Strategies to Aid Active Instruction

The Active Instruction portion of a lesson is, in essence, an interactive presentation. When planning lessons, think of how best to organize and explain the information in a way that makes sense to students.

Below are several examples of strategies that can be used to aid the Active Instruction process.
 

Advanced Organizers and Graphic Organizers
Prior to teaching new information, the teacher presents an activity or structure that the students use to organize new information; typically the new information is linked to something the students already know. Advanced organizers emanate from the work of David Ausbel in the 1960s. Graphic organizers, which are closely related, are typically provided on paper for the students to fi ll out as they progress through the lesson, reading, or other exercise. Examples include K-W-L charts and Venn diagrams.
 

Demonstrations
To demonstrate means to show how something works. When presenting information, the teacher models, or demonstrates, how to use the process or skills, including the required tools that should be used. Demonstrations may also show how the knowledge or skill may be used or applied in the real world and may include the use of manipulative materials or involve other people.
 

Diagrams
Similar to advanced organizers, diagrams provide a visual depiction of the content being taught and learned. A diagram often shows the individual parts of some object with labels. Diagrams can also help learners to see relationships between concepts and help to organize the new information.

Examples
Show how the skill or process may be used or how the information is applied or used in the real world.
 

Make Connections
As noted in Advanced Organizers and Graphic Organizers above, activating prior knowledge and building on what students already know is an excellent way to help them remember new information. Know your students—what interests and motivates them—and then tie the new learning to something they already know or something that is meaningful to them. For example, if you are teaching statistics, sports are an easy tie-in that may pique student interest.
Relate the information to real-world issues or problems of which they may be aware.

Memory Aids and Mnemonic Devices
Mnemonics are strategies and devices that are used to aid the memory. Memory aids may take many forms,
including rhymes, acronyms, and the use of imagery to aid recall of information. Some examples of memory aids and mnemonic devices are:

• Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally (Parentheses, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, Subtraction) for teaching the order of operations
• Multiplication cards
• Student-created multiplication charts

Pictures and Models
Are there any images you can use to help the students visualize what they are learning? In some cases, visuals are essential, such as when you are teaching place value. To create visuals, you can employ technology, such as creating PowerPoint slides or making a video, or you can create overhead transparencies or posters.
 

Problem Solving
Whenever possible, let the students work through real-world problems and issues using the new information they are learning. Team problem solving requires the students to have discussions and explain their thinking. This strategy is also useful during Team Huddle and Team Mastery.

Think-Pair-Share
The teacher poses a question and the students fi rst THINK about their answer, then PAIR and discuss their answer with a partner. The teacher then selects a few partnerships to SHARE their discussion with the whole group.