Methods of Teaching

Writing (20 minutes) 
Have Student Teachers write their current personal theory of learning in their 
professional journal.
Pair-share (5 minutes) 
In pairs, have Student Teachers discuss their personal theories of learning. They 
should identify what they believe is their most significant insight and whether the 
theory they wrote today has been influenced by experience in this course. If so, have 
them explain how the course experiences have influenced their theory?
Closing (10 minutes) 
Tell Student Teachers to read the model summary (or summaries) of the last class 
session given to them at the beginning of today’s class. Give them four minutes to 
write a one-paragraph summary of this class session. Remind them that they are not 
supposed to summarize by listing class activities; they are supposed to find the main 
point or the ‘big idea’ in the session and then identify how it was developed. Tell 
Student Teachers to leave their summaries on your desk as they leave the classroom.
Week 2, session 2 homework
Ask Student Teachers to come to class prepared to talk about your personal theory 
regarding how people learn.
Week 2, session 3 lesson
Today in class (10 minutes) 
Return Student Teacher’s summaries from the previous class session. If there were 
any good summaries, delete the names and distribute copies to all Student Teachers as 
models. Tell them that writing a good summary is both a significant skill and a learning 
strategy. Summarizing will help them understand and remember what they are learning 
in this course. Writing summaries of class sessions will become standard practice in the 
course. Remind them that a good summary will identify the main point or ‘big idea’ of 
a class session and relevant supporting details. Tell them to read a model summary. Ask 
one of the Student Teachers to identify the main point in the summary.

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COURSE GUIDE: Methods of Teaching