INTERACTIVE

TEACHING
TECHNIQUES

Elena D. Hubilla
Discussant
 APPROACHES vs METHODS vs
TECHNIQUES

Approaches - how you deal with the nature of teaching and

learning. These include the theories and philosophies
that we use as our foundations for teaching. They explain
how knowledge is best acquired and utilized.
Ex: behaviourist approach – drills
constructivist approach - output-based
integrated approach
 METHOD

Method - this is the plan you realize when you are teaching. By
applying a certain approach, you come up with procedures and
practices for teaching your students.
- a way of teaching; a procedure or a plan; takes some guidelines from
approaches and imparts pointers to strategies.
Ex: Inductive method, Deductive method, Project method, Problem method,
Lecture, Metacognitive method, Unit method, Demonstration, Recitation,
audio lingual method
 TECHNIQUE

Technique - strategies we use in order for us to be effective teachers.

We adapt our teaching to the kind of students we have such that
our instruction is different for every class and for every kind of
student.
- a personal way implementing methods; highly
individualized and tailor-fitted, customized to students learning
styles, needs and interests.
 Approach Method Strategy

Now if we take it that methods is the most

commonly used term, that may be because
methods take some pointers from approaches,
and imparts some of its pointers to strategies.
INTERACTIVE TEACHING
TECHNIQUES
 Factors in Choosing a
Method or Strategy

 Instructional objective
 Nature of the subject matter
 The learners
 The teacher
 LEARNING STYLES

• Visual Learners 29% - remember

images, shapes and colours

• Auditory Learners 34% -

remember voices, sounds and
music

• Kinaesthetic 37% - remember by

doing, moving and touching
 THINK-PAIR-SHARE

Think-Pair-Share – Students
share and compare possible
answers to a question with a
partner before addressing the
larger class.

Pair-Share-Repeat – After a
pair-share experience, ask students
to find a new partner and debrief
the wisdom of the old partnership
to this new partner.
 JIGSAW

Jigsaw (Group Experts)

– Give each group a
different topic. Re-mix
groups with one planted
“expert” on each topic, who
now has to teach his new
group.
CONCEPT MAPPING

Concept Mapping –
Students write
keywords onto sticky
notes and then
organize them into a
flowchart. Could be
less structured:
students simply draw
the connections they
make between
concepts.
BRAINSTORMING TREE

Brainstorming Tree –
While brainstorming on
the board, circle the
major concepts and
perform sub-
brainstorms on those
specific words; the
result will look like a
tree blooming outward
QUESTION AND ANSWER CARDS

Question and Answer Cards –

Make index cards for every
student in the class; half with
questions about class content;
half with the right answers.
Shuffle the cards and have
students find their appropriate
partner by comparing questions
and answers on their own cards
BEACH BALL BINGO

Beach Ball Bingo –

Write questions or
prompts onto all
surfaces of a beach ball
(or tape them on).
When the next student
catches the ball, he/she
answers one of the
questions where fingers
are touching the ball
 TRIO ROTATION

Group students into

threes, and arrange the
groups into a large circle.
Each team of three works
on a problem. Then, each
team assigns a 1, 2, and 3
number to
WISDOM OF ANOTHER
Wisdom of Another – After
any individual brainstorm or
creative activity, partner
students speak up to share their
results. Then, call for volunteers
of students who found their
partner’s work to be interesting
or exemplary. Students are
sometimes more willing to share
in plenary the work of fellow
students than their own work.
FORCED DEBATE

Forced Debate – Students

debate in pairs, but must
defend the opposite side of
their personal opinion.
Variation: half the class take
one position, half the other.
They line up and face each
other. Each student may
only speak once, so that all
students on both sides can
engage the issue.
GET ONE, GIVE ONE

Get One, Give One –

Students fold a piece of paper
in half and write “Give One” on
one side and “Get One” on the
other side. On the “Give One”
side, ask them to write four
insights from today’s material.
Let them find a partner and
share one idea from their “Give
One” and gets one idea from
their partner and writes it on
the “Get One” side.
COMPOSE A MUSICAL THEME

