My purpose for writing this book initially was to provide a vehicle for teacher professional development. It was an answer to the question: how do you get new strategies into teachers’ pedagogical repertoire. For years it has been known that the one-and-done, after-school in-services are ineffective methods for inducing change or to getting new teaching strategies into classrooms. Instead,...

This book is designed to be a professional development tool for both preservice and practicing teachers. It provides descriptions, explanations, and examples of a variety of research-based teaching strategies that will enhance your ability to teach effectively. These strategies are appropriate for all teachers (general education, special education, and content area specialists) at all levels...

All teaching strategies are found within the context of a lesson. In this section, two aspects of lesson planning are examined: chapter 1 describes six different lesson plan formats. Chapter 2 describes four essential elements of teaching: knowing, planning, doing, and reflecting with an emphasis on teacher reflection.

Effective learning experiences must be planned. Planning is important for three reasons:

Effective teaching is a process involving four separate but complimentary components: knowing, planning, doing, and reflecting.

This section focuses on teacher-centered instructional strategies. With this type of strategy, the teacher is primarily responsible for transmitting knowledge directly to the students in a very controlled, sequential manner (Borich, 2006; Kauchak & Eggen, 2001). There are four types of teacher-centered instructional strategies described here: (a) direction instruction, (b) expository...

Direct instruction is a pedagogical strategy with which all teachers should be familiar. It is defined that here is structured form of teaching in which students receive information directly from a teacher (Ormrod, 2006). The responsibility for students’ learning rests firmly on the teacher. The teacher sets the purpose for the lesson, explains exactly what the students are to learn, and...

Expository teaching is a form of direct instruction that involves using a lecture, presentation, or some form of telling strategy to provide the information students need to know in a clear and purposeful way (Woolfolk, 2007). It is based on the idea that well-presented input (lecture) can be an effective form of teaching with students at any age and level if the material being presented is...

In regards to lesson planning, often the only thing considered is what the final product should look like or what should be contained in each of the lesson plan parts. This chapter will examine the process used to move from an academic standard to purpose statement, objective, assessment, lesson input, and activity for a schema-building lesson plan. Once you understand the process, designing the...

1. Present a definition of the concept. Your definition should use words and concepts with which students are familiar. In other words, use “kid language” instead of dictionary language. One rule of defining a concept is that you cannot use the word or a form of the word in the definition.

Effective teachers in all areas and at all levels use direct and explicit instruction in some form to teach procedural knowledge or skills. However, direct instruction should be thought of as a pedagogical skill, not a method or an approach to teaching any subject. Put another way, it should never be used as the sole form of instruction in any area for any subject. This chapter describes the basic...

The characteristics of learner-centered instruction described later are based on the 14 Psychological Principles of Learner-Centered Instruction put forth by the American Psychological Association. (visit their website: ~https://www.apa.org/ed/governance/bea/learner-centered.pdf) Instructional strategies that are...

This chapter describes discovery learning. Like direct instruction, discovery learning is not a method or an approach to teaching; it is a pedagogical strategy (one of many), which can be used to enhance learning. Discovery learning first exposes students to some sort of structured experience in order for them to discover some of the defining attributes, concepts, or principles inductively...

Students’ problem-solving skills can be developed by directly teaching them effective problem-solving strategies and then providing them with opportunities to practice these strategies (Johnson, 2009). The ideas and strategies described in this chapter can be taught to students to enhance their problem-solving abilities in a variety of contexts.

Inquiry learning uses methods of science as a pedagogical strategy to enhance learning (Johnson, 2009). There are a variety of scientific methods. This chapter describes three methods: (a) creating groups or inductive analysis, (b) surveys and interviews, and (c) inquiry experiments. These are all examples of the types of inquiries used by real scientists to examine the world. With each of these...

The chapters in this section describe four strategies that use human interaction in some form to enhance and extend learning: (a) cooperative learning, (b) small group speeches, and (c) class discussions. These can be adopted and adapted for use in all subject areas, and at all ages and levels.

Cooperative learning is a structured teaching and learning strategy in which small teams of students work together using a variety of learning activities to accomplish a shared goal. As you will see in this chapter, it is much different from simply working in a group. It consists of the following five elements:

The steps for using small group speeches as a pedagogical tool are as follows:

Thoughtful planning is the first step in creating effective discussions. The questions should be designed to align with your lesson purpose and inserted into your lesson plan where they will be asked. However, having questions prepared does not preclude you from being flexible and spontaneous. It is common to prepare a set of questions and then to deviate once you get into the flow of the lesson....

This section contains seven chapters describing a variety of pedagogical strategies to enhance and extend learning. These include the following:

A thinking skill is any cognitive process broken down into a set of steps which are then used to guide thinking (Johnson, 2000). For example, inference is a common cognitive process identified in many academic standards. To infer one must integrate observed clues with background knowledge in order to make an informed conjecture. This cognitive process can be made into a thinking skill by...

Bloom’s taxonomy of thinking was used in chapter 13 to design discussion questions. It will be used in chapter 17 to created tiered assignments. This chapter demonstrates how use Bloom’s taxonomy to design assignments and activities.

A learning contract is a written agreement between a student or students and the teacher that specifies what will be learned, how it will be learned, how learning will be demonstrated, and the time frame for completion of the learning experience (Johnson, 2009; Tomlinson, 1995). They are used to create open-ended, student-centered learning experiences. They can be used as well to...

A tiered assignment manipulates the same idea or input at different levels or tiers (Tomlinson, 2001). Here, the same lesson is presented to all students; however, the post-lesson activities or assignments are designed at differing levels of complexity. In this way, each student still comes away with important knowledge and at the same time is challenged at a level appropriate for his or her...

Learning stations are designated places in the classroom used to practice, reinforce, or extend a skill or related set of skills (Johnson, 2009). They are used simultaneously with the whole class. Here the teacher designs short mini-lessons or activities for each station. Small groups of three to five students go to a station and work on the activity. On a common signal (classroom lights...

Howard Gardner’s book Frames of Mind (1993) defined intelligence as the ability to solve problems or create products that are valued within a culture. Gardner identified eight different intelligences, each of which involves different ways of thinking:

Effective online teaching is not simply an in-person teaching episode that has been recorded and slapped on the Internet. You must think, plan, and teach in ways that complement this new medium. The following are some general tips to consider when preparing online lessons and presentations.

This section contains three chapters describing ways in which literacy can be used to enhance or extend learning:

What do students record in a learning log? Many of the strategies described in this book can be used to design learning log entries such as graphic organizers, thinking skills, Bloom’s Taxonomy, and multiple intelligence theories. Other ideas included the following:

Pre-reading strategies are used to provide the support necessary for students to read the text independently (Johnson, 2016a). Very rarely should students be asked to read a text cold (without any sort of preparation). Below are described 11 pre-reading strategies. Each of these should take between one and no more than eight minutes.

Each step of the five-step writing process described further must be explicitly taught and modeled.

Teaching is a science, an art, and a craft.

Dr. Andrew Johnson is a professor of literacy at Minnesota State University, Mankato, where he specializes in literacy instruction for struggling readers and students with intellectual disabilities. He also works with schools to design practical interventions and RTI plans for struggling readers. He worked for nine years in the public schools as an elementary teacher, gifted education...