Introduction
Assessment is an integral process undertaken by many schools to enhance the education process. Teachers rely on formative assessment by frequently interacting with the students to identify their learning needs and adjust accordingly to promote effective learning. The use of formative assessment approaches through teaching differentiation, and adaption helps teachers to meet student’s diverse needs. Teachers should pace instruction to enhance student learning, raise levels of student achievement, and attain equity in student outcomes.
How Does an Effective Teacher Pace Instruction to Monitor and Promote Student Learning?
Efforts to promote student learning have been on the increase as teachers serve as facilitators in the learning process. Most teachers have adopted self-paced instruction, which is based on learners’ responses to the instructional interventions and ability. This form of learning encourages learners to adapt their learning experiences to meet their individual needs (LeGeros et al., 2022). Paced instruction promotes clear and direct feedback to each student from their teachers. Effective teachers implement self-paced learning to ensure the needs of every learner are met.
Paced instruction involves customizing the instruction and curriculum to the needs and interests of the students. Providing an exploratory, diverse, and integrative curriculum is one of the strategies that teachers use to meet the needs of diverse students in most middle-level schooling (LeGeros et al., 2022). According to Woolfolk & Hoy (2003), effective teachers establish learning partnerships with their students to enhance meaningful input by students in the learning process and promote a positive school climate. Instructional leadership in schools ensures that teachers and the management are collaborative in the adoption of learning-centered approaches to promote decision-making processes that support student learning. The paced instruction learning should be responsive to the developmental needs of the learners to promote student learning.
Teachers differ in their implementation of paced instruction, a significant of them focusing predominantly on technology-supported learning. Teachers use digital platforms, computer algorithms, and other technologies to customize instruction to a learner’s abilities and needs (Al-Ansi 2022). During the COVID-19 period, most teachers incorporated technologies in self-paced learning to enable students to create learning (Abria et al., 2020). For example, the University of Makati adopted web-based learning that ensured learners were self-directed and interacted with learning materials at a self-pace allowing flexibility in their learning activities (Abria, et al., 2020). Paced instruction is most appealing for distance learning because of its flexibility and convenience to learners.
What Can the Teacher Do if Most of the Students Are Not Learning the Material?
Classroom assessment is one of the most effective ways teachers can be aware of students’ learning. The information obtained from the assessment helps teachers understand what could affect students’ grades and motivation to learn (Deslauriers et al., 2019). Teachers discover areas that require more of their attention through class assessment. For instance, if a teacher realizes that most students are not learning the material, it would help the latter to shape and focus on the subsequent teaching. The teacher can take time to find out from the students why the material is not helping them.
First, the teacher can think about formal ways of evaluating the learners’ progress through continuous assessment tests (CATS). The tests are learner-centered and aim to help students with a better understanding of the learning material (Nilson, 2003). According to Deslauriers et al. (2019), students learn more when actively engaged in the classroom. CATS are beneficial to learners because they reinforce their learning of the material through review, retrieval, application, analysis, and synthesis. Teachers adopt CATs to promote material learning because they enhance students’ motivation and promote a student-centered classroom.
Teachers can use formative feedback to promote the learning of material among students. Instructors using formative feedback provide their students with the criteria to improve their work and enhance the latter’s extensive revision (Nilson, 2003). Teachers can provide students with a well-detailed, constructive, and personalized assessment that focuses on enhancing the improvement of material learning. A student portfolio is another method that teachers can use to encourage constructive learner-instructor dialogue and motivate students to embrace feedback. Portfolios ensure learners revise their work severally, encouraging the learning of the classroom materials.
Conclusion
Teachers are increasingly adopting strategies such as learner-paced instruction which focus on assessment aligned with student learning outcomes. The self-paced instruction makes learning relevant to all the students by meeting all their needs. Instructional leadership provides teachers with the necessary information that helps them understand the learning needs of the students. As a result, the former provides quality feedback to learners leading to improved learning among learners. Paced instruction is critical in promoting and enhancing effective learning during unprecedented periods. Most teachers employed this type of instruction during the COVID-19 lockdown to ensure effective learning among their students. Customized instruction focuses on helping teachers with quality assessment of learners ensuring appropriate action is taken during the learning process. For instance, when most learners fail to learn the material, teachers can use continuous assessment tests to discover areas of concern and address them. Formative feedback and portfolios are other strategic approaches that teachers can embrace to promote the learning of material among students.
References
Abria, H. A., Abraham, A. E., Lupian, M. C. A., & Copino, J. L. (2020). Perceived utilization of self-paced learning (SPL) in literature [Unpublished master’s thesis]. Makati University.
Al-Ansi, A. M. (2022). Reinforcement of student-centered learning through social e-learning and e-assessment. SN Social Sciences, 2(9), 1-19. Web.
Deslauriers, L., McCarty, L. S., Miller, K., Callaghan, K., & Kestin, G. (2019). Measuring actual learning versus the feeling of learning in response to being actively engaged in the classroom. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(39), 19251-19257. Web.
LeGeros, L., Bishop, P., Netcoh, S., & Downes, J. (2022). Informing the Implementation of Personalized Learning in the Middle Grades through a School-Wide Genius Hour. RMLE Online, 45(1), 1-22. Web.
Nilson, L. B. (Eds.). (2003). Teaching at its best: A research-based resource for college instructors. Jossey-Bass.
Woolfolk, A., & Hoy, W. K. (Eds.). (2003). Instructional leadership: A research-based guide to learning in schools. Pearson Education.