1

Instruction in Today’s Schools

CHAPTER 13

2

Learning Objectives Define motivation and identify

instructional factors that increase students’ motivation.

Describe basic steps in planning for instruction.

Describe essential teaching skills, and identify examples in classroom practice.

Describe instructional strategies, and identify applications of these in learning activities.

3

Every beginning teacher wants to be effective, but what does it mean to be effective, and what do teachers do in the classroom that makes them effective?

http://www.kaitlynsconnections.info/tag/reflection/

4

Effective TeachingTeaching that maximizes learning for all students.

Read the discussion between Al and Shirley – p 376

Are you ready to be this dedicated?

5

Student Motivation and Effective Teaching

Think about some of your favorite teachers and classes, and then compare them to teachers and classes that are at the other end of the spectrum.

What terms/phrases come to mind in describing these teachers and classes?

THE GOOD AND THE

BAD

6

Classes students enjoy:“Interesting material”“Tough but worthwhile”“Practical”“I really got into the content”“Different methods to learn were used”“No favorites”“The teacher worked with us”“Treated fair” “Worked hard” “Made us laugh”

7

This

I B

elie

ve For each of the following statements,

circle your choice using the following options.

4 = I strongly believe the statement is true.3 = I believe the statement is true.2 = I believe the statement is false.1 = I strongly believe the statement is false

8

1. Some students are more motivated to

learn than others, and teachers can do little about those who aren’t motivated.

1 2 3 4 2. Because assessing students with quizzes and tests uses instructional time, students who are frequently assessed learn less than those assessed less frequently.

1 2 3 43. Planning for instruction primarily involves identifying the topics that are important for students to learn.

1 2 3 4

9

4. The most effective teachers in today’s schools are those who are best able to clearly explain the content they’re teaching their students.

1 2 3 45. Rather than exclusively using one particular teaching strategy, expert teachers vary the way they teach.

1 2 3 4

10

MotivationThe energizing force behind student learning.

Motivation is classified into two broad categories.Extrinsic motivation - motivation to engage in a behavior to receive some incentive.Intrinsic motivation – Motivation to be involved in an activity for its own sake.

11

What motivates you?

12

Motivation and Learning

Motivation is not only important for current learning; it also sets the stage for future success in school. Motivated students• Have more positive attitudes toward

school and describe school as more satisfying;

• Persist on difficult tasks and cause fewer management problems;

• Study and learn information in depth and excel in classroom learning activities.

13

Motivation is a powerful factor influencing student achievement, and motivated students are a primary source of job satisfaction for teachers.

Can teachers increase their students’ motivation?

14

Motivation: Increasing Students’ Interest

Effective teachers:• Know student names• Treat students as individuals• Create learning activities at

which students can succeed • Grade fairly• Reward effort• Create interesting lessons

15

Teachers increase their students’ interest in a lesson in a number of ways.

• Attracting and focusing students’ attention at the beginning of lessons

• Personalizing content by focusing on real-world applications and linking topic to students’ lives.

• Promoting high levels of student involvement in learning activities.

- questioning and group work

16

This I BelieveSome students are more motivated to learn than others, and teachers can do little about those who are not motivated.

This statement is false:

Some students are indeed more motivated to learn than others, but teachers can do a great deal to increase motivation in most students.

17

CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING1.1 Define motivation, and describe the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.

1.2 Describe the relationship between motivation and student achievement.

1.3 Describe three factors within teachers’ control that can increase3 students’ motivation to learn.

Page 379.

18

Planning for Effective Teaching• Select a topic important for student to

study• Specify learning objectives related to

the topics• Prepare and organize learning activities

to help students reach the objectives• Plan an assessment to determine the

extent to which students reach the objectives.

• Ensure instruction and assessments are aligned to learning objectives

19

Learning ObjectivesStatements that specify what students should know or be able to do with respect to a topic or course of study.

Do you see “Learning Targets” in your classrooms?

Where do these “Learning Targets” come from?

20

Prepare and Organize Learning Activities

Once learning objectives are identified:• What do you want you students to

understand?• What do you want your students to be able to

do?

Prepare and organize learning activities• Locate high –quality examples and problems

to illustrate the topic• Sequence the examples to be most

meaningful to students

21

High –quality examplesRepresentations of content that ideally have all the information in them that students need to learn a topic. Research shows that effective teachers carefully illustrate their topics with examples, whereas less effective teachers rely solely on verbal explanations to help their students understand an idea.

