tac-toe board (create a line across, down or diagonal) All tasks should be completed on Google Docs and shared with me for assessment*

Design a brochure to encourage people to visit	Create a rap, song or poem including all the population characteristics (population density, population distribution, natural increase, literacy rate, infant mortality rate etc.)	Write a biography of a famous person from the country.  Create a list of 10 questions for an interview with him/her.
Write a journal entry describing a historical event.  Reflect on the events, feelings, and results.	Wild Card (assignment of your choice)	Explain the different economic systems (traditional, command, market); create a Venn Diagram comparing the economy of your country and Canada (include natural resources, primary, secondary and tertiary industries)
Name and locate on a map all major cities, rivers, lakes, oceans, landforms	Create a multi-media poster outlining 5 unique plants and/or animals from the country.  Include a picture and information fact sheet.	Create a skit containing information about the country’s natural resources (include a definition of the words renewable and non-renewable, flow resource,sustainable development)

The last teaching strategy that is beneficial in the classroom is Literature Circles.  Literature Circles is a teaching strategy where students work in small groups to discuss a common piece of literature.  This teaching strategy can be used in any grade and at any level.  Students are organized into discussion groups and teachers or students are able to decide how to organize these groups. Literature circles allow for differentiation, as well as the use of technology can enhance students’ learning.   
Literature Circles give students a choice which means that they are more likely to be engaged in their learning.  They can select a book sometimes out of a set of books presented and they can sometimes have an opportunity to choose who they are going to cooperatively work with.   Students gain a better understanding of a text when they can help each other make sense of it.  As well, in my experience, students find Literature Circles fun.  Differentiation naturally occurs.  Students that are at a lower level of reading can select a book at their level.  Teachers can ensure that a lower level book is one of the choices and guide those students in that direction.  As well, the teacher can provide an audio text for students that require it.  These students would gain an understanding of the book and be able to participate in the discussions as a group. 
Technology could be used to enhance the learning of all students.  Students could use Google docs in order to keep track of their discussions.  One group member could be responsible for typing out the answers to questions that were given or just keep track of the discussions that were happening.  Teachers could also provide an ipad for each group and the discussion could be videotaped and shared with the teacher.  This is also great to have a video of the discussion for those students that may get lost in the conversation and need to watch the discussion over again. Videoing the discussion could be essential for some, but beneficial for all.