Chapter 7&8 reflection

What is direct instruction? Direct instruction is where you, the teacher, teach the lesson. Students then practice the skill with help. Then, students are expected to complete the task independently where the teacher gives immediate feedback and can offer more support if needed which will then lead to an assessment. Teachers control much of this type of instruction. 

When we go to teach we should first give students a reason why we are learning whatever new skill it is that we are learning. I like to find ways to relate the skills to “real life” scenarios. This helps students understand the importance of the lessons and hopefully instill intrinsic motivation. I find students take more accountability in their learning when they can understand why we are learning something and how we will apply it in the real world. As I was reading the text stated, “it must not be assumed”. This really stood out to me. As we are preparing our students for assessments, we also need to prepare them for life outside of school. What use are the skills we teach our students without real world application? 

An organized plan is something an intentional teacher does when using direct instruction. I find this to be a huge part of the process. If a teacher has not looked closely at what they are teaching and their students, their lessons will not be geared towards their students. Reviewing prerequisite skills for a lesson is something I do not always think about when planning. As I am teaching I often do informal assessments when we begin, but this is something I definitely should put more thought into as I begin planning. It is important for students to connect to prior knowledge and make connections. Without mastery of those prerequisite skills, students will not be able to learn new content and eventually master that new content. Another thing teachers should include for students are several different examples and explanations. I believe this also helps your class stay engaged and interested in what they are learning. Teachers must ask all different types of questions so that we can extend all students’ learning. Teachers must not ask questions all based off of the same level, rather teachers must ask questions based for all learners. Something I found interesting about questioning is the appropriate amount of wait time. Teachers must be able to find the right amount of wait time so students don’t become disengaged, but also give the other students the opportunity to answer. 

Independent practice is something that I struggle with in my classroom. My lowest quartile students often are with an adult during direct instruction times. My higher students generally get to practice skills with a partner or independently. I liked how the text stated that ten minutes is plenty of time for students to practice independently. I think finding how much can be done during that period of time is something that I as a teacher need to work on. As I teach elementary school I often find that students do have a difficult time following directions. One way I try to fix this problem is that after I go over the directions, students will turn and talk to their partner to restate the directions. The more I do this, the better students become at asking questions of the directions are unclear. 

Each lesson should have an assessment based upon the objectives. I think the most important part of assessment is the feedback provided after the assessment has been completed. I often find I am able to guide students and their thinking to the correct answer. It also helps me see if there is something I have not included or if there was something I have said to my class that lead them to the wrong answers. I think immediate feedback is so important. If we are not giving students feedback, what is the purpose of assessing them? 

I find the last piece of a direct instruction lesson to be the least important step in the lesson. Yes, independent practice is important, however I know it is difficult for some of my students to get the proper help needed at home. As a mother of two boys I often find that homework can lead to more stress than it is worth. I am a teacher who is able to help my children, but what about the parents at home who never learned to read? The parents at home who are unable to help their students? I can see this being a problem for those students and it creating chaos in their home. 

Another learning theory I read about this week was the constructivist theories of learning. This says that students learn best when they are taking information and making it their own. Students are more active with their learning and the teacher helps guide the students and their learning from afar. This type of learning focuses on learning from peers. Students can be taught based upon projects, and other, “real life authentic tasks.” I can see where students would benefit from this project based learning with their peers. Sometimes students may not understand a concept coming from an adult, but they do understand it when told from a peers’ perspective. This also gives them the real world connection that we read about previously in chapter 7. 

This type of teaching has students working hands on with little guidance from the teacher. One thing I was wondering as I was reading this was, how would this work for my lowest quartile students? How would this benefit them? Some of them would benefit from this with delicate groupings with other students, however some of my students in my lowest quartile would not benefit from this type of learning at all. They need more guidance from the teacher, more support, and encouragement to know that they are on the right track. Another question I had as I was reading this was, how does the teacher monitor all students to make sure that they are learning the material correctly? The teacher can only monitor a set amount of students at once. If a group of students is struggling and the teacher stops to support this group, her time is now tied up with just that group of students. 

Reciprocal teaching involves students asking each other questions and generating questions. This is a great approach. This helps students develop higher order thinking when generating questions and helps students develop social skills such as listening. This also helps keep students engaged when having to listen to their partners and really think about what they are talking about. 

I also really liked in chapter 8, concept-oriented reading instruction. I feel like most students, especially boys, would flourish with this type of instruction. They get to pick the topics that they enjoy, mostly pertaining to science and informational text. Don’t we all flourish when we learn about something we truly are passionate about? Students get to work with one another in small groups, which is generally beneficial and they get to work with hands on materials.I tried to think about where I can incorporate this and I believe my partner centers would be a great place to try this. 

All in all I think there is a time for each type of teaching style. Direct instruction is very important for some concepts. I also believe some students benefit most from this style of teaching. On the other hand, other students learn best from constructivist strategies. For some students they will learn great working in groups and in materials that gain their own interest. As a teacher it is important to use all strategies in order to reach all students and to help make them become independent thinkers.