Teaching Strategies To Work Smarter and Get Better Results

When was the last time you reviewed your teaching strategies?

In order to make sure all of your teaching strategies are effective, it is important to review them periodically.  In this way, you can find ways to improve your teaching strategy effectiveness and also make sure that the students are learning what you want to teach them.

Furthermore, if there is a problem with the teaching strategy, you will be able to fix it before any more damage is done.​

The typical day of most teachers we know includes a lot of grading, lesson planning, and meetings.  And then even more grading.  It can be frustrating!

To get better results, teachers need to work smarter.

What worked before will not get us even better results today.  

Using the right strategies, it’s possible for teachers to maximize their classroom time to achieve better results without sacrificing the quality of education they provide.

The education system demands innovation from educators in all realms: curriculum design; evaluating resources, etc.

Today, there are a lot of tools and strategies to choose from when it comes to teaching.  The traditional chalkboard and whiteboard are now outdated, as teachers have a variety of new technologies at their disposal.

Besides textbooks and handouts, there are a vast array of resources available for teachers that include videos, audio files, educational tours, virtual field trips, music performance travel opportunities for student ensembles, and many more.

No matter where you are in your education career journey, we’ve got some teaching strategies that may help you get better teaching results.

Teaching Strategies Are Not About Working Harder

There is a strange habit I’ve noticed.  When we want to get more things done or get some aspect of our lives to be better, we instinctively start working harder!

We tend to think that what worked before will get us even more results today.  So what do we do?

We double our efforts.

You find yourself working harder because you feel as if there is so much more that you can do. 😢

We all have the same number of hours in a day.  At some point, we can’t do one more thing.  There is no time!

I disagree with the idea of working harder especially when I’m not getting the results I want.  Instead, I believe in focusing on the #1 thing that will move the needle TODAY.

And I get it!

You want to provide your students with as much knowledge and experience as possible.

Maybe this sounds illogical especially when people are used to having to look busy every time.  But this is about quality and better results.

Sometimes we focus on a task that makes no difference thinking that if we look busy we are being productive.  Appearance is not important here.

That’s is why we see some teachers adding more learning material to their classroom courses when maybe they should be looking for better teaching methods or resources.

• How can teachers get students interested in learning about the subject they are teaching?
• How do music teachers get new students to joining and staying in the group?
• How can teachers add more value to their courses?

Basically, it means finding out what activities could generate 80% of the results you want to achieve.

Not every teaching activity matters as much as you think.  If you find students are more interested in hands-on experiences, then that’s where you need to focus the majority of your time.

The Role Model Teaching Strategy

​One teaching strategy is to act as a role model so that students see you as someone they can look up to.

A teacher’s role is extremely important in a student’s life because it has an effect on the student’s attitude, behavior, and learning.  Students are more likely to have a positive learning experience if they see the teacher as a role model.

Teachers set the tone for students and can significantly influence classroom dynamics.  When teachers come across as role models — kind, understanding, and approachable — this has a positive effect on students’ attitudes and behavior. Students are more likely to feel motivated and engaged when they admire their teachers.

A teacher’s influence goes beyond what they teach.  As educators, they are responsible for guiding a student’s social and academic skills, as well as their working ability and personality.  A classroom where students regard their teachers as role models may lead to a more productive learning environment.

What The Best Teaching Strategies Include

This section will focus on some of the best teaching strategies, aka techniques that teachers use to help students learn.

Most of these teaching strategies are not new or revolutionary.  They are simply the most common and useful practices that teachers use in the classroom.

While different teaching strategies can be used depending on what the student is learning, most include group work, practicing skills with feedback, and hands-on learning with feedback.

This allows students to improve their skills in real-time, giving them more practical experience with the material.  It also helps them become more comfortable with new tasks and increases their self-confidence.

​​The best teaching strategies are those that are tailored to the individual needs of your students.  There are different strategies you may want to test, some of which include:

• Setting time to focus on activities that enhance student experiences such as assemblies or special events, special guest, and social service activities.
• Looking for ways to bring new information to your practice.
• Searching for out-of-the-classroom applications and examples of how your content applies to life outside of the classroom. This will draw your students into the importance of your class.

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Don’t forget that you teach students, not content.  The best teaching experiences combine content with the best ways to teach that content.

Good teaching is about finding new and better ways for students to learn and relate what they learn to the real world.

