Written by Pamela Zinkosky
If you are a teacher or are studying to be a teacher, you know that reaching your students is the most important goal. To be effective, you need to employ techniques that establish relationships with your students and motivate them to learn the material. There are many effective teaching techniques; the most effective ones often depend on the students and subject matter, but all of them fall under the category of active teaching, which engages students as active participants in the learning process rather than passive receivers of the course content. These include encouraging student participation, bringing in outside viewpoints and voices, encouraging students to interact with one another, and varying presentation methods, to name a few. This article will explore some active teaching strategies and provide resources on employing them in the classroom.
Active teaching is an instructional method that engages students, making them active participants in their own learning. The goal is to help them make connections between their current knowledge base and new concepts so that the new subject matter becomes part of their general understanding. Active teaching instructional strategies in the classroom include hands-on activities like lab experiments and projects, writing prompts, group discussion, reflection activities, and more.
Active teaching differs from passive methods, where students simply receive the information from lectures or reading. Active teaching benefits students in many ways. Studies show that students better retain information when actively involved in their learning, and they do better on assessments. They are also more motivated to learn if they are helping to direct inquiries and reflecting upon information along the way. Finally, because active teaching requires students to form detailed thoughts and share them, teachers can accurately gauge how well students understand the information and adjust their teaching methods accordingly.
Student participation is the most critical piece of active learning, and it should be a goal whether you're teaching young students, adolescents or adults. The key is to implement participation strategies that fit your students' capabilities and maturity, working to ensure that every student in the classroom can participate in some way.
Participation could include students answering questions in class, presenting their research or reflections on the subject matter, discussing in small student groups and even offering suggestions about content. Anything that gets students to actively participate in their learning will help them succeed in learning.
Keep in mind that not all students can or want to speak in front of the class. Work to implement other ways these students can participate. For example, you could take a poll on a particular topic and report the results. You might play quiz games in class or conduct other competitions. Even a show of hands on a yes or no question gets students to participate and is valuable.
At the beginning of the course or school year, discuss expectations about student participation, including how participation affects grades (and it is advisable to provide incentives for participation in this way), when and where you'll provide opportunities for participation and ground rules for participation (for example, no interrupting other students).
Reflection is an essential part of the active learning process, as it can help students tie new concepts to their current knowledge base and experience, which is the goal of active learning. It can also assess where students are in the learning process and what questions they still have, which can direct the focus of future lessons.
Provide opportunities for reflection on learning throughout the course. Depending on your subject matter and class format, this could take the form of:
Inquiry-based learning is a teaching technique that allows students to direct their own learning by identifying subject matter-related topics that interest them and exploring those independently or in groups. The technique helps prompt and build on students' curiosity, which is a key to lifelong learning, and encourages independence and fosters confidence.
Depending on the age and maturity of your students, you'll need to develop some guidelines on the subject matter they can explore. Younger students may need a list of possible topics or questions to answer. Older children and adults may simply need a general topic and perhaps some class brainstorming to get started.
Assign an individual paper, group presentation or group project on the topics or questions students have set out to answer. Implement a means for sharing this information with the entire class. Then ask students to reflect on what they've learned and how they learned it, either through class discussion or in writing.
Active learning takes many forms. Think of it as any technique requiring students to get involved in the learning process, either by speaking in class to the teacher or other students, providing written reflections or essays on topics or participating in classroom activities. Some examples of active teaching include:
Using varied presentation methods makes the class more interesting to students and keeps them more engaged. For example, a class that's solely lecture and tests can disengage students. Similarly, a class that's solely PowerPoint presentations may not engage all students. Using various presentation methods helps ensure that you reach all students and keep them engaged throughout the course.
Consider varying lectures, if you use them, to include multimedia content, including movie and song clips and diagrams and infographics. Think creatively about incorporating podcasts and other materials that relate to the course material. Also, consider varying the voices in your classroom. Let students take the reigns and present their group or individual findings on a topic.
Multimedia learning involves learning through pictures, words and audio. Some examples include videos, PowerPoint presentations, diagrams and movies. Multimedia content helps vary the learning process, presenting material differently to reach more students. Studies show that deeper learning is possible using pictures and words versus just words because students are required to actively participate in processing the information and employ both sight and hearing during the process.
Some examples of multimedia content in the classroom include:
Individual and group student presentations benefit learning in several ways:
Consider adding student or group presentations to your classroom if your students are capable of presenting. Remember that certain students may have difficulties speaking in front of the class, so you may need to create groups where those students do more of the research than the speaking. You can also allow students to evaluate each other in this exercise, which creates another level of engagement for those not presenting.
