This chapter talks about direct
instruction. Slavin (2012) states, “Direct Instruction is a teaching approach
that emphasizes teacher control of most classroom events and the presentation
of structures lessons” (p.211). There are many parts of a direct instruction
lesson; stating learning objectives and orienting students to the lesson,
review prerequisites, presenting new material, conducting learning probes,
providing independent practice, assessing performance, and providing
distributed practice and review.
I believe that orienting the lesson
is one of the most important parts of a lesson. When orienting a lesson the
teacher must help the student get prepared to start the lesson. I always knew
that when beginning a lesson or introducing a new topic the teacher should
begin by catching the students’ attention. I never thought about supplying a
positive mental set for the class. When students are ready to begin a lesson
and exhibit that with a positive attitude then that is called a positive mental
set (Slavin, 2012, p.189). Another extremely important part of the lesson in
which I will be sure to use more in my classroom would be structuring my
lessons. Of course I structure my lessons using models provided by the county
that I work in but now that I have experienced second grade in the last school
year, I have already started to think about how I can adapt them to my style of
teaching. I really feel that the lesson structure is so important because it
helps the teacher stay on track.
Checking for understanding and
questioning are two extremely important components of conducting learning
probes. It is always great to check for understanding during a lesson to see if
you should slow down or move on in a lesson. Questioning may seem like a task
that just requires common sense, but in actuality it is a bit more complex. One
thing that I learned in undergrad that I actually do great with in my class is
wait time. Slavin (2012) says, “The length of time that a teacher waits for a
student to answer a question is the wait time” (p.197). Teacher should wait at
least three second to let a student gather his or her thoughts to respond to a
given question. Of course it depends on what type of question is asked to
determine the appropriate length, but all questions should be allowed at least
three seconds to respond.
With the education world being in
the mist of the Race to the Top Program and No Child Left Behind, I could not
complete this reflection without highlighting the importance of teaching for
the transfer of learning. Slavin (2012), “Students often get so wrapped up in
preparing for tests, and teachers in preparing students to take tests, that
both forget the primary purpose of school: to give students the skills and
knowledge necessary for them to function effectively as adults” (p.204). With
that being said, I learned that the process of transferring learning is a great
way of knowing that a child really understands information and can use
information properly when put in a new situation.
In this week’s class discussion,
Jordan Little states, “When I break my
students up into small groups, student’s participation is much higher and I see
other students helping others in their group. The students end up teaching the
lesson to each other more so, than myself.” I chose to reference her quote
simply because this is much of what I saw in my classroom last year and what I
hope to see in it next year. I think that this quote is a positive reflection
on a classroom because it shows the caring and learning community that the class
has become. I believe that direct instruction should be set up in a way that it
can be followed with students helping each other with the lesson.
Reference
Slavin,
R.E. (2012). Educational psychology:
Theory and practice (10th ed.). Boston:Pearson.
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