Take a look at our Advice for Different Stages of a Class, learn new methods from our Pool of Methods, or browse our Selection of Subject-Specific Teaching Examples.

When employing new methods, it is important to start by explaining the process clearly and announcing the objective transparently. For example, if you ask students to work on a task alone or in groups, be sure to explain what the results are going to be used for. Will individuals volunteer to present something? Will each group report back? Will you be collecting everyone’s work? If you are collecting the work, will this be done anonymously or are the results attributable to individual students? Do you plan to grade them, or just to get a sense of the students’ knowledge and their questions? Explaining this in advance gives the students a sense of security and is important for many methods’ success.