Meta Reflection
Overall I have found this class very useful and practical. Looking back, I think that it would have been more beneficial to have taken this course while I was teaching during the school year. The class is so rich with ideas that are spawned from the readings, that it would be so wonderful to be able to implement them right away, amidst the excitement of learning them. That being said, taking the class over the summer also has it perks and allows more time to explore and think about the different models of teaching and philosophies behind them.
For my meta-reflection, I would like to look back at some of the strategies and models of teaching that I plan on using in my teaching this coming year.
One of my favorite strategies that I have used in the past in my teaching and I read more about this term is non-linguistic representation. I love this particular strategy because I really believe that it opens up the material to so many different types and levels of learners. “When teachers use non-linguistic representation strategies, they help students represent knowledge as imagery. These strategies are powerful because they tap into students’ natural tendency for visual image processing, which helps them construct meaning of relevant content and skills and have a better capacity to recall it later (Medina, 2008)” (Dean, Pitler & Stone, 2012, p. 64). Examples of this could include using manipulatives in a math class or using graphic organizers (enchantedlearning.com is a great website with graphic organizers) in a Language Arts class. This strategy was in fact what I chose to write about as one of my focus strategies for this course because of its’ effectiveness and it is a fun strategy to use! Here is the link to my post on this strategy: https://rebeccaaf.wordpress.com/2013/07/11/strategy-1-edu-6526/
Another strategy that strikes me as particularly effective is concept attainment. Although I have taught many subjects over the years, I still feel like my strengths are in the areas of science and math. That being said, I think part of that is because of my affinity towards categorization and logical thinking. This particular teaching model is all about categorizing “item based on an analysis of their characteristics, or critical attributes. Critical attributes are the characteristics that define an object or idea and help explain what makes it unique” (Dell’Olio & Donk, 2007, p. 112). This is a useful tool because it teaches students how to categorize and organize so they can learn to apply this to new information they gather on their own in their future studies. I believe that any strategy we can give our student that teach them the “how” is the most powerful tool we can give them-one they can use when we are not around. (http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=162537– here is a video demonstration of the strategy).
It seems to me that in some ways direct instruction is a teaching model that has gotten a bad rap. I think it is less about direct instruction being “bad” and more about teachers losing what direct instruction really about. I find that a lot of teachers use what they call direct instruction, but it is really just frontal teaching; standing at the front of the room, giving a lecture and then have the students work on an assignment. This is certainly a piece of direct instruction, but without the rest of direct instruction, this piece is really not useful in reaching most students. Actual direct instruction is broken down into several parts, sometimes these parts are done in different orders, but most successful and true direct instruction lessons will include each of the following steps: Focus activity (or hook), stating the objective, giving over content and modeling, check for understanding, guided practice, independent practice, closing of lesson. I think that this strategy is so important because almost any other strategy in some way encompasses this. Even if you are working with other models of teaching, such as non-linguistic representation, you still need to employ the steps of direct instruction in order to teach your students. I particularly like the idea of modeling for your students, then guiding them, and lastly giving them independent practice. This idea is also related to one of our readings last week about character education.
As it turns out character education is something that different schools teach their students in different ways some schools choose to explicitly teach children, morals, or character traits that are important o function in our society. Others choose to model behaviors; still others incorporate it into their teaching and tie it to content. And some do all three. However, I think the most effective curriculum for character education is modeling, this can include tying it to content as well, but any good character education curriculum must be accompanied by teachers who model the appropriate behavior. As Kirk Russel said in an article we read by him, morals are “caught not taught”. So this idea of direct instruction really is a way to teach anything, and all types of models can be incorporated into it.
Another aspect of this course I particularly appreciated was the readings on Howard Gardner. As a Special Education teacher, I truly appreciate the idea of there being different types of learners and the earlier we recognize that and use differentiation in our classroom, the more chance each child has at success. Gardner and his team spent years researching and developing the idea of eight intelligences, which helped define the idea that people learn differently and the importance of finding different ways to reach our students. The eight intelligences he identified are: Musical, visual, verbal, logical, kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal and naturalistic.
I appreciate the books we got for this class because they are both so clearly laid out and describe the teaching models/strategies in a way that makes them both appealing and give easy to follow examples. I look forward to using these books as continuing resources throughout this coming school year and on. The two books are Models of teaching: Connecting student learning with standards by Jeanine Dell’Olio & Tony Donk and Classroom instruction that works: research based strategies for increasing student achievement by Ceri Dean, Elizabeth Ross Hubbell, Howard Pitler & Bj Stone. I highly recommend them both!
Dell’Olio, J., Donk, T. (2007). Models of teaching: Connecting student learning with standards. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
Dean, C., Hubbell, E., Pitler, H., Stone, B. (2012). Classroom instruction that works: Research based strategies for increasing student achievement 2nd ed. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Russell, K. (1987). The wise men know what wicked things are written in the sky: Can virtues be taught? Washington D.C: Regnery Publishing Inc.
Davis, K., Christodoulou, J., Seider, S., & Gardner. H.The theory of multiple intelligences. Retrieved August 6, 2013 from http://howardgardner01.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/443-davis-christodoulou-seider-mi-article.pdf
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