Inclusive instructional strategies embrace differences between students. These differences could include race, background, learning abilities and more. Inclusive strategies not only make teaching more effective overall, but also:
It's important to not only be aware of differences within the classroom, but to embrace those differences and consider them in the context of the subject matter and how it's presented. Some ways to ensure inclusiveness are to:
Teaching diversity in the classroom helps promote inclusiveness and makes teaching more effective. It involves acknowledging and accepting the range of differences in the classroom, including learning abilities, ethnicities, backgrounds and more, and teaching students to also acknowledge and accept those differences.
In addition to discussing diversity in the classroom -- for example, calling attention to cultural differences and sensitivities related to the subject matter -- it's vital to model inclusiveness and diversity awareness. Here are some tips on teaching diversity in the classroom:
| Tip | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Get to Know Students | The more you know about your students, including their cultural backgrounds, learning abilities and styles, hobbies and more, the more you'll be able to model inclusion and teach diversity. This will also make students feel more comfortable with you and, chances are, better able to learn. |
| Maintain Communication About Diversity and Inclusion | Make it a point to maintain communication with students, either one-on-one or in groups. Ask about the classroom culture and whether they feel included. You can also do this with the entire classroom, but it's better if the groups are smaller, as students will likely feel more comfortable speaking out that way. |
| Acknowledge and Respect All Students | Work to maintain equality in how you treat all students. Try to ensure that all students have a chance to speak in the classroom. Work to keep any personal prejudices in check. |
| Incorporate Diversity Into Lesson Plans | As you plan your lessons and activities, consider cultural sensitivities and backgrounds. For example, you might broaden history lessons to encompass cultures beyond the United States. You might also think about bringing in diverse speakers. |
Work to ensure that all students have a voice in the classroom. This could mean speaking during class discussions or presentations and providing written feedback and participating in classroom polls. When students have a voice, they're more engaged and learn better.
Make sure you're calling on students when they raise their hands to participate and that you're varying the students you ask to present or provide opinions in class. If a student is not participating in class, work to draw that student out. Call on them during class, or talk to them outside of class to make sure they feel comfortable voicing opinions and speaking in class.
Bringing in voices from outside the classroom is a good teaching strategy in itself, as it creates variety in presentation and helps keep students engaged. However, it's also a means to create a more inclusive classroom.
Consider bringing in parents of students, experts in different fields, other teachers and anyone else who might provide interesting input on the course subject matter. If you're working to make a particular student feel comfortable, consider a speaker from the same cultural background or with similar learning challenges. This goes a long way toward demonstrating respect for all students, and also toward engaging students in their own learning, which contributes to learning success.
Articles like this are helpful in getting ideas for effective teaching strategies, but professional development in the form of workshops and seminars and online resources is also essential. These types of activities help you keep up on the latest strategies and new technologies you can use in the classroom.
You probably have a group of teachers you regularly meet with to discuss teaching strategies, and that's part of professional development. You can also look for workshops and seminars in your area. These are often considered continuing education, and many times your teacher union or school will provide a budget to pay for these educational events.
Workshops and seminars are a great way to keep up on the latest effective teaching strategies. Often, when you return from an event like this, you feel energized and ready to try out new ideas in the classroom.
Some of these workshops and seminars might occur right in your school, as school districts and higher education organizations often pay to bring speakers to them. Take advantage of these as often as you can.
If you're looking for workshops and seminars to attend on your own, don't forget to inquire about possible reimbursement for travel and other costs. You'll want to search for events that fit your educational needs or inspire you to learn more. Look for local events as well as national events that you can find by searching online.
In addition to workshops and seminars for continuing education, there are many active teaching resources that are easily accessible online. You may find your own with a quick search, but here are some we recommend:
Effective teaching strategies for the classroom involve a range of active teaching techniques that get students directly involved in their learning, so they can assimilate new concepts and tie them into current knowledge. It's important to encourage student participation and inquiry-based learning, as well as to provide opportunities for reflection. You should also vary your presentation methods to include student presentations, speakers from outside the classroom, multimedia presentations and more. Finally, inclusive learning encourages active learning and contributes to effective teaching.
We hope this article will inspire you to incorporate some new active teaching strategies into your classroom soon.
Instructional strategies are plans for teaching students. These strategies should be designed to be their most effective. Active teaching strategies work best for retention of information.
Active teaching techniques that get students directly involved in their learning, including student presentations, multimedia presentations, writing exercises, polls and more.