| You can teach anything with this list of essential | | | | guidance. These are learning opportunities and they |
| American teaching methods. It will take skill and | | | | are very valuable. |
| experience to decide which method works best in | | | | Collaboration |
| each situation - will cooperation or competition produce | | | | Working with someone else or in a small team gives |
| the best result? It's a starting point. | | | | many benefits which can fast a lifetime. Sharing ideas |
| You might even evaluate your past performance and | | | | and working cooperatively are skills much prized by |
| consider whether one of the other methods might | | | | industry and in our personal lives. |
| have worked better. | | | | Competition |
| These fundamental teaching methods are here to | | | | At other times competition between teams brings |
| remind you that pupils have preferences about the | | | | about a creative challenge. |
| way they learn. And when they are taught the way | | | | Success is a great incentive and failure is a valuable |
| they prefer to learn they generally behave better, | | | | lesson. There does need to be control to prevent the |
| enjoy themselves more and think of you and your | | | | excesses of destructive 'bare-knuckle' competition. |
| school in a more positive way. | | | | Computer-mediated learning |
| Instruction | | | | Using a computer need not be a solitary activity. A |
| Although it may be true that 'I hear and I forget', some | | | | computer can complement other activities and supply |
| things do need to be told and accepted. Direct | | | | a team with additional powers and data. |
| instruction still has its place. It conveys a lot of | | | | Computers sprinkled liberally around learning areas are |
| information quickly. | | | | more likely to lead to balanced and practical use than if |
| Instruction can be enhanced by note-taking and by | | | | parked directly in front of each child. They are valuable |
| subsequent active tasks to consolidate and test | | | | tools, but not the only ones. |
| learning. | | | | Mentoring |
| Example | | | | It's not only the teacher and teaching assistant who |
| Give an example relevant to the pupil's own | | | | can give help and guidance. Older pupils listening to |
| experience where possible. Appropriate examples | | | | younger children reading aloud serve as an audience, |
| make an idea relevant. | | | | and they learn about responsibility and caring in the |
| Our personal example, our attitude - whether helping, | | | | process. Peer support groups countering bullying can |
| being patient, bad-tempered, harsh or caring - will | | | | be particularly effective. Older pupils organizing games |
| directly influence our pupils too. We are all role models | | | | and sporting or fund-raising activities learn important |
| and it makes sense to be positive. | | | | skills and become role models for younger pupils. |
| How you say something and how you yourself do it | | | | Building on prior learning |
| will last longer than what you say. | | | | Knowing the starting point and previous experience of |
| Analogy or comparison | | | | your learners will determine the content and the speed |
| Use simile and metaphor to describe things and to | | | | at which learning takes place. |
| connect them to the pupil's experience. | | | | Ask your pupils what they know, then start to add to it |
| Make ideas less abstract by comparing them with | | | | rather than landing them with new knowledge out of |
| practical life. Make meaningful comparisons between | | | | context. This is also a good time to find out their |
| historical figures and modern personalities. | | | | interests and enthusiasms. |
| Provide two texts or two ideas for comparison. This | | | | Frameworks |
| generates more creativity than a single example. The | | | | Use scaffolding, writing frames and prompts to |
| examples can then serve as models for pupils' own | | | | suggest an overall shape into which a pupil can slot |
| work. | | | | their personal answer, or provide part of a pattern to |
| Experiment and discovery | | | | which the pupils can add. |
| Learning by doing is practical and creative. 'I do and I | | | | A framework could be a model, an incomplete shape |
| understand.' It may take longer, but the learning lasts | | | | or a template. It offers somewhere to start from and |
| longer too. | | | | an example of a possible solution. |
| The delight of discovering something for yourself can | | | | Later, the pupil can go it alone, but in the early stages a |
| lead to a lifelong fascination. Plan to give time for | | | | template banishes the tyranny of the blank A4 page. |
| children to do things for themselves under -.our | | | | |