Teaching strategies, also known as instructional strategies, are methods that teachers use to

deliver course material in ways that keep students engaged and practicing different skill sets.
An instructor may select different teaching strategies according to unit topic, grade level, class
size, and classroom resources. Many kinds of instructional strategies are employed to achieve
teaching and learning goals and support different kinds of students. For example, teachers may
select strategies tailored to English-language learners, students with ADHD or students with
learning disabilities according to the needs of the student and the requirements of the course.
Instructors can also select classroom activities according to instructional method, such as using
a tic-tac-toe strategy for differentiated instruction. Specific strategies can also be employed to
teach particular skills, like strategies for problem solving. Activities that promote thinking and
discussion in small groups like think-pair-share activities are ideal for cooperative learning,
while activities that get students outside work well for active learning frameworks.

Reflective Journals and Learning Logs

Reflective journals are personal records of students’ learning experiences. Students typically
are asked by their instructors to record learning-related incidents, sometimes during the
learning process but more often just after they occur. Entries in journals and learning logs can
be prompted by questions about course content, assignments, exams, students’ own ideas or
students’ thought processes about what happened in a particular class period. Journals and
learning logs are then submitted to the instructor for feedback. Both paper-based and online
journals or logs can be turned in before or after each class period or at any other designated
time.

A student’s writing style for journals and logs can be informal and sometimes inappropriate.
However, to help students learn more about a particular subject or content, you can require
students to write more formal entries using correct terminology, facts, and connections to
course content. Consider providing guidelines and/or rules to help students write meaningful
and authentic journals or logs.

Journals have long been used in exploratory writing activities but also can benefit the student
beyond learning how to write. As with any instructional or learning activity, selecting to use
reflective journals or learning logs as part of a course should fit your teaching style and also
connect with the course learning goals and objectives (Bean, 1996). Because it takes time for
students to write in their reflective journals or learning logs, so too, it will take time for you to
read and respond.

The literature is not consistent in defining the differences between reflective journals and
learning logs. One may be considered less personal than the other; one might incorporate more
instructor prompts and questions while the other might be more student-driven. “Journals
often focus subjectively on personal experiences, reactions, and reflections while learning logs
are more documentary records of students’ work process (what they are doing), their
accomplishments, ideas, or questions” (Equipped for the Future, 2004). However, there is
evidence that the art of reflection can help boost students’ critical thinking skills, encourage
students to think about their own thinking (meta-cognition), and help students prepare for
assignments and examinations (Homik, M. & Melis, E., 2007; Johnson, S., n.d.; RMIT, 2006).

Process new information

The purpose of learning logs and journals is to help sharpen learners’ ability to observe
and document their learning, and to use the documentation for self-assessment and planning.
Generally speaking, they seem to be helpful in personalizing and deepening the quality of
learning and in helping learners to integrate the material of learning - such as that from
different modules or theoretical and practical learning. They may be highly structured or 'free'
and they have been used to improve learning in virtually every subject area including
mathematics and the sciences, and particularly in professional development.  

The learning logs are useful for the teacher, as the teacher receives feedback on the
course, the tasks, instructions etc. It also reveals what the students thinks and why. This
enables the teacher to evaluate the students’ skill levels and to plan the scaffolding activities to
be used with the groups.

Promote reflection and higher order thinking

Modern society is becoming more complex, information is becoming available and

changing more rapidly prompting users to constantly rethink, switch directions, and change
problem-solving strategies. Thus, it is increasingly important to prompt reflective thinking
during learning to help learners develop strategies to apply new knowledge to the complex
situations in their day-to-day activities. Journals and learning logs help learners develop higher-
order thinking skills by prompting learners to a) relate new knowledge to prior understanding,
b) think in both abstract and conceptual terms, c) apply specific strategies in novel tasks, and d)
understand their own thinking and learning strategies.

When students are faced with a perplexing problem, reflective thinking helps them to
become more aware of their learning progress, choose appropriate strategies to explore a
problem, and identify the ways to build the knowledge they need to solve the problem. When
students can articulate how they have changed, when they can name the strategies they’ve
used, talk about how they have grown–then we help them make that growth replicable the
next time they face a challenge. (It helps to know  this is grounded in quite a lot of research on
student expectations and self-assessment as well.)

