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Two Questions to help Maximise Effectiveness in Teaching

How to maximise effectiveness in the classroom? Teachers and parents are bombarded with resources designed to improve learning outcomes in a classroom or home environment. Unfortunately, being in possession of a great teaching resource doesn’t always translate to great outcomes. While the people teaching our children must be commended for their dedication and hard work, they also need support from their teaching resource providers to ensure maximum benefit from their precious classroom time.

We’d love it if every educator would ask themselves two important questions. We’re providing all the answers if you don’t already know them.

Intention for Use

Do you know how the teaching resource was intended to be used?

PLD provides a range of video clips providing product information and, more importantly, a demonstration of use. Here are some examples:

Fitting Resources

How is the teaching resource implemented within a full-year program?

In today’s crowded curriculum, this point is particularly pertinent. Some good follow-on questions include:

  • In which term of the school year should the program be implemented?
  • In what sequence is the program implemented?
  • How is student attainment to be tracked?

In regards to the introduction of the National Curriculum, PLD has devised a sample policy document titled: Implementing PLD’s Resources within a Whole School Literacy Strategy which outlines a term-by-term implementation for the sequence of PLD programs. The document recommends cycles of teaching, screening and intervening.

  • Teach the core skill(s) to the whole class through presentation of the programs outlines in weeks 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the term.
  • In week 5, screen students to determine which skills are starting to acquire the target skill(s) and which are not.
  • In the remaining weeks of the term – weeks 6 to 10 – provide focused attention to the students struggling to acquire the skills being targeted before progressing onto the next area of focus.

More than ever, teachers are required to obtain better results in less time and with reduced access to support services. As class sizes increase, both a shortage of teachers and the shifting curriculum present challenges in the classroom and home teaching environments. Knowing how to implement and schedule programs are keys to maximising student learning.

Where would you appreciate help to increase your effectiveness in the classroom?

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