NORFOLK, Neb. (AP) — Teachers in a northeast Nebraska district are using a new instruction model this school year that some education officials say could improve long-term tailored learning.
The Norfolk Public Schools district’s new teaching strategy comes after two years of development, the Norfolk Daily News reported. The model has seven concepts designed to complement each other, such as student-focused instruction and technology integration.
A task force of educators recommended the approach after finding commonalities among established teaching models and incorporating them into their best teaching practices, said Mike Hart, the district’s director of human resources and accreditation.
Teachers are implementing the model in their classrooms by introducing one concept at a time using Google Classroom, a web application that helps educators share files.
The main purpose is to offer support and a shared language for teachers, many of whom were already using most of the recommended concepts, he said.
Hart said the model “has a lot of staying power.”
Chris Mueller, a math teacher at Norfolk High School, is one of the 12 educators who developed the instructional model.
“We’re really not doing anything that’s new,” Mueller said. “(We’re) taking best practices that are research-based to maximize student learning and tweaking them, making them our own.”
He said the biggest change for students is better comprehension, which is reflected in how he ends his lessons.
Mueller now finishes his classes with activities such as having students discuss what they learned with a partner or having them complete quick problems to show they’ve grasped a new math concept.
“Now I close my lesson(s) a little better than I used to,” he said. “I don’t just say, ‘We’re done for the day.'”
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