University of North Carolina at Wilmington



An Example of Most of the Elements of Well-designed Instruction

Here’s a smart, energetic kindergarten teacher. Her name is

[pic] “Boop boop bedoo.”

A big star of cartoons in the 1930’s. Ms Boop is planning instruction. She uses the following tools.

Basic Knowledge Tools

1. Objectives. Start designing instruction from the end. What do you want student to DO when you are done with a unit of instruction. What performance will show whether they learned what you tried to teach?



WHAT students DO at the end of a unit of instruction is the terminal performance. HOW you want them to do the terminal performance---the criteria by which you assess the performance---is the terminal objective. Criteria usually include (1) accuracy, (2) completeness (e.g., elements included), (3) organization (e.g., logical), and (4) speed.

Notice that teaching is inside larger and larger UNITS. The objectives for the larger units (such as a whole course) tell you what the objectives should be for the smaller units (such as daily lessons). For example, if one objective for a whole course is that students solve equations with two unknowns, then you know you must have daily lessons that teach solving equations with two unknowns and one unknown, handling exponents and parentheses, and all the way down to multiplication and division.

Notice that every unit of teaching---from the smallest to the largest---can and SHOULD be guided by a terminal performance and objectives.

Task. A few seconds-minutes.

a. “New sound. This sound…. m….is mmmmm….When I touch under this sound, YOU say the sound.” [Examine other tasks in 100 Easy Lessons.]

Terminal performance: When the teacher touches under the sound, the student says the sound.

Terminal objective: Student says the correct sound, the first time, within 2 seconds.

b. Defining monarchy. “Monarchy is…..”

Terminal performance: Repeat the definition. Identify examples and nonexamples.

Terminal objective: Repeat exactly as stated. Correctly identify all examples and nonexamples 100% after correction. Test---correction---retest—nailed it

Gain attention. Listen up……Excellent for getting ready so fast!!

Frame.

A. What next. Now you’ll learn the definition of monarchy.

B. Objective. When we are done, I will give you examples of monarchy and you will tell me if each one IS or IS NOT an example.

Model

a. Definition. Monarchy is rule by one person.

Test. What’s the definition?

Examples. Examples of monarchy. Point out how each example fits the definition. Also non examples and shows how non examples do not fit the definition.

Test. Present all examples and non examples and ask if they are monarchies and how students know.

Lesson. 10-60 minutes.

a. Review earlier taught letter-sounds (a, m, s); then teach a new sound (e); then review sounding out earlier taught words (am, ma, sa); then teach sounding out new words (me, see, em); then……

Terminal performance:

Terminal objective:

b. The Declaration of Independence. The theory of government by consent of the governed in paragraph 2.



Terminal performance:

Terminal objective:

Unit, or Series of Lessons on the Same Topic. 2-5 (?) lessons.

a. The first 10 lessons in a reading program, that teach all the basics. [See lesson 10 of 100 Easy Lessons and work backwards to lesson 1.] Another name for this terminal performance is curriculum-based mastery test.

Terminal performance:

Terminal objective:

b. Ten class periods on the American Revolution.

Terminal performance:

Terminal objective:

Course (secondary) or subject (elementary).

Math, reading, science, history: consists of tasks within lessons within units.

Terminal performance:

Terminal objective:

School year.

Common, or core courses taken, or subjects taught.

Terminal performance:

Terminal objective:

School level.

Elementary, middle, high school.

Terminal performance:

Terminal objective:

2. Forms of knowledge. Knowledge is a representation of reality---with words, music, painting, dance, sculpture.



Knowledge is in the form of assertions, or declarative statements----as though to say, “This (subject) is how it is (predicate).”

➢ Make an assertion about the class in which dogs exist.

All…

➢ Make an assertion about our solar system.

➢ Make an assertion about the class in which persons who have no kitchen fire extinguisher exist.

➢ Make an assertion about the Bill of Rights.

➢ Make an assertion about the mineral composition of granite.

WHAT is represented about reality is how things are connected.

That is what knowledge is----assertions about connections.

There are five kinds of connections that we can (so far) know. Therefore, there are five kinds of assertions and five kinds of knowledge.

a. Facts. A particular thing (subject) has a feature (predicate). “George Washington (subject) was the first U.S. president.” The connection is the subject (goes with) predicate.

Teach facts by stating and then testing.

b. List. A particular thing or a set of things has a set of features. “The six New England states are…..” “The rights enumerated in the First Amendment are….” “The elements in sugar are…..” The connection is the subject (goes with) predicate.

