As I have gone through my education courses, I have come across many strategies that I hope to incorporate into my everyday teaching. To be honest, at first I didn't believe I would use some of the strategies given in these classes. After some thought, I realize that they can really make your teaching exciting and different for your students.
The first strategy I hope to use Think-Pair-Share. I love this strategy! When you pose a question to your class, first you allow each student to think about the question on their own. Often, as teachers we don't give students enough think time. This allows for this option. After thinking, students pair up (or get into small groups), and talk about what they thought about the question. Finally, someone from each group shares the group's thoughts with the entire class. Because of this, Think-Pair-Share also makes answering questions in the classroom not nearly as intimidating since the students are sharing ideas of multiple students, not just themselves.
A second strategy that I hope to use will help alleviate students' fears of saying "I don't get it." The strategy is Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down. After finishing teaching a concept, the teacher simply has the students give a thumbs up (to say yes I understand), a thumbs down (to say I don't get it), or a sideways thumb (to say I am not sure). This allows the student to actually say when they don't understand without feeling uncomfortable in front of the entire class. It also makes students who don't speak up in class tell the teacher what they are thinking. I think both of these problems are common in math and physics classes, leading to a lot of unnecessary confusion; Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down can definitely help.
Finally, a third strategy that I hope to incorporate into my classroom is the concept of multiple intelligences. This is one strategy that I was a little hesitant about as I first began to learn about it. However, I think MI can be a powerful tool in the classroom if used. It allows students to be given choices and to cater to their own educational needs. I can't imagine what my education could have been like if my former teachers considered MI. This will be strategy I will have to work at to make it work well. However, I believe that I will be able to do amazing things for my students by incorporating MI into my classroom.
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I think all three of the strategies you highlighted here are very good ones. You incorporated our class discussions of multiple intelligences into your strategies, which I think was a very good idea. I also didn’t realize until we discussed some of these things in class, how different a child’s educational experience could be if they were allowed to work in ways that worked best for them. Using a child’s strengths, and not just what works best for the teacher, is very important for enhancing learning and also helps make it enjoyable.
I like your think-pair-share strategy too. Giving students time to think about concepts on their own and then work together to formulate ideas before sharing them with the rest of the class is wonderful.
I had never heard of the thumbs up, thumbs down strategy before, but I think it’s a very good idea! As someone who is usually shy in class, this would have been great for me. Simply having the teacher check to see how comfortable students are with concepts without asking them to raise their hand and announce in front of the rest of the class that they don’t get it, is an excellent idea. This strategy not only shows to students that you care about their learning and comprehension of what you’re teaching them, but also lets them convey to you if they understand without pressure. Many times students can get lost, especially in math and physics classes (like you said), and giving them the opportunity to express this to you without feeling like they are disrupting the rest of the class is great. I hope that if you use this strategy in your future teachings that you find it as successful as I hope it will be.
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