Self-assessment
An assessment is a test for understanding. As a student, you know the formal assessments that
are given as tests. Your grade from the test determines how much you have learned.
Assessment is a key part of today’s educational system. Assessment serves as an individual
evaluation system, and as a way to compare performance across a spectrum and across
populations.
A great teacher knows how to use assessments to determine whether the students are making
the right connections as the lesson is progressing. And a great teacher will also use the
information from his/ her assessments to make immediate changes to the lesson so that his/
her students gain a complete understanding of the objective.
In learning logs and journal, assessment should be balance to cater the needs of the learner,
thus an assessment system would normally include formative, benchmark and summative
assessments. Balanced assessments encourage and support learning by helping students and
professors see that their efforts will result in success. Criteria/ rubrics in assessment should be
properly discussed to the learners so that expectations and objectives will be both meet.
Management tips

Classroom management is simply the techniques teachers use to maintain control in the
classroom. Educators employ a variety of strategies and techniques to ensure that students are
organized, on task, well-behaved, and productive during the school day.
A lack of effective classroom management can cause chaos and stress, which can create an
unsatisfactory learning environment for students and an unsatisfactory work environment for
the teacher. However, knowing your students and how they learn, having clear expectations
for Students, having clear expectations for yourself, making rooms for everyone, and setting
clear rules will rest assure that everything is on a smooth sail.

Role Playing

Role play exercises give students the opportunity to assume the role of a person or act out a
given situation. These roles can be performed by individual students, in pairs, or in groups
which can play out a more complex scenario. Role plays engage students in real-life situations
or scenarios that can be “stressful, unfamiliar, complex, or controversial” which requires them
to examine personal feelings toward others and their circumstances.

Unlike simulations and games which often are planned, structured activities and can last over a
long period of time, role play exercises “are usually short, spontaneous presentations” but also
can be prearranged research assignments.

Benefits of Role Playing

 Motivate and engage students

 Enhance current teaching strategies
 Provide real-world scenarios to help students learn
 Learn skills used in real-world situations (negotiation, debate, teamwork, cooperation,
persuasion)
 Provide opportunities for critical observation of peers

Cognitive organizer

A cognitive organizer or simply known as graphic organizer is a visually depicts relationships

between facts, concepts, or ideas. You can easily find it in school because it is a pedagogical
tool to provide a visual aid to facilitate learning and instruction. Teachers often use graphic
organizers to illustrate complicated concepts to understand them, while students use excellent
means to organize their thoughts, especially in writing. Read this article to learn the definition,
uses, advantages of graphic organizers, and get inspired by beautiful graphic organizer
templates. 

Advantages of Graphic Organizers

As useful and easy tools that can visualize and organize information, graphic organizers are
often used as prompts for students to construct ideas, organize and sequence information, plan
what to write, increase reading comprehension, brainstorm, organize problems and solutions,
compare and contrast ideas, show cause and effect, and more. What the students need to do in
most cases is to fill in the blanks. The ability to color-code thoughts in a picture can help
significantly in understanding and remembering the information. Graphic organizers benefit
students who use them in the following aspects:

 Help students structure the writing project.

 Encourage students to judge the pros and cons of making decisions.
 Generate, classify ideas easily, and communicate in brainstorm.
 Examine relationships.
 Guide students to demonstrate their thinking process.
 Increase reading comprehension
  Organize and compare essential concepts and ideas.
 Sequence and break a story into the main elements (intro, rising action, climax, and
more).

Idea Builder

The idea builder graphic organizer is a handy tool that provides a structure for students to
document the critical concept and information contained inside each paragraph or topic. At
times, structuring an essay can be pretty tricky for students. But, with a central idea graphic
organizer, students can create an outline that allows them to understand the topic better.

The primary purpose of an idea graphic organizer is to provide a guide for students to use as
they read the text to note the critical concept and details that each topic contains. Students
benefit from graphic organizers because they serve as visual learning strategic resources.

Besides, these are typically used in various curriculum around the world to improve learning
and comprehension of a particular topic or material.
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