Abstract

This page lists (K-12) teacher comments about how their instructional practices have changed and the successes they've achieved as a result of using Richert's 36 Teaching Strategies© for maximizing student potential. Richert's strategies are designed to develop student:

Critical thinking
Creative thinking
Intrinsic motivation
Self-esteem
Interpersonal skills
Ethical development

The following teacher comments are about one particular strategy (italicized) in each of these areas. The 36 strategies, and when and how to use them, are all covered in the staff development training.

Critical Thinking
Students write self-evaluation criteria for assignments.

• Lots of higher order thinking skills are being used.
• Students are making decisions to require more higher level type questions and reduce the knowledge/comprehension level portion. They want to be involved in the decision making process!
• They are improving their writing a lot. It is becoming much more interesting.
• The students are making up the tests. Sometimes I have to revise the wording, but it is working well. It is less work for the teacher, and they are learning more.
• I was amazed! There was one student who had done nothing before then. The students took the lessons from their peers better than they did from me. The students were very positive; not one was critical of the other students' work.
• When children could choose their own evaluation, they expected more of themselves than if the teacher had set the guidelines.
• I learned a lot more than just what their skill level was because they accepted the responsibility of evaluating papers. If the kids changed it, they accepted that change. I didn't have a single kid in three classes who put down another student's writing. They took it better from the other kids than they would have ever taken it from me. Their comments were very pertinent.

Creative Thinking

• There has been more positive energy in the classroom because I react to the needs of the students.
• They are learning the democratic system of voting and how voting works even though it might not be their choice.
• The students are urged to make decisions and are asked "Do you think you need more practice before we take our test or are you ready to take the test now?" They let me know.
• First grade students were interested in the family. They made life size pictures of themselves and had them sitting at the desk when the parents came in. They did a whole unit on the family with spelling words pertaining to those.
• I told my 2nd grade students I was going to the Dallas Cowboys and Kansas City Chiefs game in Dallas. They ... came up with their own book of goals. Students got "fired up" about the Kansas City Chiefs, wrote to them, and got an answer back. This excited the students a lot.
• In first grade, whenever a kid comes in with a topic they are really excited about, they will drop everything and run to the library to research things.

Students have or generate choices in content or media (written, oral, visual, etc.).

• I am getting a lot more creativity and original ideas.
• The students really liked the feeling that they are in control of the choices they make.
• I found that this was a real motivation and they felt more involved.
• We are seeing art, other medium choices being incorporated into products.
• We understand now that a story map is also a good way to plan besides just using an outline.

Skills are practiced in student selected assignments.

• There is a high level of interest . They are choosing what they feel comfortable with.
• There is now a lot more synthesis between subject areas.
• Students are doing more than required because they are motivated, feel more involved.
• Student absenteeism is going down. Students are more interested in school.
• Their spelling ability increased because they used their spelling vocabulary in their projects.
• Their interest level is so high that they want to take their projects home with them.
• First grade kids react well to being given choices . They're excited and they want to do a lot of things.
• Teachers offering alternative assignments to bring grades up are having great success.
  

Intrinsic Motivation

Teacher gives choices of assignments to accommodate diverse achievement levels.

