I"ll Take One DI Lesson And One WebQuest To Go Please

I have to admit that creating this Direct Instruction lesson plan and plugging away at the WebQuest requires a lot of hard work and research. They must both be very detailed. I never realized the amount of research that is needed for each. I have found that you have to play them out in your head. You must go through it as if you were actually teaching it, but then you must also act as the student to see if what you are teaching can be understood and flows in a natural manner. Hopefully with experience, these type of issues can be resolved.

Write a Direct Lesson Plan the Right Way

I have discovered that the overview in a direct lesson plan must contain exact wording. You must state the 3 W's - Why you are teaching it? How you will teach it? and What the lesson is about? I have chosen the topic of photosynthesis as this directly relates to my Webquest which will deal with Native American crops/planting. I think that this will be a good introductory lesson to show the students how plants grow and what affects them. I can't wait to use an interactive tool that I found on this topic. I think the students will love it.

This Is What I've Been Waiting For!

I have been growing since the day I was born. I have grown as a daughter, a wife, a mother, a student and now a teacher. I have combined my strengths from all of these roles and now use them as a kind of backbone to assume the role of teacher. Besides becoming knowledgeable about all of the methods in education, I have noticed that my learning style has changed. It is no longer pen, book and paper. The world of technology brings about a new learning style that is different, yet very exciting. The options available to a 21st Century teacher seem endless at this point and I'm sure they will continue to grow. I enjoy listening to videos made by teachers around the world. The perspectives are so colorful. So, this is what I've been waiting for. I have been waiting to see how a teacher works, talks, demonstrates, models, checks for understanding, analyzes, and watches. This is the good stuff that will be embedded in my brain when I walk into my first classroom. It is my expanding knowledge of education.

Read All About It.....

This past month has been one of most in depth learning experiences thus far in my education courses. I have enjoyed learning about models, strategies, approaches, but perhaps the most exciting is learning about all the different types of instruction. I compare Direct Instruction to building a house (of knowledge). The activities of getting to know each other and collaborating within our groups have been contributing to the base of a strong foundation among my peers and instructor. Each week, we build on that foundation with the framework of Methods. I have learned a great deal about Direct Instruction through the explaining, modeling and demonstrating which is done in class. The videos by Dr. Ybarra were all very informative, but I think the 24 questions per 50 minute class really surprised me. It makes sense to do this to check for understanding and to not use it for anything else but as an end toward automaticity (not discipline.) I also loved Zig Engelmann's approach to Direct Instruction. He says, "If they're learning, that's all that really counts." If students don't struggle that doesn't mean that they are not learning, they are being taught in a way that they can exceed the teacher's challenges. A child's behavior will change when you have made a difference. Their self-esteem, confidence and how they approach learning new skills will be positively affected. Teaching in small steps and cyclically checking for understanding, ensures that your students will learn.