22

Assessment The process teachers use to gather information and make decisions about students learning progress.

1) How will I know that my students have reached my learning objectives?

2) How can I use assessment to increase my students’ learning?

PLANNING FOR ASSESSMENT

23

This I Believe, “Because assessing students with quizzes and tests uses instructional time, students who are frequently assessed learn less that those assessed less frequently.”

This is false:The process of assessment does take time, but it makes a major contribution to learning and is one of the most valuable uses of our instructional time.

24

How do I know that my instruction and assessments are logically connected to my objectives?

Instructional alignmentThe match between learning objectives, learning activities and assessments.

25

Backward design -An approach to planning in which the teacher begins with an objective, designs assessments to match the objective, and then creates learning activities to reach the objective.

26

This I Believe“Planning for instruction primarily involves identifying the topics that are important for students to learn.

This statements is false.

Though planning involves identifying topics, it is much broader and includes other components to ensure that instructional activities result in student learning.

27

CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING

2.1 Describe the five essential steps in planning for instruction.2.2 Planning in a standards-based environment involves one additional step beyond the planning steps described in this section of the chapter. What is this additional step?2.3 Classify the following objectives into one to the cells of the taxonomy table in Figure13.2 and explain your classification. (1) Students will identify examples of figures of speech such as similes, metaphors, and personifications in written paragraphs. (2) They will write original paragraphs that include those figures of speech.

28

IMPLEMENTING INSTRUCTION: ESSENTIAL TEACHING SKILLS

We’ve all heard of “basic skills” such as reading, writing, and math (and computer literacy) that all people need to function effectively in today’s world. Similarly, essential teaching skills can be considered basic skills for teacher:• Teacher characteristics• Organization• Focus• Introductory review• Questioning• Feedback • Closure and application

29

Teacher Characteristics: • Who you are?• How you relate to students?• The way you think about and treat

students?• Are you caring?• What are your beliefs in your abilities to

help students learn, regardless of the conditions of the school or students’ home lives? (Personal teaching efficacy)

Read Shirley’s and Jim’s discussion on page 385.

Are you aware of teachers with this level of perseverance?

30

High ExpectationsSelf-fulfilling prophecy – A classroom phenomenon is which student efforts rise or fall to match teacher expectations. • Questioning• Teacher effort• Feedback• Emotional supportModeling and EnthusiasmModeling – the tendency of people to imitate others’ behaviors and attitudes. Teachers who are enthusiastic about the topics they teach will increase the likelihood that students will feel the same way.

31

OrganizationThe set of teacher actions that maximize the amount of time available for instruction.

Focus Attracting and Maintaining AttentionConcrete objects, pictures, models, materials displayed on the overhead, and even information written on the board that attract and maintain attention during learning activities.

32

Teacher Actions that Promote Organization• Starting on time• Making smooth transitions• Preparing materials in advance • Establishing routines

Introductory ReviewEffective teachers not only attract students’ attention at the beginning of a lesson, they also link new ideas to content students have already learned.

Read Shirley’s lesson to see how this can be done.

Page 388

33

QuestioningResearch suggest that guiding students with questioning is more effective than simply explaining topics to them.

Effective and less effective teachers differ in four areas:• Frequency• Equitable distribution• Wait-time• prompting

34

Frequency The number of

questions a teacher asks during a given period of instructional time.

Equitable distribution

The practice of calling on all students-both volunteers and nonvolunteers-as equally as possible. This allows teachers to communicate: I don’t

care whether you are a boy or girl, minority or nonminority, high achiever or low achiever, I want you in my classroom, and I want you involved. I believe you are capable of learning, and I will do whatever it takes to ensure that your are successful.

35

Wait-timeThe period of silence after a question is asked and after a student is called on to answer. If we want students to think about the questions we ask, we need to give them time to think. - think time of 3-5 seconds needed

PromptingProviding additional questions and clues when students fail to answer correctly. Read dialogue page 390.

36

TH

IS I B

ELI

EV

E “The most effective teachers in today’s schools are those who are best able to clearly explain the content they’re teaching their students.”

False

The most effective teachers are those best able to involve their students in lessons through questioning.

37

Feedback Information about

current understanding that can be used to promote new learning.

Ongoing feedback through questioning is one of the most effective ways teachers have of promoting learning.

