Is This Instructional Strategy Backed by Empirical Research?
In his 2007 book, Letters to a Young Teacher, social and educational critic Jonathan Kozol captures the growing role of business in educational reform:
"Childhood does not exist to serve the national economy. In a healthy nation, it should be the other way around. We have a major battle now ahead of us, not just about tone and style of a child's education, but about the purposes it should espouse and whether we, as teachers, need to go down on our knees before a brittle business-driven ethos that is not our own. We need the teachers who are coming to our classrooms making up their minds before they even get here, which side they are on."
Debate between education lecturers/ researchers Robert Marzano and Alfie Kohn has made the deciphering of what educational strategies are effective even more convoluted. How about solutions not sides?
Certainly, all good teachers should assess and address students' individual differences.
So how does a novice teacher implement the best practices in the classroom when many educational innovations have been created just for the sake of creation; in practice, many are misunderstood or ignored; and there lacks on-the-job coaching to ensure effective implementation? As a pragmatist, I am drawn to strategies that are limited in steps and draw upon common sense. Two approaches are listed below and both emphasize that they are grounded in empirical research.
Vocabulary
Comparing, contrasting, classifying, analogies, and metaphors
Summarizing and note-taking
Reinforcing effort and giving praise
Homework and practice
Non linguistic representation
Cooperative learning
Setting objectives and providing feedback
Generating and testing hypotheses
Cues, questions, and advanced organizers
Begin a lesson with a short review of previous learning.http://www.aft.org/pdfs/americaneducator/spring2012/Rosenshine.pdf
Present new material in small steps with student practice after each step.
Ask a large number of questions and check the responses of all students.
Provide models.
Guide student practice.
Check for student understanding.
Obtain a high success rate.
Provide scaffolds for difficult tasks.
Require and monitor independent practice.
Engage students in weekly and monthly review.
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