CORTNIE BELSER'S MSED PORTFOLIO
INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES
inTASC Standard 8: The teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies to encourage learners to develop deep understanding of content areas and their connections, and to build skills to apply knowledge in meaningful ways.
Introduction
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To engage students, foster a deep understanding of connections to content, and apply knowledge and skills in meaningful ways, instructional strategies are the foundation to classroom culture and student achievement. While instructional strategies can range from class routines to culturally-responsive pedagogy to interactive learning technology, each strategy centers on encouraging and engaging students in their own learning. For teachers to effectively integrate instructional strategies, variety provides layers of learning for students to apply knowledge and skills in meaningful ways that demonstrate a deep understanding of content and their connections. Since there is vast diversity in how teachers utilize instructional strategies cross-disciplinary and within our classrooms, students must adapt their learning experience to how mediums and practices each teacher presents. Thus, such a diverse variety of instructional strategies both reinforces and challenges the learning styles and critical thinking for all students, which is utilized to build knowledge and skills as well as assess student growth through multiple mediums.
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In my classroom, instructional strategies are the centerpiece of instruction, linking how I plan for instruction to the assessments used to inform student growth. I utilize strategies during instruction to encourage differentiation, choice, and culturally-responsive pedagogy anchored in daily routines and structures me and my students can be held accountable to. I use instructional strategies to encourage students to work collaboratively, think flexibly, and foster a critical consciousness of content and application of skills. During planning, I decide which best practices of instruction will facilitate a deeper understanding of the content and skills students will engage with leading to the standards-mastery assessment. As a form of an instructional strategy, I build in formative assessments throughout engagement activities to evaluate how students are able to make connections to content, standards-based skills, and the impact of student-centered instruction. This not only engages students in rich and rigorous instruction, but it also cultivates the 21st-century college and career readiness skills essential to deepening learning in meaningful ways.
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Since all instructional strategies highlighted are implemented in my seventh and eighth grade classes, the evidence reflects both grade-level student work, reflection, and engagement.
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Below, you can click each image to explore how I integrate a variety of instructional strategies to encourage learners to apply knowledge and skills for learning in meaningful ways:
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Conclusion
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Ultimately, the role of the teacher in relation to building instructional strategies is to provide a learning experience where every child feels that they have a place to belong in the classroom. If strategies are implemented in instruction, students have the opportunity to feel empowered to expand their knowledge and build skills of practice. As students feel encouraged to reach rigorous learning goals, instructional strategies must function to deepen understandings genuinely and authentically rather than a simple input and output of knowledge and skills. To this extent, teachers can gather data on the relationship between specific instructional strategies and student achievement. I utilize daily routines, differentiation and student choice, project-based engagement, and student engagement in instruction to build best practices that allow students to be central to the trajectory and growth of the learning space. As a reflection of my teaching philosophy, instructional strategies allow me and my students to actualize how we operate as co-facilitators in the classroom. From restorative circles to Cornell Notes to infused technology, my instructional strategies intentionally integrate a variety of practices that allow students to not only retain knowledge and skills, but apply their learning to rich and rigorous learning experiences and standards mastery. When students operate as organizers in the classroom, engaging them in instruction ensures student autonomy and voice is central to the learning experience. As a teacher, I believe instructional strategies reinforce the core values, vision, and culture that drives student achievement.