Best Practices in Instruction

Best Practices in Instruction

Surprisingly, I found that I obtained totally different results when I performed a search for “best practices in teaching” vs. when I performed a search for “best practices in instruction”. I have to admit that the number of sites that came up when I performed my search overwhelmed me. It seemed that every institution, school district, and teacher had his or her own set of “best practices”. After reading through these best practices in instruction, I can say that my favorites were the following:

•Encourage student- faculty contact in and out of class.
•Encourage cooperation among students through collaborative assignments and in- class, group exercises.
•Encourage active learning by having students apply course content to real-world situations.
•Provide prompt feedback throughout the term.
•Emphasize time on task by indicating how long students should spend on an assignment.
•Communicate high expectations.
•Respect diverse talents and ways of learning by providing a variety of learning modes (written, oral, visual) that are culturally relevant.

In searching for the “best practices in education” I felt I was provided with too many general ideas whereas the “best practices in instruction” seemed to include specifics on how to achieve the best practices. “Provide prompt feedback throughout the term” is a practice I can start using immediately in the classroom where as “teaching for understanding” seems much more broad. In the end, I thought both searches were useful, but that I came away for many more useful ideas for the classroom when I searched under best practices in instruction. I loved Marzano’s instructional strategies that outlined specifics on everything from summarizing and note taking to homework and practice. This website gave me specific, useful techniques rather than just ideas of best practices. I bookmarked this page and will definitely use it again.


Sources:
http://www.ttms.org/best_practice/best_practice.htm

“Rethinking High School: Best Practice in Teaching, Learning, and Leadership.”

http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/bestprac/bpc_instruction.html

http://www.ideapartnership.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=289&Itemid=141

http://www.tltguide.ccsd.k12.co.us/instructional_tools/Strategies/Strategies.html