Planning and

Organizing Instruction
Mercer Ch. 2
Activity

 Using large paper and markers,

draw your ultimate classroom
 Explain each area and their
relevance to the function of the
classroom
Arrangement of Students
 All students should easily see and
hear the teacher
 Teacher has easy access to all
students
 Teacher sees all students
 Decide to put desks in clusters or
rows
 Place difficult-to-teach or off-task
students in the middle of the room
near the front
Classroom Arrangement
 Teacher draw a rough sketch of the
floor plan
 Consider advantages for desk
arrangements: vertical rows, group
circles, and small clusters
 Location of predominant activities
 Number of students in the
environment
 Storage area for equipment
 Need for special equipment for
students with special needs
Managing the Physical
Environment
 Environmental Design
 Classroom Arrangement
 Complements to the
Instructional Environment
 Interest Centers
 Bulletin Boards
Environmental Design
Considerations
 Sense of community
 Personal territory
 Authentic motivation
 Classroom flexibility
 Environmental acknowledgment
 Flexible seating
 Work aesthetic
 Barrier-free
Complements to the
Instructional Environment
 Study Carrel
 Provide a quiet place to study
 Provide a comfortable place to
read independently
Interest Centers
Considerations
 Characteristics of the user
 Objectives that the activities are
designed to meet
 Interest value to the students
 Procedures and directions
 Materials or equipment needed
Bulletin Boards

 Most popular is to display

students’ work
 Can foster creativity by
providing example topics or
themes for student work
Large-Group Instruction

 Advantages:
 time efficient
 Prepares students for the type of
instruction primarily used in
secondary education
 May help students with special
needs make the transition to
general education classes
Large-Group Instruction Cont.

 Disadvantages:
 Difficult for teachers to deal with
diverse abilities and skill levels
 Questions may go unanswered

 Distracted students may stay off

task
 Students do not receive intensive
instruction
Guidelines for Large-Group
Instruction
 Keep instruction short
 Use questions to involve students
 Use lecture-pause routine
 Active participation among lower achieving
students
 Visual aids
 Lively pace
 Frequent change-ups
 Determine rules during presentation and
discussions
 Use participation buddies to promote
student involvement
Small-Group Instruction
 Advantages:
 Students participate more often
 Teachers provide more instruction,
praise, and feedback
 Students can progress at their own pace
 Less boring
 Monitor student progress better
 ELL students are more comfortable
 Important for students with LD and EBD
because they lack to skills to work
independently
Small-Group Instruction Cont.

 Disadvantages
 Students are required to do more
seatwork
 More planning is involved

 Teachers must organize

instructional variables
 Teachers must provide more
instruction
Guidelines for Small-Group
Instruction
 Establish rules
 Make groups homogeneous
 Maintain flexible grouping
 Locate groups so teacher can
see all groups
 Place students in semicircle
 Use motivational activities
Cooperative Learning
Strategies
 Peer tutoring
 Classwide Peer tutoring
 Group projects
 Jigsaw
 Student-team achievement
divisions
Guidelines for Peer Tutoring
 Determine goals for peer tutoring
 Practice and learn targeted skills
 Provide a review
 Develop appropriate social skills
 Enhance self-concepts
 Determine target skills or content
 Select materials
 Design procedures for tutee and tutor
 How to present the task
 How to provide feedback for correct and
incorrect responses
 How to score responses
Guidelines for Peer Tutoring

 Assign tutor-tutee pairs

 Across-class
 Pull-out

 Intraclass

 Train tutors and tutees

 Teach social skills
 Review skills
 Schedule sessions
Classwide Peer Tutoring

 Three main features:

 Peers are used to supervise
responding and practice
 A game format is used that
includes points and competing
teams to motivate students and
maintain interest
 Weekly evaluation plan ensure
gains in student progress
Classwide Peer Tutoring
Format
 Daily tutoring sessions of about 30 minutes
 Tutor-tutee pairs work together for a week
 After 10 minutes the pairs switch roles
 Two points are given for each correct
response, one point is given for a corrected
response
 Teacher moves around the room
monitoring tutoring behavior – awards
bonus points for good behavior
 End of the session, students add up the
points and record on chart
 Friday the teacher conducts a more
intensive assessment of the skills learned
Student-team achievement
divisions
 Heterogeneous group of 4 students
are assigned to a team
 After teacher presents the lesson,
the team works together to ensure
mastery of the skills taught
 Students take individual quizzes
without peer help.
 Quiz scores are compared to
previous scores and points are
awarded based on improvement