Teaching Strategies
Studying maps can serve many objectives and when used to help students learn information about their hometown, it can open their minds to new perspectives by telling stories about the people, places and events that shaped their community. Studying maps about the geography of the land, the climate, environmental and natural resources, will expand the minds of students. Students will begin to discover more about their city than the people and places around their circle of influence. Students will examine various maps and make observations about how information is organized to tell stories and provide data to make decisions about economic and political empowerment (see Figure 2).18
Hearne Lot & Block Map - Figure 2
Individualized instruction will be used for accommodation and modifications as prescribed in each student’s IEP. This will be critical to observe, monitor and collect data for measuring the progress for each student’s objectives. Collaboration with paraprofessionals to help students access the curriculum and ensure each student has a good understanding of the expectations.
Chunking - breaking down activity into manageable units and scaffolding it with activity to make learning more accessible.
Choice boards - student agencies offer students meaningful choices. These choices can help us universally design learning experiences that strive to remove barriers and invite students to decide how to engage with information, make meaning, and demonstrate their learning.
Field trips - support student exploration by activating and growing students' background knowledge and extending their classroom learning. They serve as a way for all students, regardless of their socioeconomic status, to experience and visit places of art, history, science, and culture. They also can see how classroom lessons apply to real-world situations, deepening their understanding and retention. Teachers can use the time before and after field trips as valuable instructional time to enhance the skills and knowledge acquired during field trips.
Formal and informal assessments - provide valuable insights into student learning and inform instructional decisions. They are not just about grading, but about gathering data to improve teaching and learning.
I Do, We do, You Do - The goal of the “I do, we do, you do” strategy is to gradually shift the responsibility for learning from the teacher to the students. Students can build their skills and confidence over time by starting with explicit instruction and modeling, moving to guided practice, and finally to independent practice.
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