What strategies and tactics do you use to feel confident enough to present and teach effectively?

Strategies and tactics used within a classroom in teaching content should enhance learning activities, creatively engaging and motivate students and encourage independent growth (Duchesne and McMaugh 2016; Training 2022). These two terms connect to the building of a toolkit with strategies referring to approaches taken within pedagogy and tactics referencing “short term or immediate activities that can be quickly adjusted” (Churchill 2019:521). Other methods, techniques and models can be used in collaboration with HITS  to assist structuring lessons and goals for students (Training 2022). Professional development and collaboration between teachers can also assist with content knowledge and confidence.

 

Pre-service teachers uphold the AITSL standards while navigating the “plateaus of the terrain” of curriculum while developing key knowledge of level ability within learners and effectively differentiating learning experiences to foster engagement and self-actualisation  (Government 2017; Ansorger 2021:6; Lowien 2022). Specifically noting the why a chosen strategy, tactic or learning activity was used can enable deeper critical reflection within students and teachers ('The Four Lenses of Critical Reflection'  2017). This allows for developed process that becomes more refined over time increasing flexible teaching, to cater for student’s needs (Brookfield 1995). Elements that can increase confidence in teachers connecting to realised cues within a classroom environment and adjusting the learning activity accordingly (Churchill 2019:521). These important traffic signals within a class tell teachers whether things are moving towards the goal of the lesson (Churchill 2019:521). Potential student cues you would like to anticipate from a lesson can be drafted into a lesson plan, then further allowing for the critical reflection mentioned before, to see what occurred and whether it matched what was anticipated.

 

Utilising teaching methods like HITS created by John Hattie can allow for a more confident approach in selecting tactics for a specific learning activity to ensure it is scaffolded in the right way to meet student’s needs (Training 2022). The method details a bank of instructional practices that beginning teachers can use with confidence to deepen the learning and engagement of their students (Training 2022). The grading system developed by Hattie shows that by setting goals, structuring lessons, explicitly teaching through worked examples, collaborative learning, multiple exposures and questioning, feedback can be given in loops that connect the student to the teacher (Training 2022).

 

Understanding the novice-to-expert system developed by Dreyfus and Dreyfus (1986) can assist teachers in gaining confidence (Churchill 2019:523). Applied in many career fields it is governed by a structured system from beginner to expert, knowing where one sits within the system can allow for correct help to assist in  fundamental planning and preparedness (Churchill 2019:523). “Novice teachers are usually governed by rules within a classroom and can be quickly thrown off guard by the unexpected” (Churchill 2019:523). Knowing this allows novice teachers to plan beyond A and B for lessons to ensure alternatives and to monitor the way their classroom engages with rules and the reasons for them in the space.