Application and closure

Closure is a form of review occurring at the end of a lesson.

Read the case - page 391-392

Students stated the main point of lessonStudents apply what they have learned.

38

Exploring Diversity: Effective Instruction in Urban classroomsRead this article on pages 393-394. Prepare for a discussion and answer Questions to Consider on page 394

CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDINGAnswer this questions on page 394 and place in your binder.

39

Instructional Strategies“What is the best way to teach?”

Instructional strategies – prescriptive approaches to teaching designed to help students acquire a deep understanding of specific forms of knowledge. • Direct instruction• Lecture-discussion• Guided discovery• Cooperative learning

40

Direct instruction – An instructional strategy designed to teach essential knowledge and skills through teacher explanation and modeling followed by student practice and feedback.

Phases• Introduction and review• Developing understanding• Practice

41

PracticeScaffolding - Instructional assistance that teachers use to assist learners in a task to produce high rates of success.

Peer tutoring – A form of instructional practice in which students work with each other to provide practice and feedback.

Cross-age tutoring – Peer tutoring in which older students work with younger ones.

42

TECHNOLOGY AND TEACHINGTo be effective, direct instruction needs to include opportunities for students to practice the skills they are learning. Technology can offer this opportunity.

Drill and Practice programs - Software programs designed to provide students with practice and feedback in learning basic skills. Because students can use these programs on their own, teachers do not have to have direct input. Did you see these types of programs at your middle schools assignments?

43

Researchers caution, however, that more time on computers does not necessarily equal more learning. More important are the quality of the learning experiences and the extent to which they are linked to the teacher’s goals.

Have you used drill and practice programs

in any of your high schools classes? What are your thoughts on this

practice?

44

Tutorials – A software program that delivers an entire integrated instructional sequence similar to a teacher’s instruction on the topic.

Read how Lisa uses tutorials. Page 398.

Tutorials include specific learning objectives, multiple pathways to them, and quizzes with feedback geared to the objectives.

No tutorial, regardless of quality, can replace the skills expert teachers demonstrate with their students. Tutorials support effective instruction; they do not replace it.

45

Lecture-discussion – an instructional strategy designed to teach organized bodies of knowledge through teacher presentations and frequent questioning to monitor learning progress.

Organized bodies of knowledge – topics that connect facts, concepts, and principles and make the relationships among them explicit.

Read about Diane Andersons lecture-discussion pages 399 - 400.

46

The effectiveness of lecture-discussions depends on the frequency and quality of question-driven discussions during the lesson.

These discussions allow the teacher to informally assess student’s current level of understanding and then guide them to a deeper understanding of the entire body of knowledge.

In which of your high classes do you see this method used?

47

Guided Discovery – An instructional strategy designed to teach concepts and other abstractions by presenting students with data and assisting them in finding patterns through teacher questioning.

When using guided discovery, teachers spend less time explaining and more time asking questions, so students tend to be more cognitively active than they are in more teacher-centered approaches.

Read about Lori’s use of guided discovery pages 401-402

48

In all the previous readings, all the teachers were enthusiastic and well organized; they began their lessons with a review; they used questioning extensively throughout and they had a form of clear closure and application. The strategies were different but they were all supported by the essential teaching skills.

49

Cooperative Learning – A set of instructional strategies used to help learners meet specific learning and social interaction objectives in structured groups.

This has become one of the most popular instructional strategies in schools today; one study found that more than 9 of 10 elementary teachers used some form of cooperative learning in their classrooms.

Did you see cooperative learning used in your middle school classrooms? Do you see it in your high school classrooms? Give examples.

50

When implemented effectively, cooperative learning involves all students, which can be difficult in large groups. This can also be effective for teaching students social skills such as working collaboratively with others. By participating in cooperative-learning activities, students learn to understand the perspectives and feelings of others, as well as how to build on the ideas of others in developing their understanding.

Do you like working in cooperative-learning groups? Look on page 404, which is your favorite strategy as a student and why?

51

Taking a Stand in an Era of ReformThis describes a controversial proposal to increase student's’ motivation: paying them to learn!

Read then You Take a Stand by answering the question at the end. Be ready to discuss.

Decision Making – page 406. Read, answer and explain. Be ready to discuss.

Check Your Understanding- page 406

Discussion Questions – Select 5 of the 7 and answer. Be ready to discuss.