Lets make it DIRECT!

Last week, again, we spoke about direct instruction. Do we remember what it is? Lets review- Direct Instruction is the most popular and wide spread teacher STRATEGY to reach AUTOMATICITY-doing something automatically,without a great deal of thinking.

Here are some quick advantages and disadvantages of DI:

Advantages:
-builds foundational skills
-maintains order
-guarantees specific learning outcomes
-uses time effectively
-easy to implement

Disadvantages:
-only uses lower levels of Bloom's taxonomy
-limits creativity
-unmotivated
-no collaboration
-teacher based

Elements of DI to remember:
1. anticipatory set
2. review prior knowledge
3. inform what will be learned
4. motivate
5. development (I do, you do, we do)
6. Guide practice
7. Closure

Stay tuned for more on DI!

How DIRECT is my BEHAVIOR?

What is the behaviorism and what does it have to do with me? Well, after doing much reading I have found the following:

Behaviorists believe that learning takes place as a result of a response that follows a specific stimulus. Behavior can be modified and learning is measured by observable change in behavior.

Why do we need to know this? Well, behaviorism and direct instruction go hand in hand.

Direct Instruction, or DI, is how learning of basic information and skills is taught. The good ol' teacher talks and the students listen. We are all used to that right? Bored yet? Well, from the readings I actually learned that despite the criticism of direct instruction, it is still the most popular strategy to teach basic skills. DR promotes mastery of simple and complex skills and declarative knowledge. Some examples that I'm sure we are all used to are lectures, presentations, and modeling. All encourage student thinking (inquiry) and problem solving.

When is DI appropriate? Well, an example that always comes to mind when thinking of a topic that would need to have DI would be teaching the times tables. Students need to see how the answer is solved, and they need simple drill and practice of this skill. This would be done from direct instruction from the teacher to the student. The teacher will give examples, model the process and then observe the students during practice of this skill.

A DI lesson plan consists of many parts:

First, the overview which consists of the WHAT and WHY

Next, the explanation, which is the probe and response

Then practice, guided, independent, and periodic review

Followed by assessment, formative, summative

Lastly, monitor and feedback which is cues and prompts and corrective feedback.

Phew! Now that we have a little background on behaviorism and DI lets see what next week brings….

General Methods- a CLEAN slate

Well again I find myself blogging, something that I am slowly getting used to-but I'm getting there! This is now my second class with Dr. S and again I find myself diving head first into the pool of endless technology!

This is my second to last semester here at the Mount and cant believe how fast time has gone by. I have learned so much in the past few semesters and I KNOW I will learn a HUGE amount from Dr. S in general methods. Dr. S has a gigantic variety of knowledge (especially about technology) that I know I will obtain from this class. I have to admit, using all this technology is still overwhelming but I think I will hold on enough to make it through!

With that being said lets all take a deep breath because its going to be a crazy ride! Happy new semester everyone!!!!