Both of the following Best Practices lists were compiled by Karen Hernandez of the East Whittier City School District.
- Click HERE to see a compilation of strategies based on educational research and training from Project GLAD, Nancy Fetzer, and Dennis Parker.
- Click HERE to see EWCSD's 7 Best Practices for Teaching Struggling Learners.
The following information was put together as an instructor's resource by the Department of Public Instruction in North Carolina.
Why are Best Practices Important?
Thomas L. Friedman, author of The World Is Flat, refers to a twenty-first century world that will be very different from the one in which we were educated. To survive in a new, globally competitive world, today's children will need creativity, problem-solving abilities, a passion for learning, a dedicated work ethic and lifelong learning opportunities. Students can develop these abilities through instruction based on Best Practice teaching strategies.
What are Best Practices?
Best practices are an inherent part of a curriculum that exemplifies the connection and relevance identified in educational research. They interject rigor into the curriculum by developing thinking and problem-solving skills through integration and active learning. Relationships are built through opportunities for communication and teamwork. Best practices are applicable to all grade levels and provide the building blocks for instruction. Best practices motivate, engage and prompt students to learn and achieve. Students who receive a balanced curriculum and possess the knowledge, skills and abilities to transfer and connect ideas and concepts across disciplines will be successful as measured by standardized tests and other indicators of student success. Four best practices for teachers include teaching a balanced curriculum, teaching an integrated curriculum, differentiating instruction to meet individual student needs and providing active learning opportunities for students to internalize learning.
What Do Best Practices Look Like?
Classrooms that exemplify best practices are easy to detect as soon as you enter the room.
- Project materials and books are numerous.
- Students are engaged and focused on their work.
- Teachers often use collaborative and/or authentic tasks that place students at the center of the learning process.
- Seating arrangements are clustered, varied and functional with multi- instructional areas.
- Classrooms are activity-based spaces as opposed to places to “sit and get” lectures.
- Teachers are actively engaged with different groups and students are anxious to enlist visitors in their various tasks or assignments.
- There is a joyful feeling of purposeful movement, industrious thinking and a vital and vibrant atmosphere and environment.
Balanced Curriculum
Balanced Curriculum is...
- Educates the whole child
- Includes a challenging and common curriculum
- Based on best knowledge of how children develop and learn
- Prepares students for success in school and in life
- Includes all subjects verses only those subjects tested
- Promotes brain growth and development through an enriched environment
- Provides a curriculum that Is rigorous, relevant and promotes relationships
- Creates active participants rather than passive observers
- Allows students to use the whole brain
- Planning and teaching in isolation
- Teaching to the test
- “One size fits all”
- Teaching without assessing student needs
- Find relevance in and connections with what they are learning
- Develop a love of learning and become lifelong learners
- Understand themselves and those around them
- Demonstrate talents they bring with them to school
- Helps students to develop necessary skills and abilities to be successful in school and in life.
Integrated Curriculum is...
Why Differentiate in the Classroom?
The practice of integrating curriculum involves students in the unit development process. It affords them the opportunity to identify topics, develop questions, plan inquiry, divide tasks, research information and share the learning process and content. Technology resources are also embedded into daily practices of the classroom.
Why Teach Integrated Curriculum?
- It allows teachers to cover the standards
- Empowers students to take ownership over their learning
- Supports brain-based research
- Focuses on both ideas and content
- See the connectivity and interaction among disciplines
- Choose appropriate activities
- Examine organizational patterns
- Develop research skills
- Attack multi-levels of activity and challenge
- Assume authentic responsibility
- Work collaboratively with others
- Refine their technology skills
Differentiated Curriculum is...
Curriculum where teachers adapt the curriculum in different ways to meet the needs of all their students. The content taught, the process used, the product expected, or the physical factors of the environment created may be modified to help students achieve success. Task choices and flexible grouping may be used to accommodate background knowledge and interests of small groups or individual students.
Why Differentiate in the Classroom?
- Provides access to opportunities for a standards based rigorous curriculum
- Provides opportunities for individual acceleration and remediation
- Nurtures self-esteem and respect
- Increases motivation through exploring individual interests
- Builds relationships with students by knowing their strengths
- Master core concepts of the curriculum
- Utilize their strengths, learning styles, and background knowledge
- Set individual learning goals
- Develop their personal skills and projects
Student Engagment
Student Engagement is...
A process in which the students are engaged in hands-on activities rather than passively receiving knowledge. Students interact with others to construct meaning from new ideas and concepts based on their background knowledge. Active learning is fast paced, fun and personally engaging because students have the opportunity to try things out, use their senses, ask questions and discuss with others. Assignments are designed to draw upon the skills and knowledge that students have or must acquire. Cooperative learning, problem solving, and project- based learning are active learning strategies.
Why Utilize Student Engagment in the Classroom?
- Draws upon the pre-existing knowledge that students already have
- Is essential for idea manipulation
- Enhances understanding through cooperative learning
- Augments learning through technology tools
Implementing Student Engagement Strategies Helps Students...
- Engage in higher-order thinking tasks as analysis, synthesis and evaluation
- Study ideas, solve problems and apply what they have learned
- Construct hypotheses and make decisions
- Provide meaning and organization to experiences
- Work collaboratively with others
- Connect real-life work between school and what will take place in the rest of their lives
- Address cultural influences and individual learning styles
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