Compose a Musical
Theme – Using free
apps
PEER REVIEW WRITING TASK
Peer Review Writing Task – To
assist students with a writing
assignments, encourage them to
exchange drafts with a partner. The
partner reads the essay and writes a
three paragraph response: the first
paragraph outlines the strengths of
the essay, the second paragraph
discusses the essay’s problems, and
the third paragraph is a description
of what the partner would focus on
in revision, if it were her essay.
 BOARD ROTATION
Board Rotation – Assign groups
of students to each of the
boards you have set up in the
room (four or more works
best), and assign one
topic/question per board.
After each group writes an
answer, they rotate to the next
board and write their answer
below the first, and so on
around the room.
 PICK THE WINNER
Pick the Winner – Divide the
class into groups and have all
groups work on the same
problem and record an
answer/strategy on paper. Then,
ask groups to switch with a
nearby group, and evaluate their
answer. After a few minutes,
allow each set of groups to
merge and ask them to select
the better answer from the two
choices, which will be presented
to the class as a whole.
MOVIE APPLICATION

Movie Application – In
groups, students discuss
examples of movies that
made use of a concept or
event discussed in class,
trying to identify at least
one way the movie-makers
got it right, and one way
they got it wrong.
PROVOCATIVE PICTURE

Provocative Picture –
Begin the lecture with a
picture meant to
provoke discussion or
emotion (another
option: a cartoon)
TV COMMERCIAL

TV Commercial – In
groups, students create a
30-second TV commercial
for the subject currently
being discussed in class.
Variation: ask them to act
out their commercials.
 BLENDER
Blender – Students silently write a
definition or brainstorm an idea
for several minutes on paper. Then
they form into groups, and two of
them read their ideas and
integrate elements from each. A
third student reads his, and again
integration occurs with the
previous two, until finally
everyone in the group has been
integrated (or has attempted
integration).
HUMAN TABLEAU

Human Tableau or
Class Modeling –
Groups create living
scenes (also of
inanimate objects)
which relate to the
classroom concepts or
discussions.
SIMULATION

Simulation – Place the

class into a long-term
simulation (like as a
business) to enable
Problem-Based
Learning (PBL).
PASS THE POINTER

Pass the Pointer – Place a

complex, intricate, or
detailed image on the
screen and ask for
volunteers to temporarily
borrow the laser pointer
to identify key features or
ask questions about items
they don’t understand.
 POP CULTURE
Pop Culture – Infuse your lectures,
case studies, sample word
problems for use during class with
current events from the pop culture
world. Rather than citing statistics
for housing construction, for
instance, illustrate the same
statistical concept you are teaching
by inventing statistics about
something students gossip about,
like how often a certain pop star
appears in public without make-up.
MAKE IT PERSONAL

Make It Personal – Design

class activities (or even
essays) to address the real
lives of the individual
students. Instead of asking
for reflections on Down’s
Syndrome, ask for personal
stories of neurological
problems by a family
member or anyone they have
ever met.
WORD OF THE DAY

Word of the Day –

Select an important
term and highlight it
throughout the class
session, working it into
as many concepts as
possible. Challenge
students to do the same
in their interactive
activities.
ONE MINUTE PAPERS

One-Minute Papers –
Students write for one
minute on a specific question
(which might be generalized
to “what was the most
important thing you learned
today”). Best used at the end
of the class session.
MUDDIEST POINT

Muddiest Point – Like

the Minute Paper, but
asks for the “most
confusing” point
instead. Best used at
the end of the class
session
 ASK THE WINNER
Ask the Winner – Ask
students to silently solve a
problem on the board. After
revealing the answer, instruct
those who got it right to raise
their hands (and keep them
raised); then, all other
students are to talk to
someone with a raised hand
to better understand the
question and how to solve it
next time.
 TRUE OR FALSE
True or False? – Distribute index cards
(one to each student) on which is
written a statement. Half of the cards
will contain statements that are true,
half false. Students decide if theirs is
one of the true statements or not,
using whatever means they desire.
Variation: designate half the room a
space for those who think their
statements are true, and the other
half for false.
HARVESTING

