The employment of instructional methods
The employment of instructional methods is a time-tested strategy of improving student learning in a variety of areas, including mathematics. Teaching approaches allow students to be doers and gain from having their first-hand knowledge compared to the instructor's notes. Role play, also known as 'engaging the learner,' is beneficial for mathematical learning and can assist students in engaging in complex mathematics through role play. Students can grow into exceptional mathematicians if they understand their tasks and work only to meet their demands. This can be accomplished through the use of educational methods (Brown, 1995). With the such a fact in mind, as an instructor, I will encourage my learners to exercise role play in solving mathematical questions. I will develop problems that require solutions which will only be arrived at if the learner is actively involved in the actual calculation and solving procedures. Besides, I will draw specific and distinct instructional methods the learners should apply to finding the required solutions (Bergesson et al., 2000). The approach will enable the learner to follow to the latter the required procedure of solving a particular question or learning about a specific concept casting away guesswork and ambiguity.
Ideal Problem-Solving Procedures
As an instructor, I will advocate for ideal problem-solving procedures. Ideal procedures imply that the problem will be solved appropriately with proper mastery and understanding of the steps. The ideal solving strategy dictates that the learner should be in a position of using a specific frame applicable to a variety of problem-solving scenarios in Mathematics. IDEAL (Identify, Decide, Equation/Estimate, Answer, Look back) will help my learners to Identify the information given and the required, decide on an appropriate problem-solving strategy, write out the equation and estimate the answer, find the answer and check back the solution with the estimate.
Modeling and Reinforcement
Moreover, as an instructor I will model the strategy to the students, provide examples at first for easier and quicker follow up and make the learners familiar with the problems the strategy can solve. I will reinforce the specific methods required for solving different problems (Williams, 2014). I will have the models displayed for student reference in addition to providing them personal or group reference materials on the same. Encouraging the use of the IDEAL problem-solving strategy will ensure that learners understand the value and significance of making estimations based on sound reasoning.
Active Learning through Writing
Successful use of instructional methods requires proper learning whereby students are required to write. While it is almost impossible to learn mathematics without writing so is the case with the enforcement of instructional methods (Bergesson et al., 2000). Instructional methods can only be of optimum effect if the learners follow and write. As an instructor, I will advocate for the actual doing compared to non-doing since the concept is grasped better with the active participation as compared to passive learning.
The Know Not What Strategy
Learners in mathematics are often faced with the problem of solving word problems. As an instructor, I will counter the challenge by advising my students to minimize their fears toward word problems by incorporating the Know Not What Strategy. Just as the ideal strategy dictates I will instruct my learners to use the information and facts they are conversant with to identify the facts and information that they do not know which will ultimately lead them to find solutions to what is asked (Brown, 1995). Successful solving of the mathematical word problem should be based on their practical understanding of the given information and the proper identification of the missing information to decipher the solution to the word problem. The use of this instructional method strategy will aid my learners in developing a skillful way of tackling word problems.
Visual Representations
Visual representations are successful instructional tools because they are easy to follow. It is always easy to identify with something that one can interact with visually. As a mathematics instructor, I will create visual representations for my learners to open up their understanding. Despite the complex language that formulas possess the information can be broken down to simplicity by use of diagrams which learners can easily understand (Williams, 2014). The approach shuts them down from the complexity part of the formulas and their responses to the simplicity part of diagrams that have all the information contained in the individual formulas which usually look disinteresting and complicated without the diagrams.
Directed Reading Thinking Activity
Furthermore, I will employ the Directed Reading Thinking Activity as a comprehension strategy to guide learners in asking questions about a text and making predictions. This instructional method will encourage students to be active and thoughtful throughout a reading which in return will enhance their understanding (Bergesson et al., 2000). This strategy will help improve the learning abilities of my weak students mainly due to the repetition experienced in reading exercises.
Integration of Vocabulary
More often learners encounter new vocabulary in mathematics and other disciplines. A lack of understanding of these vocabularies may complicate the problem-solving abilities of learners even in questions that they know how to tackle. As an instructor, I will identify these vocabularies and foreign words and display them on a wall, bulletin board, chalkboard or whiteboard. I will then advise my students to continually refer to them throughout the learning process and be familiar with them such that if they are used in a mathematical problem, finding the solution will not be challenging just because of the utilized vocabulary.
Open-Ended Tasks
The use of open-ended tasks is a significant instructional method that I will utilize in my instructing process. Open-ended tasks are always approached according to the level of understanding of the learner. This technique will assist my students to take ownership in their learning and show their thinking in explicit ways (Williams, 2014). The open-ended tasks will help learners construct their understanding and bring out their different understanding abilities. As a result, in situations where the class discusses open-ended tasks to come up with a universal solution the individual will follow better with their already constructed understanding.
Differentiating Instruction
Finally, I would employ different instruction methods depending on the abilities of the learners I will be teaching. This strategy will ease up their approaches towards solving mathematical problems (Bergesson et al., 2000). I will meet each learner’s needs depending on their understanding proximity and develop an appropriate instruction method for a single learner through framing questions that a variety of responses can be arrived at with different approaches.
References
Bergesson, T., Fitton, R., Bylsma, P., Neitzel, B. Sine, M. A. (2000). Teaching and Learning Mathematics. Using Research to Shift from the “Yesterday” Mind to the “Tomorrow” Mind.
Brown, S. A. (1995). The Mathematics Learning Log and Its Effects On Mathematics Achievement, Anxiety, And Communication. Montana State University.
Williams, H. J. (2014). The Relevance of Role Play to the Learning of Mathematics in the Primary Classroom.
