Planning and Organizing Instruction

1. Planning and Organizing Instruction Mercer Ch. 2

2. Activity • Using large paper and markers, draw your ultimate classroom • Explain each area and their relevance to the function of the classroom

3. Arrangement of Students • All students should easily see and hear the teacher • Teacher has easy access to all students • Teacher sees all students • Decide to put desks in clusters or rows • Place difficult-to-teach or off-task students in the middle of the room near the front

4. Classroom Arrangement • Teacher draw a rough sketch of the floor plan • Consider advantages for desk arrangements: vertical rows, group circles, and small clusters • Location of predominant activities • Number of students in the environment • Storage area for equipment • Need for special equipment for students with special needs

5. Managing the Physical Environment • Environmental Design • Classroom Arrangement • Complements to the Instructional Environment • Interest Centers • Bulletin Boards

6. Environmental Design Considerations • Sense of community • Personal territory • Authentic motivation • Classroom flexibility • Environmental acknowledgment • Flexible seating • Work aesthetic • Barrier-free

7. Complements to the Instructional Environment • Study Carrel • Provide a quiet place to study • Provide a comfortable place to read independently

8. Interest Centers Considerations • Characteristics of the user • Objectives that the activities are designed to meet • Interest value to the students • Procedures and directions • Materials or equipment needed

9. Bulletin Boards • Most popular is to display students’ work • Can foster creativity by providing example topics or themes for student work

10. Large-Group Instruction • Advantages: • time efficient • Prepares students for the type of instruction primarily used in secondary education • May help students with special needs make the transition to general education classes

11. Large-Group Instruction Cont. • Disadvantages: • Difficult for teachers to deal with diverse abilities and skill levels • Questions may go unanswered • Distracted students may stay off task • Students do not receive intensive instruction

12. Guidelines for Large-Group Instruction • Keep instruction short • Use questions to involve students • Use lecture-pause routine • Active participation among lower achieving students • Visual aids • Lively pace • Frequent change-ups • Determine rules during presentation and discussions • Use participation buddies to promote student involvement

13. Small-Group Instruction • Advantages: • Students participate more often • Teachers provide more instruction, praise, and feedback • Students can progress at their own pace • Less boring • Monitor student progress better • ELL students are more comfortable • Important for students with LD and EBD because they lack to skills to work independently

14. Small-Group Instruction Cont. • Disadvantages • Students are required to do more seatwork • More planning is involved • Teachers must organize instructional variables • Teachers must provide more instruction

15. Guidelines for Small-Group Instruction • Establish rules • Make groups homogeneous • Maintain flexible grouping • Locate groups so teacher can see all groups • Place students in semicircle • Use motivational activities

16. Cooperative Learning Strategies • Peer tutoring • Classwide Peer tutoring • Group projects • Jigsaw • Student-team achievement divisions

17. Guidelines for Peer Tutoring • Determine goals for peer tutoring • Practice and learn targeted skills • Provide a review • Develop appropriate social skills • Enhance self-concepts • Determine target skills or content • Select materials • Design procedures for tutee and tutor • How to present the task • How to provide feedback for correct and incorrect responses • How to score responses

18. Guidelines for Peer Tutoring • Assign tutor-tutee pairs • Across-class • Pull-out • Intraclass • Train tutors and tutees • Teach social skills • Review skills • Schedule sessions

19. Classwide Peer Tutoring • Three main features: • Peers are used to supervise responding and practice • A game format is used that includes points and competing teams to motivate students and maintain interest • Weekly evaluation plan ensure gains in student progress

20. Classwide Peer Tutoring Format • Daily tutoring sessions of about 30 minutes • Tutor-tutee pairs work together for a week • After 10 minutes the pairs switch roles • Two points are given for each correct response, one point is given for a corrected response • Teacher moves around the room monitoring tutoring behavior – awards bonus points for good behavior • End of the session, students add up the points and record on chart • Friday the teacher conducts a more intensive assessment of the skills learned

21. Student-team achievement divisions • Heterogeneous group of 4 students are assigned to a team • After teacher presents the lesson, the team works together to ensure mastery of the skills taught • Students take individual quizzes without peer help. • Quiz scores are compared to previous scores and points are awarded based on improvement