Harvesting – After an
experience/activity in
class, ask students to
reflect on “what” they
learned, “so what” (why
is it important and what
are the implications),
and “now what” (how
to apply it or do things
differently).
 CHAIN NOTES

Chain Notes – Instructor pre-

distributes index cards and
passes around an envelope,
on which is written a
question relating to the
learning environment (i.e.,
are the group discussions
useful?) Students write a
very brief answer, drop in
their own card, and pass the
envelope to the next student
PROFILE OF ADMIRABLE
INDIVIDUALS
Profiles of Admirable
Individuals – Students
write a brief profile of an
individual in a field related
to the course. Students
assess their own values
and learn best practices for
this field.
IMAGINARY SHOW AND
TELL

Imaginary Show and Tell –

Students pretend they have
brought an object relevant to
current discussion, and
“display” it to the class while
talking about its properties.
 REPLACE DISCUSSION BOARDS
Replace Discussion
Boards - Create a
Facebook “group”
(private/invite only) and
use the Wall as the class
discussion board.
Students are notified by
home page notification
when someone replies to
their thread
Notify Students Quickly – Posting to Facebook will reach your
students much faster than an email, because most of them
check Facebook regularly.
 FUN PAGE

Fan Page - An alternative to a

group is a “fan” page, which
has the advantage that your
“status updates” will show
up for students on their Live
Feed. Disadvantage: some
students turn off Live Feed
and only see status updates
of their friends.
 DIRECT FACEBOOK FRIENDSHIP

Direct Facebook Friendship -

Allowing your students to “friend”
you will give you unfettered access
to them (unless they’ve set up a
special role for you), but more
importantly, your status updates will
be visible to them on the home page
(unless they block you manually).
Disadvantage: too much information
will be revealed on both sides,
unless both you and the students set
up “lists” with limited access
allowed.
REPORT FROM THE FIELD

Report from the Field –

Students use smart
phones to record their
observations while
witnessing an
event/location related to
the course of study,
capturing more honest
and spontaneous
reactions
COMMUNITY BUILDING

Community-Building - A
Twitter group for your
specific class creates
inclusiveness and belonging.

Twitter Projects – Tweet

works and other apps can
enable student groups to
communicate with each
other more easily.
 BRAINSTORM

Brainstorm - Small
Twitter assignments can
yield unexpected
brainstorming by
students, since it’s
happening “away” from
the LMS
STUDENT VIDEOS

Student Videos -
Student projects,
presentations, or
speeches can take the
form of video instead
of PowerPoint, and
uploaded for the class
to see.
SHARED ACCOUNT

Shared Account –
Instructor creates a
generic YouTube
username/account and
gives the password to
everyone in the class, so
student uploads all go to
the same place.
E-MAIL FEEDBACK

E-Mail Feedback –
Instructor poses
questions about his
teaching via e-mail;
students reply
anonymously
 WIKI
Group Wiki Projects - Instead of
emailing a document (or PPT) back
and forth, student groups can
collaborate in real time with a free
wiki such as wikispaces.com

Wiki Class Notes - Offering a class

wiki for the optional sharing of
lecture notes aids students who
miss class, provides a tool for
studying, and helps students see
the material from more than one
perspective.
 QUICK DIVISION

