Chapter 7: The Effective Lesson
I.What is direct instruction?
a.Definition: instruction where the teacher transmits information
directly to students, structuring class time to reach a clearly defined
set of objectives as effectively as possible
b.First bring student up to date on any info they may need for the lesson
and what they will learn. Then devote most of the lesson to teaching
skills and giving student opportunities to practice. We, then a little on
their own then, all me
c.Start learning objectives and orient students to material, review
prerequisites, present new material, conduct learning probes, provide
independent practice, assess performance/provide feedback, provide
distributed practice and review
II.How is a direct instruction lesson taught?
a.State learning objectives
i.What do you want students to know or be able to do at the end
of a lesson?
b.Orient students to the lesson
i.At the beginning of a lesson you need to establish a positive
mental set or attitude of readiness
1.Require students to be on time
2.Arouse interest (personally relevant, humor, drama,
popular and instructively intellectual television shows)
3.Give students a road map of where the lesson is going
c.Review prerequisites
i.Must be sure prerequisites have been mastered, link
information already in their minds to what you are about to
present
ii.May require a brief assessment to be sure prerequisites are
mastered
iii.This provides advance organizers- reminds students of what
they already know and gives them a framework for
understanding new material about to be presented
d.Present new material
i.Lesson structure
1.Must be logically organized- helps students retain
information
2.Tell students what you are moving onto next to help
them create a mental outline
ii.Lesson emphasis
1.Give clear indications about the most important parts of
lessons
iii.Lesson clarity
1.Direct, simple, well-organized language
iv.Explanations
III.
1.Take into account and link to what students already
know
v.Worked examples
1.Pose a problem and work it out on the white board
while explaining each step
vi.Demonstrations, models, illustrations
1.Visual representations are maintained in long term
memory far more readily than information that is only
heard
vii.Embedded video
1.Into text
viii.Maintaining attention
1.Use a variety of different ways to teach, lecture
enthusiastically
ix.Content, coverage, and pacing
1.Increase rate of teaching as long as information is
understood
e.Conduct learning probes
i.Frequently probe information to know if your students
understand and this helps students know if they understand as
well
ii.Checks for understanding
1.Use to set the pace of instruction and to know if
students understand the information
2.Take time to reteach if information was not understood
the first time
iii. Questions
1.Used to prompt students to take the next mental step
2.Used to guide class discussion to arrive at an answer
3.Use as a learning probe
iv.Wait time
1.Length of time you give a student to answer a question
before moving on to the next student or giving the
answer
2.Teachers do not wait long enough, wait at least 3
seconds
3.Follow up with student
v.Calling order
1.Calling on students randomly and not just volunteers
vi.All pupil response
1.Or choral response is when the class all answers a
question as a whole in unison
f.Provide distributed practice and review
Provide independent practice
a.Allow students to practice their newly learned skills and knowledge
IV.
V.
VI.
VII.
b.Math, reading, grammar, composition, map interpretation, foreign
language
c.Common pitfalls: leading questions, always asking the same students,
asking questions all at one level, engaging one student at length while
others have nothing to do, failing to correct wrong answers, ignoring
answers, asking too many yes-no questions, unclear questions
d.Seatwork
i.In class independent practice- over used or misused
ii.Spend more time on instruction than seatwork
e.Effective use of independent practice time
i.Do not assign independent practice until you are sure your
students can do it
ii.Keep independent practice assignments short
iii.Give clear instructions
iv.Get students started, then avoid interruptions
v.Monitor independent work
vi.Collect independent work and include in student grades
Assess performance and provide feedback
a.Use different types of assessments and provide quick feedback
b.Exit tickets- 3 questions
Provide distributed practice and review
a.Reviewing information for earlier lessons enhances learning
b.Homework gives students an opportunity to practice skills
How does research on direct instruction methods inform teaching?
a.Process-product studies: observers observe teachers whose students
consistently score as a high level
How do students learn and transfer concepts?
a.Concept learning and teaching- learned by observation or definition
i.Definitions: provide examples, have students give definition or
give definition and have students give examples
ii.Examples:
1.Order examples from easy to difficult
2.Select examples that differ from one another
3.Compare and contrast examples and non examples
b.Teaching for transfer of learning
i.Real-life learning: application of knowledge acquired in one
situation to another
1.Depends on how well the information was initially
learned and how it relates to what is already known
2.Transferring what is learned in the classroom to real life
ii.Initial learning and understanding: how well information was
learned in the first place
iii.Learning in context: apply knowledge in new circumstances
and different environments
iv.Teaching of concepts: present examples of concept in similar
contexts to teach
v.Transfer vs. initial learning: use information they know and can
relate to before teaching in different contexts
1.Provide many examples, pointing out similarities and
differences
vi.Explicit teaching for transfer: teaching students to look for
similarities when reading different story problems
VIII.How are discussions used in instruction?
a.Subjective and controversial topics: helps students understand both
sides and become more knowledgeable on the topic
b.Difficult and novel concepts: helps students think through different
topics they don’t know the answer to
c.Affective objectives: student attitudes and values
i.Example: Why it is important to vote
d.Whole-class discussions: teacher is less involved, help students avoid
dead ends
e.Small-group discussions: teacher moves from group to group aiding in
discussion. Requires all students to have a strong understanding of
concept.
i.Appoint a strong student as a leader to keep discussion on
topic and make sure everyone participates
Chapter 8: Student Centered and Constructivist Approaches to Instruction
I.What is the constructivist view of learning? Learners must individually
discover and transform complex information to make it into their own.