Teach lists by stating a few items, testing, adding more items, testing the whole so far, etc.

Identify facts and lists here.



c. Sensory or basic concepts. A set of things (examples) that are grouped based on having a common feature (sameness). Any example shows the feature. Colors, shape, textures.

The connection is that all examples of the concept share the same feature or features.

“These are (in the class of) red.”

Teach sensory concepts by presenting a range of examples and name each one. Then juxtapose an example and a nonexample and name each one. Then test all. “Is this…?”

d. Abstract or higher-order concept. The features by which things (examples) are grouped are separated in time and space. Therefore, you can’t show an example the same way you can show an example of a sensory concept, as in “This is a triangle.”

Republic. You can’t see or hear an example. “…a state in which the supreme power rests in the body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by representatives chosen directly or indirectly by them.” How can you see a body of citizens, or a state, or supreme power?

Table. Yes, you could say “That is a table.” But the assertion would NOT be a definition of the concept (the whole class of) table. Because tables have more or fewer legs, shapes of tops, etc.) So, the assertion “That is a table,” is fact knowledge. That (subject) is (is called) a table.”

Teach abstract concepts by saying the definition, testing to ensure students got the definition, giving examples and pointing out the defining features (“This is a republic. Notice….”), giving nonexamples and pointing out the absence of the defining features (“This is NOT a republic. Notice….”), then testing all (“Is this a republic?.... How do you know?”).

Find concepts that you might teach here.



Find facts, lists, and concepts that you might teach here.



e. Rule. A rule, or proposition, is a connection NOT between a particular thing and a feature of that thing, but between one whole set of things (concept) and another whole set of things.

Note the difference.

Fact. “The price of gold today (subject) is $1350 an ounce (predicate).

Fact. “The demand for gold rose from 10,000 orders yesterday to 15,000 orders today. And the price of gold rose from $1250 yesterday to $1350 today.”

Fact: connection between particular things IN a class.

Changes in orders Changes in price for

for one commodity the same commodity

Rule or proposition: connection between classes as a whole. “When the demand (orders for) for a commodity increases, the price of the commodity increases.

Changes in orders Changes in prices

Teach rules or proposition this way:

a. State the rule; test to ensure that students got it; give examples and point out how they show the rule; give nonexamples and show how they do not show the rule; test all (“Is this an example of the rule about demand and price?....How do you know?”). Or,

b. Give examples and having students identify corresponding changes in each set of variables. “X1 went up, and then Y1 went up. X3 went up, and then Y3 went up….” Have students state the connection. “I see, when X increases Y increases.”

f. Routine. A routine is a sequence of steps by which something is accomplished. Examples: descriptions (start by showing….then…); explanations (state one reason, then another, then another); solutions (first do…next do…finally do…); arguments or theories (first state rules; then state evidence consistent with rules; then draw conclusion).

The connections are how each step is necessary for the following.

Teach routines the same way you teach lists. Show (model) one or two steps; test (“Your turn.”); add one or more steps; test all so far; do this with several examples; test all.

3. Procedures. There is a general procedure for teaching anything. This general procedure is slightly different depending on what form of knowledge you are teaching.

➢ Gain attention

➢ Frame instruction

➢ Model or present information

➢ Lead students through the information. “Do it with me.”

➢ Test/check to ensure students got it. “Your turn….”

➢ Add more information: examples and nonexamples of concepts and rules, items on a list, steps in a routine.

➢ Test all.



4. Phases of instruction. There are four phases of instruction.

a. Acquisition of new knowledge, or initial instruction. Students say the fact or list; state definition of concept; identify examples and nonexamples of concept; state rule; identify examples and nonexamples of rule; perform routine.

New knowledge is learned via inductive reasoning.

Acquisition set

%^m**)/ This is glerm. What is glerm?

)(m%/$# This is glerm. What is glerm?

&^%/)h This is glerm. What is glerm?

)m%?$# This is NOT glerm. What is glerm?

&^%)h$ This is NOT glerm. What is glerm?

&^%)/h This IS glerm. What is glerm?

Generalization

--)#!B/ Is this glerm? How do you know?

NZ#+=) Is this glerm? How do you know?

Etc.

