INTASC STANDARD EIGHT
INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES
The teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies to encourage learners to develop deep understanding of content areas and their connections, and to build skills to apply knowledge in meaningful ways.
​Council of Chief State School Offices. (2011, April). Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (InTASC) Model Core Teaching Standards: A Resource for State Dialogue. Washington, DC: Author.
​Council of Chief State School Offices. (2011, April). Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (InTASC) Model Core Teaching Standards: A Resource for State Dialogue. Washington, DC: Author.
InTASC Standard #8 involves a music educator employing a diverse array of instructional techniques tailored to individual students’ learning styles and needs. A teacher following this standard designs creative, inclusive, and adaptable lesson plans that foster a deep understanding of music and its connections while building skills for meaningful application. It is important to recognize the strengths and weaknesses of each student, including those with disabilities. This will reduce discouragement and create positive learning experiences. The teacher must adapt to the students' learning styles and use different instructional strategies to encourage students to learn music in a way that best fits them. This can include creating individualized lesson plans to fit students’ abilities, showcasing adaptability. A teacher following this standard is well-rounded and caters to all types of learners. Using different instructional strategies can look like using visuals, manipulatives, verbally explaining in different ways, and using figurative language. A teacher can include multiple means of instruction within the same lesson to connect with all students.
As I work towards total mastery of InTASC Standard #8, I have experience in creating lessons in which I think about my instructional strategies in my planning. As a piano teacher, I have developed the habit of creating individualized lesson plans that cater to each student’s unique needs, taking into account their learning style and abilities. At Ball State, I have been provided valuable opportunities to further my understanding of this principle, creating lesson plans where I focus on my instructional strategies. For example, during my Practicum Course, we have discussed instructional strategies for English Language Learners, and students with special needs. In a teaching I have done for that class specifically, I had the chance to implement diverse means of representation in my lesson plan. I used a PowerPoint presentation with visuals to convey rhythmic values, included lyrics on the screen to aid English Language Learners, and introduced manipulations to engage students in understanding steady beats. These experiences have enriched my teaching toolkit and reinforced the importance of addressing various learning styles in lesson planning.
To further advance my proficiency in InTASC Standard #8 and improve my instructional strategies to meet the diverse needs of all my students, I intend to actively participate in professional development opportunities. With professional development, I can deepen my understanding of a variety of learning styles and gather insights into how I can best teach each student. I wish to gain more hands-on experience working in a classroom setting, so that I may be more prepared to teach in my own classroom. I hope to better refine my teaching methods so that I am able to perform the best that I can. After I have gone through these specific courses and hands-on learning experiences however, I want to do everything I can to continuously learn so that I can always be the best teacher possible. I plan to engage in open dialogues with experienced teachers to learn from their valuable experiences and discover effective strategies they have employed in their own teaching practices. ​
ARTIFACTS
Listed below are 3 examples of where I have implemented different instructional strategies in my teachings at Ball State. The first is a lyric dictation I created in my Adolescents and Secondary Education Course. Music educators should go above and beyond to connect with students to make sure concepts are being taught in such a way that resonates with the student. This may involve extra planning and creativity on the teacher’s part, but it is well worth it when the student obtains musical knowledge from the classroom. One tool that we learned about is lyric dication. In a peer teaching lesson, I created a lyric dictation for the students to complete as they were listening to a song. The lyric dictation shifted their focus specifically to the lyrics and what the different characters were singing. The second artifact is a lesson plan from my Band Methods Course, where we prepared a lesson, created a lesson plan, and taught our peers for 15 minutes. During this lesson we were tasked with teaching an easy song, with a baseline by rote, while incorporating various rhythmic and tonal patterns. As a music educator it is important to imply a range of instructional strategies that encourages the students to develop a deep understanding of content areas while also building the skills needed to apply this knowledge in meaningful ways. I did this to an extent in my peer teaching as I incorporated takadimi syllables and tonal patterns like solfège to facilitate the learning process and in the end teach the students a song by rote. Using these techniques also made teaching fun and engaging. The last artifact is a lesson plan from my Practicum Course, where I taught a group of 5th graders using multiple means of representation, including visuals and manipulatives. All of these three artifacts represent this InTASC Standard.