Student centered instruction, students are active learners
a.Historical roots of constructivism
i.Social learning: (Vygotsky) children learn through social
interactions with adults and more capable peers. Successful
problem solvers talk themselves through difficult problems
ii.Zone of proximal development (ZPD): range of tasks a child can
do alone with some assistance of peers or adults
iii.Cognitive apprenticeship: social nature of development and
ZPD. Student teaching is a form of apprenticeship
iv.Mediated learning: (scaffolding) students should be given
difficult, complex tasks and then given help to complete them
1.Situated learning: tasks that take place in real life
b.Top-down processing
i.Students are given a complex task and then work out or
discover basic skills required
c.Peer interaction: Students talk to each other and are able to come to
conclusions and solutions
d.Discovery learning: students are encouraged to learn largely on their
own through active involvement with concepts and principles.
Teachers encourage students to have experiences and conduct
experiments that permit them to discover principles on their own.
Arouses student curiosity
II.
e.Self-regulated learning: one who has knowledge of self-effective
learning strategies and how and when to use them. Motivated by self
learning and not just grades
f.Scaffolding: ability to direct memory and attention in a purposeful
way and think in symbols (mediated learning) giving students more
structure at the beginning of lessons and gradually turn the
responsibility to the students
g.Constructivist methods in context areas
i.Reciprocal teaching: small group teaching method based on
principles of question generation, through instructions and
modeling teachers foster metacognitive skills primarily to
improve the reading performance of students who have poor
comprehension. Start by modeling what you want students to
do
ii.Questioning the author: teach students to view author as
fallible people. Ask students while reading text questions about
the author like, “What are they trying to say?”
iii.Concept oriented reading instruction (CORI): teach reading in
upper elementary
1.Content goals
2.Giving students choices- students choose book topics to
read in depth
3.Hands on activities in relation to text, students explore
science concepts in hands-on activities
4.A variety of expository (informational) texts
5.Collaboration among students
iv.Constructivist approach to writing: work in groups to help
peers plan, draft, revise, edit, and “publish” compositions.
Positive effects such as scaffolding
v.Constructivist approach in math: small groups, teachers pose
problems then circulate around groups. Base 10 blocks
allowing students to figure out complex problems through
these representations
vi.Constructivist approaches in science: discovery, group work,
and conceptual change, hands on investigative laboratory
activities
h.Research in constructivist methods
i.Intended to produce different outcomes than traditional
methods
ii.Descriptive rather than comparative
iii.Balance between direct instruction and constructivist
approach
How is cooperative learning used in instruction?
a.Cooperative learning methods
III.
i.Definition: instructional methods or peer assisted learning,
when students work together in small groups to help each
other learn
ii.4 member mixed ability groups
iii.Student teams achievement division (STAD)
1.4 member learning teams (mixed in level, gender,
ethnicity, etc)
2.teacher presents a lesson and students work together to
make sure all work on it, then individual quizzes are
presented, students may not help each other, grades are
averaged and awarded to teams
3.Teams-grade-tournament (TGT)
iv.Cooperative integrated reading and composition (CIRC)
1.4 member cooperative learning teams
2.participate in a series of activities together, make
predictions together, summarize to one another, etc.
then students write drafts and revise one another’s
v. Jigsaw
1.6 member teams to work on academic material that has
been broken down into sections
2.example: biography (intro, early life, adulthood, etc)
each person from each team who has early life meets
together in “expert groups” they discuss their topics and
go back to their group to explain their topic
vi.Learning together
1.Students working in 4-5 member teams, group hands in
one single assignment
vii.Group investigation: general classroom organization plan.
Students work together using cooperative inquiry, group
discussion, and cooperative planning and projects. Form into 2-
6 member groups, group breaks into subtopics and then group
comes together to present on presentation day
viii.Peer assisted learning strategies (PALS): students work in pairs
taking turns as student and teacher
ix.Informal cooperative learning instructions: study groups in
which one person teachers and the others listen and then they
switch
x.Numbered heads (or random reporter): students learn
information as a group and then are secretly assigned
numbers- all 2’s will have to answer a question
xi.Think-Pair-Share: think, share with partner, share with class
b.Research on cooperative learning
i.Group study methods
ii.Project based learning or active learning:
How are problem solving and thinking skills taught?
a.The problem solving process
b.
c.
d.
i.General problem solving strategies
1.I- identify problems and opportunities
2.D- define goals and represent the problem
3.E- Explore possible strategies
4.A- Anticipate outcomes and act
5.L- Look back and learn
ii.Means-end analysis
1.Deciding what the problem is and what needs to be
done
2.Being able to transfer skills to real life situations
iii.Extracting relevant information
1.What parts of the word problem are necessary and what
parts are just fluff?
iv.Representing the problem
v.Drawings, diagrams, flow charts, outlines, etc.
Teaching creative problem solving
i.Incubation: do not place value on speed but emphasis on the
information
ii.Suspension of judgment: consider all possibilities before trying
out a solution, brainstorming
iii.Appropriate climates: feeling comfortable in the environment
they’re learning in
1.Analysis: major elements of a problem
2.Engaging problems: problems must intrigue students
3.Feedback: give feedback on accuracy of problems but
how that’s solution was reached
Teaching thinking skills
i.Incorporate them into classroom and daily experiences
Critical thinking