Teach with an acquisition set of examples and nonexamples.

b. Generalization of knowledge to new examples. Knowing (being able to say or do) a concept, rule, or routine, students apply definitions, rules, or routines to new examples and nonexamples. “Here’s a new set of data. Do these follow the rule about demand and price?” “Use the routine you learned to solve these new problems?” “Is this one an example of a republic? How do you know?”

Generalization involves deductive reasoning.

➢ “All triangles consist of three intersecting lines forming angles of 180 degrees.” Rule or definition.

➢ “This new object consists of three intersecting lines forming angles of 180 degrees.” Fact.

➢ “Therefore, this new object is a triangle.” Conclusion.

Teach with a generalization set of examples and nonexamples.

c. Fluency. Fluency is a combination of accuracy and speed, or rate---such as 90 correct words read per minute. It makes sense to work on fluency after you are sure that students know the material (facts, concepts, routines, etc.) well enough that they can do new examples on their own (generalization.

Teach fluency by modeling how to go faster; by practicing elements; by repeating and repeating the whole; and by setting fluency objectives.

Use a fluency set consisting of items from the acquisition and generalization sets.

d. Retention. Retention is maintaining accuracy and speed over time and despite learning new information. Work on retention via review at the beginning, during, and end of lessons, units, programs, and courses. Make sure to correct all errors and to reteach if students repeat or make too many errors.

Here’s How Ms Boop Talks to Herself as She Plans Instruction

She says,

1. I’ll be teaching common concepts---colors, shapes, and prepositions such as on, next to, and under.

2. Among prepositions, let’s start with on, because it’s the more commonly used. Then we’ll do next to, and then under. Yup, that’s a logical sequence. Among colors, let’s start with blue or red, because these are quite common in the lives of little kids.

3. Remember: I’m NOT teaching the WORD “blue.” I’m teaching the concept blue, or blueness. The concept is the whole set, class, category, or group of things that have the SAME feature of blueness. The word “blue” is just the WAY blueness is named in English. “Bleu” is how blueness is named in French. Azul is how blueness is named in Spanish. It’s the SAMENESS across examples---the concept------blueness---that I want the kids to learn.

4. The first phase of instruction is acquisition of new knowledge. How do human being learn something new? It’s like this. The learning mechanism is shown examples that present information. The learning mechanism performs a set of logical operations with the information from the examples. The logical operations are called “induction,” or “inductive reasoning.” A smart teacher communicates---teaches---in a way that makes it easy for the learning mechanism to perform the logical operations of inductive reason so that kids GET blueness, as named by “blue,” “azul,” “bleu,” or “blau.”

5. I must state instructional objectives. The objectives are what students will DO after I teach. The objectives tell me what to teach. The objectives also tell me how to assess whether students have learned what I tried to teach. The assessment is the terminal performance at the end of instruction.

Objectives ( What to teach, ( What I have students DO (terminal performance)

How to Teach that tells me whether they meet the objective and if instruction was effective.

6. I will have different objectives for teaching basic, or sensory, concepts such as colors and shapes.

a. I will hold up all of the (colored objects, shapes) in the acquisition set used to teach the concept. I will ask, “Is this (red, square)?” Students will make at least 9/10 correct responses the first time, and 100% after any error correction and retest.

b. When students meet this objective, I’ll work on generalization. I’ll show a generalization set of 10 new (colors, shapes) and ask “Is this (red, square)?” Students will make at least 8/10 correct responses the first time, and 100% after any error correction and retest.

c. Then I’ll teach a new color---blue. Same objective as in “a.”

d. Then I will work on generalization of the new color, as in “b.”

e. Then I will show examples of both colors and ask students, “Is this (red, blue). This is discrimination.

f. Then students will walk around the room and FIND examples of red and blue. Generalizaton.

g. Then we’ll work on fluency. We’ll do the same as in “e,” as fast as we can.

7. I will use the general procedure for teaching during the phase of acquisition with explicit, focused instruction. Here’s how I’ll teach basic concepts---colors, shapes, textures---during acquisition.

What I Communicate What Kids Get, or How they make sense of the communication The teacher shows examples of blue The kids COMPARE the features of examples and try

and TREATS each example---names it--- to identify how they are the same. The kids reason as

the SAME way. follows.

“Boys and girls. Show me ready.”

Gain attention.

“Now you’re going to learn colors!!

Frame instruction a. What they will learn.

“When we are done, I’ll show you things and you will tell

the color!!! You’ll be SO smart.”

Frame instruction b. What students will do---the objective.

“Here we go!”

Now Ms Boop presents information.

Model.

