Creative and Innovative Approaches to my Senior Cycle Subjects

One problem that I find with activity based and innovative approaches to teaching students at senior cycle are how the students will react to the certain activity. Will they think it is too childish and what they think is appropriate for them? As stated in a research document on the brain It is important for teachers and parents to understand that maturation of the brain influences learning readiness. For teachers, this is especially important when designing lessons and selecting which strategies to use. (Semrud-Clikeman, n.d). Not only does it result in the students not learning but can lead to misbehaviour from the students. Many students at this stage of adolescence like to think they are more mature than they really are and this can present problems in the classroom. I have tried to develop some innovative teaching strategies in my Construction Studies class in particular. During one of my classes where the students were studying the water systems, I had the class outlined in four different aspects which I believe touched on all learning styles. The class included: Group work Poster work Research of system Discovery learning Presentations

For this class I took in materials that would be used to plumb the water systems in a house. The students then in their groups had to construct a section of the water system their group had researched and created a poster for. This allowed the students discover how the system would be constructed and got to feel and see what the materials looked and felt like. This method of discovery learning promoted by Bruner can be very beneficial to students. Discovery learning is an inquiry-based learning method. . . . . It produces students who are constructivists as they work with others and learn from first hand experiences. (Conklin, 2011, p. 227). We as trainee teachers want to promote problem solving students rather than students that are receiving information in the traditional way and this format of discovery learning can really develop this in the students as well as keeping them interested through discovery learning.

I think this worked extremely well with the class as they remained engaged and interested for the full double class. It also developed other important areas of the students which will benefit the holistic development of the pupils and their ability to function as socialized begins. However, I havent achieved the same success in the DCG class with my students. I have found it more difficult to include innovative teaching strategies in the class. I do believe some of these students would not take to this type of learning too well and so it is

difficult to pitch at this class. From reading Stephens post his idea of Pictionary and Jeopardy in his senior cycle classes could possibly work with this group of students.

Bibliography:
Conklin, W. (2011). Applying Differentiation Strategies. Huntington Beach: Corinne Burton.

Semrud-Clikeman, M. (n.d). Research in Brain Function and Learning. Retrieved January 25, 2014, from American Psychological Association : http://www.apa.org/education/k12/brainfunction.aspx