Quick Division – Divide your class

into two roughly equal segments
for simultaneous, parallel tasks
by invoking their date of birth:
“if your birthday falls on an odd-
numbered day, do task X…if your
birthday is even, do task Y.”
Other variations include males
and females, months of birth,
odd or even inches in their
height (5’10” vs 5’11”).
 SPEED SHARING
Speed Sharing – Students write
definitions, concepts, quiz
questions, etc. on index cards and
form two concentric circles, facing
each other. For thirty seconds (or
60), they share their knowledge
with the person opposite them.
Then, the outer circle “rotates” so
that everyone has a new partner,
and the sharing is repeated. This
can be done until each student has
completed the circuit.
FOUR CORNERS

Four Corners – Put up a

different topic in each
corner of the room and
ask students to pick
one, write their ideas
about it down, then
head to “their” corner
and discuss opinions
with others who also
chose this topic.
HUMAN BINGO
Human Bingo –
Students become
acquainted at the start
of a semester by
performing a scavenger
hunt you design as a
handout: “find
someone who dislikes
carrots, someone who
owns a German car,
someone who has read
a book about
submarines, etc.”
CROSSWORD PUZZLE

Crossword Puzzle –
Create a crossword
puzzle as a handout
for students to review
terms, definitions, or
concepts before a
test. Some online
websites will
automate the puzzle
creation.
ROLE PLAYING

Role-Playing –
Assign roles for a
concept, students
research their parts
at home, and they
act it out in class.
Observers critique
and ask questions.
 JURY TRIAL

Jury Trial - Divide the

class into various roles
(including witnesses,
jury, judge, lawyers,
defendant, prosecution,
audience) to deliberate
on a controversial
subject.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Press Conference – Ask
students to role-play as
investigative reporters
asking questions of you,
the expert on the topic.
They should seek a point
of contradiction or
inadequate evidence,
hounding you in the
process with follow-up
questions to all your
replies.
PRESS CONFERENCE (GS)

Press Conference
(Guest Speaker) –
Invite a guest speaker
and run the class like a
press conference, with
a few prepared
remarks and then
fielding questions from
the audience.
MINUTE PAPER SHUFFLE

Minute Paper Shuffle – Ask

students to write a relevant
question about the
material, using no more
than a minute, and collect
them all. Shuffle and re-
distribute, asking each
student to answer his new
question. Can be continued
a second or third round
with the same questions.
 LECTURE VS. INTERACTIVE

LECTURE INTERACTIVE
PROS •EFFICIENT IN •MORE EFFECTIVE
CONVEYING •DOING
INFORMATION •MAKING
•FACTUAL SENSE
KNOWLEDGE •FEEDBACK
•DEMONSTRATION • TEACHING
•CONCEPTUAL • ASSESSING
FRAMEWORK
CONS LESS EFFECTIVE TIME
 Interactive techniques
• The whole class session should be interactive, with
a balance of contributions from teacher and pupils;
• Interactive techniques should serve and not detract
from the objective;
• Model the technique a number of times before you
expect the children to use it effectively;
• Support pupils who will be less confident by
rehearsing, priming or pairing them;
• Consider the space you will need if pupils are to
move around comfortably;
• Consider how you will distribute, collect, store and
protect resources
 TIPS

• Start with a simple technique that you feel

comfortable with.
• Don’t answer your own question too quick. –
Wait (10-15 seconds) – Wait….. longer, if
question is lengthy, sophisticated (writing on
paper first) – Non-verbal cues – Confused/
misunderstood. ASK!
• Correct the wrong answers. But keep the
points/ criticisms to matter, not people
 The best whole class teaching...

• engages the pupils in their learning;

• is organized to meet objectives;
• builds on existing skills;
• draws on repertoire of teaching strategies;
• provides for a range of learning styles;
• cultivates transferable, independent learning.
 I remember...

• 5% of what I hear
• 10% of what I read
• 20% of what I hear and read
• 30% of what I am shown
• 50% of what I discuss
• 75% of what I do
• 90% of what I teach others
"One must learn by doing the thing; for
though you think you know it, you have
no certainty, until you try." -Sophocles
 References

 Ms. Glady’s C, Nivera (Teacher Education Council)

 Otis Lam Lucia Yeung
 The National Literacy Strategy