Designing and Delivering Instruction From a …



Designing and Delivering Instruction From a Textbook

[Or Developing Your Own Materials]

Background to American Revolution

1. Examine the section of text you plan to teach; for example, chapters on American Revolution.

a. Now look at the standard course of study.

Does your textbook cover all that the scs says you have to teach?

b. Also examine research and expert opinion, and your own knowledge.

General







Specific Subjects (History)

John G. Boswell. The role of national development in determining the policy and structure of education.



Jefferson



Walter Russell Mead. The State of World History Standards. Fordham Institute, 2006.

Look at entry J.

Diane Ravitch. A consumer’s guide to high school history textbooks. The Fordham Institute, 2004.

Features of Greek democracy.



Pericles on Athenian democracy from his funeral oration during Peloponnesian War.



Direct democracy (as in Greece). Definition



Problems of Direct Democracy





1.

2.

3.

4.

The Problem of Factions (Noted above regarding the Greeks)

Federalist Papers---10.



John Adams.



Representative democracy



John Locke



2. Do your resources suggest strands of knowledge that you will weave together to help your students to GET and to retell the story (in a history course, for example)? Knowledge strands might include:

Timeline of events

Persons

Groups (families, political parties)

Social institutions

Culture (values, beliefs)

Technology

Geography

Big ideas to be gained (lessons, big pictures).

Now that you know the strands, you can design instruction so that all of the important KINDS of information are covered. For example, you may have to add content on culture or technology to what is in a textbook.

3. Do these resources suggest “big ideas” needed to organize the whole

unit; e.g., in history?

Yes.

We need a general theory of politics and revolution so that students can see the relevance of specific events and persons and documents.

We need to see that direct democracy has problems that can in part be fixed by representative government----as defined in the Declaration and as codified in the Constitution.

4. Do these resources suggest the need for additional content?

YES.

There is no theory of revolution as a big idea onto which specific

events and ideas in America can be mapped.

Very little on definitions and the history of the IDEAS of representative government (e.g., direct democracy, representative democracy).

Too little on the problems of democracy.

Too little on ideas of important writers (e.g., John Adams, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson)

5. If you don’t have a useable text, or if your text does not cover all that is important, get on the web and google subject matter. For example, Greek democracy, problems of democracy, Jefferson on education, John Adams, factions, representative government, types of government.

Download a sample of materials that you think will cover all the strands in the topic.

Include images that you can turn into Powerpoint presentations.

Big Idea: Theory of revolution. [General. The War of Independence is consistent with the theory. The Declaration of Independence is clearly an example of an expression of the illegitimacy of British rule and a call for revolution.]

Peter Blau. Exchange and Power in Social Life. 1964. [Teach students the propositions (rules). Perhaps use a diagram.]

1. Power is the ability to get people to do what you want despite resistance.

2. Power rests on control of resources that people can’t get unless they enter into an exchange in which they (as subordinates) are dependent upon those who control resources (superordinates).

3. Superordinates (rulers) may justify their power in several ways, but the power relationship is the same---they rule under the aegis of a god (theocracy); they are members of a family that rules traditionally [e.g., hereditary monarchy]; they rule because they are the best (aristos, aristocracy); they rule in the name of the people (often a dictatorship).

4. The power relationship works like this.

Superordinates (rulers) make demands. If subordinates

obey the demands, they receive the resources they want.

5. The power relationships is seen as fair, rulers are seen as

legitimate, subordinates cooperate, and the relationship

becomes stable, as long as rulers

do not demand too much and do not use coercion to force

obedience.

7. When rulers DO demand too much (when the price of

obedience is too high) and/or when they use coercion,

subordinates see the power relationship as unfair; the

legitimacy of rule weakens; subordinates begin to oppose rulers; rulers increase the use of force to coerce

compliance; this is seen as a further (and unfair) price of the relationship. Subordinates develop opposition groups and opposition ideologies that justify rebellion. At some point, events may instigate rebellion.

John G. Boswell. The role of national development in determining the policy and structure of education.



However, with the rise of the nation state and industrial capitalism modern societies have become increasingly complex and the education process has come to rely more and more on the manipulation of symbols. The interaction between the state and its economic system is mostly responsible for the increasing complexity of life and the need for greater ability on the part of people to manipulate the symbols of an increasingly symbolic world. Why education has been almost totally taken over by the state and confined to institutions under its control is a complex story that does not fit the simple sound bite explanation of problem and proposed solution so popular today.