Improve Classroom Management

One of the most important challenges teachers face is maintaining classroom management.  If you’re not managing your classroom effectively, your students may not be learning the most they possibly could.

Educators are busy people.  Being present for long hours isn’t easy.  Because of this, it is crucial that you create an environment that provides as much opportunity for interaction as possible in your classroom in order to make the most of the students’ time.

The place where your students sit matters when it comes to increasing engagement.  It could affect the effectiveness of your communication.

And speaking of communicating, here’s a tip to help you improve classroom management: Make sure your expectations are clear.

Being able to communicate clearly with your students and teach effectively is only possible if you know what you want and expect from your classroom.

For such reason, and in order to improve teacher-student interaction, you may need to develop some kind of feedback system for your students.

​However, it’s not just about receiving feedback—you also need to acknowledge your students’ feedback in a timely fashion.

The key is to create a way for students to know whether their request was heard so that everyone is on the same page and confident in their work.

The benefits that stem from effective classroom management include higher test scores and better behavior.  While there are many strategies that can help manage student behavior, no strategy will work for every situation.

Use Technology To Enhance Classroom Learning

Ever heard people say teachers are underpaid?

When you think about what teachers actually do, that sentiment could not be further from the truth.  However, the fact remains that teaching is an everyday battle.

With students coming in with different backgrounds and needs, sometimes it can seem impossible to find time for anything else.  Today teachers are working smarter not harder by leveraging technology to make their jobs more manageable.

There is no doubt that technology is a huge part of our lives.   Half of us can’t even make it through the day without checking our email, and the other half is on social media most of the time.

Although many people use technology for entertainment purposes, there are ways that teachers can use it to improve their teaching skills.

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For instance, technology is a great way for teachers to allow students to explore new areas of interest.  Students who might not fully understand the course material can use different sites, apps, or programs to become engaged in their learning independently.

Teachers can also use technology in the classroom by using online resources that students would otherwise not be able to experience in person.

Another way that teachers can use technology is by bettering their own skillset.

In order to stay up-to-date with the latest advances in education, many educators have turned to online resources and workshops.  These resources have been created by other educators who are trying to find ways to improve their teaching methods.

Teachers should also consider using technology in order to do things like create online quizzes, turn PowerPoint presentations into videos, create interactive class games, and various other items.

Technology has changed the way we interact with each other, but it has also changed the way teachers teach.

Workload Management Strategies To Get Better Results

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Productivity and working smarter are huge challenges.  As a teacher, your main responsibility is to ensure that students are doing well in class, but it’s also important to help them develop the skills they need to succeed in life.

​With this in mind, here are some suggestions for how teachers, and students, can effectively manage their workload.

1. Start by making a to-do list.  

Make a list of all of the tasks that need to be completed.  Even the most simple ones.

2.  Next, prioritize your list.  

There are many different ways to prioritize a to-do list.   One way is to divide the tasks into three different priority levels: high priority, medium priority, and low priority.

High priority tasks are those that are of utmost importance.  These are typically determined by urgency or deadlines that are coming up quickly or tasks that may have a negative impact if not completed soon.

You may also prioritize them into two categories- important and urgent or less important and urgent.

​One of the most popular methods is taking advantage of “time blocking”–setting aside specific periods of time during which you focus on a project or task.

3.  Then set realistic deadlines

​One of the most difficult parts of managing a project is setting appropriate deadlines.

Deadlines that are too early can cause people to feel like they’re working themselves into the ground and not completing tasks well.

Deadlines that are too late can lead to an unclear timeline and chaos with other commitments.

The key to success with deadlines is to set them realistically and set up a plan for how to meet those deadlines.​

4.  Finally, conduct a workload review

A workload review will help assess the amount of work that is being done and how it impacts performance.  Conducting this review may help make adjustments to the work schedule to increase productivity without increasing stress levels.

Picking a productivity-boosting strategy can be a daunting task, but knowing your strengths and weaknesses can help you identify the best way to get more done in less time.

Final Thoughts

With so many other teaching strategies to choose from, it can be difficult for anyone to make a decision.

For this reason, it’s not always necessary to select one single strategy in order to improve performance.  It might be better instead, to experiment with different teaching strategies and approaches to identify the ones that work best for you.

It is important for teachers, no matter how elementary or advanced they teach, to find different methods of teaching that will engage students and help them learn.

Unique and creative ways to teach students will keep them interested in learning.