“This is blue.” “Hmmm. Miss Boop called it ‘blue.’” ‘Blue’ could be

the shape, or the color. Or things with straight lines. Or “What color?” things with angles. Or things that are objects. Or things that are shapes. Or things that the teacher is blue. holding. This one example shows---information on--- ALL of those features. So the statement ‘This is blue,’ is ambiguous. It does not clearly communicate what the word ‘blue points to. It could point to many features of the examples. I hope she gives more examples, because I’m confused.”

“This is blue.” “Okay, she called this one ‘blue,’ too, and the two examples are the SAME color. But the second one What color? has straight lines and angles. So, the word ‘blue’ can’t signify---mean, point to---straight lines or blue angles because the first example had NO straight lines or angles but she DID call it ‘blue.’ However, both examples are shapes, objects, and things Miss Boop is holding. So, I have narrowed down what the word ‘blue’ means---what features it signifies--- but the communications are still ambiguous---they could mean several things. Let’s see what happens.

“This is blue.” [pic] “Okay! So, the word ‘blue’ can’t mean a shape or or something Miss Boop is holding, because this picture is NOT of a shape and Miss Boop is not holding it. But---as with examples 1 and 2---it has the same COLOR! So, I think---hypothesize---that the word ‘blue’ signifies that CERTAIN color. However, I can’t be sure because the word ‘blue’ might mean---signify---ANY color.”

Ms Boop knows that the three examples are

still ambiguous. Shape and being held have

been eliminated---because the blue bird is not a

shape and was not held---. But the word ‘blue’

still might mean ‘any thing that is a color.’

So, Miss Boop juxtaposes an example and a NON

example that are the SAME in all of the NOT relevant

features, but are the SAME in the relevant---defining---

feature.

“This is NOT blue.” [pic] The learning mechanism CONTRASTS examples and nonexamples to identify how they are different. Then it draws a conclusion.

“Oooookaaayyy! I got it. The two birds are the same in every way---feature---I can see, but one was called ‘blue’ and the other was called ‘not blue.’ AND they are different in ONE way----color. So, I conclude---make an inductive inference---that the word ‘blue’ must mean a PARTICULAR COLOR---the one that looks like this.”

[pic]

To help the kids CONFIRM their inductive inference,

Ms Boop juxtaposes another former example and

a NONexample that are the same in all NONdefining

features (shape, size) BUTare different in the one

feature that MAKES---defines---the difference between

blue/”blue” and not blue/”not blue.”

“This is blue.” “Yup! I was right! She called one ‘blue’ and the

other one ‘not blue.’ And the only way they are

“This is NOT blue.” different is blueness. [See the block above which the kid MEANS by ‘blueness.’]

8. To make sure the kids GET that the concept, blue, I will present all of the examples and nonexamples in the acquisition set, and I will ask, “Is this blue.”

Acquisition test/check

I will correct every error. For example, I show ….. and say “Is this blue?”

Melvin says “Yes.” Error.

[pic]

Not a Betty Boop approved correction!

[pic]

So, I say, “This is NOT blue. THIS IS blue. Is this blue?” RETEST.

Melvin says “No.”

“Correct. This is NOT blue.”

I back up and present a few of the examples and nonexamples AGAIN, to make sure that Melvin is FIRM.

9. The next phase of instruction is generalization---application---of acquired---earlier learned---knowledge to new examples and nonexamples. Obviously, you have to know something before you can use it. So, again, we have a logical progression----acquisition before generalization.

Review. To acquire knowledge---the first phase of instruction---the learning mechanism compares examples---things named or handled the same way---and identifies how they are the same. Then the learning mechanism contrasts examples and nonexamples---named or handled differently---to identify how they are different. Then the learning mechanism draws an inductive inference---a conclusion---about what the GENERAL idea---‘blue’---must be.

This general idea is a RULE. “All things that are this color [pic] are blue.”

The learning mechanism applies---generalizes---knowledge---“All things that are this color are blue.”---by performing a sequence of logical operations called “deductive reasoning,” or “deduction.” Like this.

If all things that are this color [pic] are blue. RULE, or first premise in deductive reasoning. Statement---general--- about all things---examples---in a class.

This NEW example[pic] IS FACT, or second premise. Statement

about a specific thing.

this [pic] color.

Therefore, this [pic] is---in the category--- CONCLUSION, or deductive inference,

blue. from the fact and rule.

What will Ms Boop work on next? See # 6 above.

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download