Uses an appropriate balance of teaching methods including teacher-directed, student-directed, student-initiated, flexible groupings, and independent work, where students are actively involved in their learning.
Throughout each day students have a opportunity to participate in both small and whole group activities. I teach through a project based learning approach, which naturally lends itself to small group learning as students are usually working with 1 or 2 other classmates to complete an assignment. One example of such work is a project that students did during our Chris Van Allsburg unit. During this unit students were studying the writing style of this author, and using the author's style to interpret and analyze their thoughts while reading. In order to access students' deeper understanding of Chris Van Allsburg's style and their comprehension of the messages conveyed in his books, I gave students the project to create their own Jumanji board game. While reading the book together we charted themes and details that we noticed as a whole group. Then students split into small groups of 3 or 4 to create their games. They were given a rubric and assignment sheet of what their games needed to include, and they were expected to monitor their own progress toward their desired grade (1-4). The students used the rubric and assignment sheets as a guideline to create their boardgames, but they were given absolute autonomy in the design, content and rules of their games. Students created a rule sheet, game board, and pieces, and when they were finished they presented their games to the class and invited their second grade buddies to play the games with them. Throughout the year I have provided many other opportunities for students to participate in similar independent, small and creative projects, which I feel has helped them to take responsibility and initiative for their work.
For images of students working in different groupings, please visit: https://moodle.a-s-b.com/course/view.php?id=540 and click on instructional strategies.
