Instructional Planning and Strategies - Essay Example

Instructional Planning and Strategies INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES Instructional Strategy is a type of learning strategy that teacher applies in their classrooms to transform the required information and knowledge into their students. This method also helps the students to learn the instructions of teachers more effectively. There are mainly two types of Instructional Strategies that are commonly used for classroom environment by different teachers, Co-operative Strategy and Collaborative Strategy. (Goleman, D. 1998) CO-OPERATIVE INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGY This a type a strategy in which students are engaged with each other forming small groups to perform a similar task or assignment that has been given by the instructor. This type of strategy helps the students to learn more effectively by communicating with each other and do their work with a little fun with their friends. In group assignments students take active participation in the tasks that has been assigned to them. This strategy also encourages the students to teach other students of their group who are little weaker in their studies. (Goleman, D. 1998) COLLABORATIVE INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGY Another type of strategy that is been commonly practiced is Collaborative Strategy. This is a type of strategy which is used for broader groups or large groups. This strategy is used for the interactions of larger groups to communicate with each other. In classroom environment this type of strategy is not suitable because in classes the group formation is smaller. This strategy is useful for making school communities, discussion group of faculty and students of school and other broader groups which have much complicated issues to discuss with each other. (Goleman, D. 1998) STRATEGY CHOSEN AND ITS PURPOSE The Strategy that I have chosen to implement in the classroom is Co-Operative Instructional Strategy. The reason why I chosen the Co-operative strategy rather than collaborative strategy is that it encourages the student to achieve their tasks more efficiently and effectively because this strategy helps the students to achieve the common goals that have been given by the instructor. This strategy focus on forming smaller groups in classes and to work with a combine effort so that the student can take active participation in activities associated with their studies. Students in groups also know that there success depends upon team work and every one has to try his/her best to achieve the desired result. It also provides students to learn with more well defined frame work from which they learn from each other in a group. (Johnson, D. & Johnson, R. 1998) The importance of Co-operative Strategy is becoming very fruitful now days. Many teachers are applying this strategy in classrooms to make students feel comfortable and enjoy their studies. Implementing this strategy also improve the self-esteem of students; students who have disabilities for learning also accept this type of learning style and their attitude towards the school eventually becomes good. (Johnson, D. & Johnson, R. 1998) CIRCUMSTANCES FOR IMPLEMENTING THE STRATEGY There are certain conditions that have to be followed for successive results while implementing Co-Operative Strategy. When applying this strategy the teachers must do careful planning and well preparation before going in classrooms. They have to brainstorm their minds that how they will implement the strategy and what would be alternatives regarding this approach if the implementation goes wrong. They should plan and prepare that how they will interact with their students in class and how will they make the environment of classroom more interactive Another condition is the proper formation of groups because if groups are not formed properly then the results of the strategy will not be appropriate. The instructor has to form groups in such a way that every one in the group feels good about their group members and every group has one or two members that are more intelligent then others so that they can teach the group members as well. Mismanagement in group formation can result in negative results. (Slavin R.E. 1980) Positive Interdependence is also one of the crucial components for effective results of Co-operative strategy. The members of the group have to be self motivated and they all have a common goal to achieve. Positive attitude towards the group members also help to build a good working relationship to perform tasks that can help them to achieve their desired goals. (Slavin R.E. 1980) Individual Accountability of every group member is also very important. Every member should be responsible and accountable for doing the work assigned to them and to learn what has been targeted to them. Every member of a group should also monitor the work of other members of their group so that if there is any problem with any member they must solve that out. (Martin, P.1994). Positive Social interaction behavior and attitudes of every group member is important and the teacher must ensure that all the group members have a positive behavior towards each other. Students need to engage themselves in interactive abilities like Leadership, Conflict Management, Negotiations and Encouragement. By having these skills they can better interact within their groups and the results will also be favorable. (Slavin R.E. 1980) IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES: There are certain factors which can make the implementation of the Co-operative Instructional Strategy a little difficult. When the teachers are implementing this strategy in their classroom they need to set Long range goals that will make the students to achieve higher. If teachers set long range goals they can actually know the information regarding each student that how they are performing. Long range goals helps students to take their tasks seriously and it provides efficient and effective results for the whole group. Other than that teachers should monitor the short term objectives of each group to make the Co-operative Strategy successful. By giving short term objectives to groups teachers have to check each student that are they achieving their desired goals or whether they are going on right path to achieve higher grades. (Slavin R.E. 1980) Staff Oriented issues are also faced by the teachers while implementing the strategy. Implementing the strategy is not just a work of an individual but the whole staff members of the school should also involve and make a plan that what can we do to make the classroom environments more effective The instructor who is implementing this strategy can face issues with the administration which has to be handled carefully for good and positive results. (Johnson, D. & Johnson, R. 1998) Summary of Research Regarding Co-operative Instructional Strategy The Research is carried out by the Intel Youth Education Group which says that Co-operative Instructional Strategy focuses on group work and the concept behind the research is that two heads can learn better than one so it focuses on group work and it is an important part of effective classroom environment. The primary goal of this strategy is get the students on board and try to make them learn as easily as possible where they work for an accepted common goal. A very famous writer says that in Co-operative instructional strategy interaction is characterized by positive goal interdependence with individual accountability. (Johnson & Johnson, 1998) Co-operative structure outperforms competitive and individualistic structures academically and socially, regardless of content or grade level (Kagan 1997). Co-operative Strategy gives students opportunities to learn and teach one another under real world conditions. This strategy can prepare the students to enter the working world by giving them these valued opportunities to work together to create products and solve problems. Detail Curriculum For the Chosen Strategy Co-operative strategy can be implemented in many ways. The first technique is Jigsaw Strategy which allows greater amount of content to be studied and shared by every student and will improve the motivation of students. Every student has to learn one aspect of the subject and should become expert in it. Then every student has to teach each student in which they have become expert which will also create s big share of responsibility among all students. This strategy is very useful in today's classes as students learn more effectively as they become more serious in their studies and become more responsible. Martin, P. (1994). CONCLUSION Implementing this strategy is useful for the betterment of the students because in this strategy they are involved more in their studies as compared to normal teaching method. Interactive class discussions can also help students to have higher self esteems and they will be motivated. I will make smaller groups in my class so that the group work will be shared by every member and I will take care that the students have positive attitude towards their group members. Works Cited 1. Lembke, Erica and Laura Saenz. (1995) "Supporting Teachers Who Are Implementing Student Progress Monitoring: A Guide for Administrators. Group theory and group skills, 6th, 24-27. 2. Johnson D.W., Johnson R.T. (1994) "Learning Together and Alone: Cooperative, Competitive, and Individualist Learning. Teaching Students to be Peacemakers, 3rd, 65-70. 3. Slavin R.E. (1980) "Student Team Learning: A Manual for Teachers. Cooperation in Education, 12th, 82-135. Read More