"Useful Instrctional Activites for the Lesson Development Phase"

As I continued to read Chapter 7 in our text book, I became really intrigued by the useful instructional activities for the lesson development phase.
Our text book listed the following:

 

Field Trips

 The one thing I loved LOVED about elementary school was all the field trips I went on. I think that field trips can be extremely educational and beneficial to students. What's a better way to get a child excited for learning than taking them out of their classroom and bringing them to a new location with tons of stimulation? Nothing.  Even small field trips are beneficial to students because sometimes it's nice to just be able to get out of the typical education environment.

 Guest Speakers

Having a guest speaker is second best to having a field trip. Although students don't normally get to go anywhere, it's a change to their normal day activity. Students will be eager to see what the new person coming into their classroom has to say to them.  This can also be beneficial because sometimes the speaker has gone through something that you're teaching the students. If the students can see and hear how someone lived through a time period they're learning about, they may be more willing to pay attention or even eager to go back and talk about the subject in social studies class. 

 

Demonstration

Not all, but many students are visual learners. Most of the time students learn and comprehend information better when it is presented in front of them in a visually stimulating way. Demonstrations are a great way to switch things up in the classroom and keep the students engaged and entertained enough to pay attention. 

 Lecture/Teacher Presentation

Even though it may not always be the most effective way, lecturing and teacher presentations can obviously help students with learning as well. Even young elementary students should be exposed to lecture style teaching, but for shorter periods of time. 

 

Games

If used properly games can be very educational and beneficial to students' learning. Everyone loves games, everyone likes to have fun! Every student needs their lesson changed up here and there, and games are a great way to switch things up while remaining educational.