Using Effective

Teaching Techniques

Or, some more tools for your

teaching toolbox
Objectives

■ Define EFFECTIVE teaching

■ List, explain, and give examples of
effective teaching skills
■ Demonstrate effective teaching skills in
actual teaching

2
Everything has led up to this.
■ Program planning leads to a curriculum
■ Curriculum planning leads to teaching
calendar
■ Teaching calendar leads to lessons
■ Lesson planning leads to methods
■ We use teaching skills to implement the
methods
3
What is effective teaching?

■ From perspective of PRODUCT:

– How much the students learn.
– Difficult to measure.
– Results may not be known for years.
– Results flavored by student ability.

4
What is effective teaching?

■ From perspective of PROCESS:

– Use of good procedures.
– Directly observable
– Results immediately visible
– Results may be flavored by available
resources
5
Effective Teaching Defined

■ “Patterns of classroom interactions that

consistently produce desirable student
outcomes in the form of higher test
scores, increased problem solving
skills, improved attitude toward subject,
etc….”
6
– Borich. (1988). Effective Teaching
Measuring Effective Teaching

■ Standardized test scores

– measured later and affected by all teachers
■ Accomplishment of SOLs
– measured later and affected by all teachers
■ Teacher-made tests
– unreliable, biased
7
Surrogate for Direct Measurement

■ Research tells us that Time on Task

has closest relationship to achievement

■ Time on task = time students are

working on appropriate, intended

learning activities 8
Estimating Teaching Effectiveness

■ Degree to which:
– Task relates to curriculum
– Students are paying attention
– Students are following directions
– Students are working on assigned task

9
Effective Teachers Exhibit:

■ Clarity
■ Variety
■ Task Orientation
■ Engagement
■ Moderate-High Success Rate
10
Effective teachers Use:
■ Student Ideas
■ Structuring
■ Questioning
■ Probing
■ Enthusiasm

11
Four Major Effective Teacher Skills

■ Stimulus Variation
■ Repetition
■ Reinforcement
■ Examples and Non-Examples

12
Stimulus Variation

■ Kinesic Variation
■ Focusing
■ Shifting Interaction
■ Pausing
■ Shifting Senses
13
Kinesic Variation

■ Teacher Movement
■ Volume Variation
■ Get into Space
■ Move Behind

14
 Focusing
■ Verbal
– This is Important, Write This Down, This
Will be on the Test
■ Gestural
– Point, bang on desk, point, gesture
■ Verbal-Gestural
– Point and “look at this!”
15
Shifting Interaction

■ Teacher to Student
■ Student to Teacher
■ Student to Student
■ Teacher to Student to Teacher to
Student
16
Pausing

■ Alert Students to Change

■ Promotes Thinking
■ Emphasize Key Point
■ Break Monotony
■ Regain Control
17
Shifting Senses

■ Hearing
■ Seeing
■ Smelling
■ Feeling
■ Tasting
18
Types of Stimulus Variation
■ Kinesic Variation
■ Focusing
■ Shifting Interaction
■ Pausing
■ Shifting Senses
19
 Repetition -- Why
■ Increase Level of Learning
■ Prolong Retention
Degree of Learning/
Retention

Ability to
Recall

20
Repetitions/Time
Repetition -- How
■ Restating another way
■ Providing examples/non-examples to
illustrate
■ Partial Reviews
■ Massed Reviews
■ Re-use skills in subsequent learning
■ Practice, Practice, Practice
21
Reinforcement
■ Positive Reinforcement
– praise
– grades
– feedback
– knowledge of results
■ Negative Reinforcement
– constructive
– suggests solutions, improvements
22
Examples & Non-Examples

■ Why?
■ Teacher Experiences
■ Student Experiences
■ Literature
■ “Made up”
23
Can We Talk?

■ What is Effective Teaching?

■ What is Time on Task
■ Why is Time on Task used as a
Surrogate for Effectiveness?

24
More Review

■ What Are Four Major Teaching Skills?

■ Why do we use Repetition?
■ Why is Reinforcement so Important?
■ What are Examples?
■ What are Non-Examples?
25
What is an Example of:

■ Kinesic Variation
■ Focusing
■ Shifting Interaction
■ Pausing
■ Shifting Senses
26
So What?
■ Program planning leads to a curriculum
■ Curriculum planning leads to teaching
calendar
■ Teaching calendar leads to lessons
■ Lesson planning leads to methods
■ We use teaching skills to implement the
methods
27