• We are very happy with the results of the projects. Students are happier even if the choice is only among two things.
• The students do more than required on the projects because they have choices.
• Children don't want to be bored in school, and by giving them choices we have allowed them to be challenged.
• The quality of work is improving and the volume is increasing. They are generating it themselves and are analyzing events from their perceptions of what they studied. They are able to synthesize ideas from classroom discussions, film strips, chapters of the book, etc..
• This makes kids more interested because the topics are ones that their friends are interested in. They get a greater exposure; wider variety.
• They are not used to students liking English, and that is what is happening.
• Teachers who gave students many choices in products had great success and saw student enthusiasm increase.
• The class may choose a whole area or activity . Individuals may choose different parts of that one. I feel good about the way the students respond to the choices they are given.
• I give five questions and let them choose three and maybe it is the three areas that they are more familiar with so they feel more comfortable.
• Pretests are used to excuse students from previously mastered skills. The students have been able to opt out. It is leading to them doing more, for instance, in non basal reading because they are choosing to read other books.
• The students' scores have gone up because of the retesting or reassessments. They are excused and go on to another project of their choice.
• They are constantly retesting and not having to take the final test sometimes, because they found out they know everything there was to be taught.
• The pretests have a very high interest level. They know they won't have to sit through the same lessons over again.
• Students really like the pretest because if they pass they will have less homework and more time to work on their projects.
• Spelling gets to be an individualized program now but she is really happy with that.
• They don't have to study words that they already know.
• Whole classes have not needed a final because they have mastered the material.
• Their spelling ability is increasing because they are using the words in their projects. The students have high interest because of the retesting method. The students are even asking to take their projects home to work on it because they are so interested.
• The students like having control of the learning process. They are learning more this way.
• Students are skipping previously learned materials and going on to more challenging activities.

Self-Esteem

Students are encouraged to verbalize feelings and differences of opinions.

• I am getting more listening from the kids. Subjects are relevant to them
• They have high interest because they can verbalize amongst each other.
• We have no problems, other than we sometimes feel that we must "put the cork back in the bottle" [enthusiasm is so strong].
• Their self-esteem has really improved.

Interpersonal Skills

Small groups are used for many different purposes.

• I use small groups, but not just in language arts. Sometimes I use them three or four times a day. I use most of these strategies throughout all of my classes.
• Small groups are now in pods, desks facing each other in groups of three or four. They love the word [pod] and they are also getting more accomplished in that setting.
• There is more success of cooperative learning groups than ever before. She used a manager, record keeper, librarian, etc., as management tools.
• They are working in groups even on the evaluation process. Students can now decide more on which skills to address and how. They are taking more ownership of their learning.
• A lot of peer teaching is happening now.
• Groups are working and practicing skills, combining, choosing among options, and combining visual, written and oral activities.
• They set ahead of time what the assignment is but they have to decide what is hardest for them and when they need help.
• They have talked about the fact that everybody has weaknesses and strengths and not to be ashamed of the weaknesses, but to learn what they are and work on them
  

Ethical Development

Students develop class rules.

• This went better than I thought it would. The kids are remembering the rules and procedures better.
• The children now are realizing the effect of their behavior on the other students, not just their work.
• Student problem solving skills are improving and there are no complaints from either kids or parents. Students are having more ownership, setting own rules, etc..
• They did set their own rules, and "call each other down" if they violate those rules. They are very conscious of respecting others.
• The kids really liked it! They thought of a lot of things I didn't think of.
• They came up with two rules and they were perfect rules to have: "Respect each other" and "Do no harm".
• Our class came up with lots of rules, so they narrowed them down into three: "Respect yourself", "Respect others", and "Respect your environment".
• Successes with Other Maximizing Potential Strategies©
• The thing I enjoy is the parent and teacher evaluations. I have better products because of them.
• The objectives are more relevant and they feel like they belong in the classroom.
• I let the kids plan their own seating chart and it has worked out pretty well.
• I have noticed a positive result using the grading matrix because the students know "where they are at". More work is being turned in.
• Teachers experienced risk taking, acceptance of change by self, knowledge of group problem solving (noticed how strong it is), liked relationships established in training, impact of training on attitudes of students toward their work and on their own thinking as teachers.
• We evaluated students on learning styles and shared them with their teachers, students and parents.
• I not only teach writing but also how to interview and apply for a job. People come in and actually do interviews. The rest of the class listens.

 

 

 

The meetings where these comments were tape recorded were partially supported by the Kansas State Board of Education's Jacob K. Javits Gifted Project, funded by Grant Number R206A00008, from the U.S. Department of Education.