This is a story of national development, the essential role played by education, the trap created by the need for control of education by the state as it tries to direct the course of its national development, and implications and possibilities for education policy makers. National development is a story played out on a world stage, but our concern is on its implications for education in the United States.

The classical idea, including the idea proposed by Jefferson….

"I know no safe depositary of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education. This is the true corrective of abuses of constitutional power."

--Thomas Jefferson to W. Jarvis, 1820.

"Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves, therefore, are its only safe depositories. And to render even them safe, their minds must be improved to a certain degree."

--Thomas Jefferson: Notes on Va., 1782.

The information of the people at large can alone make them the safe as they are the sole depositary of our political and religious freedom.

--Thomas Jefferson to William Duane, 1810.

The diffusion of information and the arraignment of all abuses at the bar of public reason, I deem [one of] the essential principles of our government, and consequently [one of] those which ought to shape its administration.

--Thomas Jefferson: 1st Inaugural Address, 1801.

Convinced that the people are the only safe depositories of their own liberty, and that they are not safe unless enlightened to a certain degree, I have looked on our present state of liberty as a short-lived possession unless the mass of the people could be informed to a certain degree.

--Thomas Jefferson to Littleton Waller Tazewell, 1805.

….was that by learning to reason and by learning the facts of history and contemporary society, citizens would learn how to think, how to understand what was going on, and would make good political decisions. As a whole, the citizenry would make good decisions.

But as society has become more complex (horizontally and vertically), containing large numbers of citizens who are disadvantaged, unassimilated, and anti-intellectual, we cannot count on producing an educated citizenry the old fashioned way (Latin, original sources, high standards), or to do so locally. So, the political state has taken on the function of producing persons who can participate. But instead of reason and knowledge, it uses symbols and sound bites. In other words, education is indoctrination.

[What are some implications for how you would teach history?]



Features of Greek democracy. Greek democracy can be seen as an effort to install a from of government in which power would be distributed among the citizens rather than held by a small group.



Pericles on Athenian democracy from his funeral oration during Peloponnesian War.



Our constitution does not copy the laws of neighboring states; we are rather a pattern to others than imitators ourselves. Its administration favors the many instead of the few; this is why it is called a democracy. If we look to the laws, they afford equal justice to all in their private differences; if to social standing, advancement in public life falls to reputation for capacity, class considerations not being allowed to interfere with merit; nor again does poverty bar the way, if a man is able to serve the state, he is not hindered by the obscurity of his condition. The freedom which we enjoy in our government extends also to our ordinary life. There, far from exercising a jealous surveillance over each other, we do not feel called upon to be angry with our neighbor for doing what he likes, or even to indulge in those injurious looks which cannot fail to be offensive, although they inflict no positive penalty

Direct democracy (as in Greece). Definition



Problems of Direct Democracy

Ancient Greeks were members of clans and tribes as well as the city state and it was in the interaction of claims of power, allegiance and authority within these institutions that Greeks worked out their sense of democratic governance. Clan and tribal membership came to conflict with the operation of the city state. The constant bickering and war among the Greek city states led to stresses on the system of governance by clan and tribal affiliation. Over a period of approximately 100 years, between 600 BC and 500 BC, a new system was set in place in Athens. Law was rationalized and applied equally to all citizens; local aristocrats were displaced from their positions of personal authority based on kinship by a centralized political authority. This new authority was based on the creation of a new local political unit, the 'deme', which chose its own representative council and administrative officers. 'Demes' were grouped into larger geographical units with similar governance structure and function, and these larger units led to the city. This revolutionary change in seat and structure of authority meant that nothing now stood between the individual Greek and the State.

Unfortunately, this did not lead immediately to more effective government. Shifting loyalties from one system to another, in addition to shifting the rationale for moral behavior is not an easy task. The intellectual and cultural diversity and the increasing sense of individuality brought on by this restructuring brought out the worst and the best in Greek character. These changes led Plato to the conclusion that the new organization required an overhaul. What Plato recommended was not a return to previous social and political arrangements, but rather a continuation of the expansion of the power and authority of the state. There would be no other loyalties, virtue and morality would spring from one source; there could be no confusion for the individual. Aristotle, Isocrates, and other philosophers took different approaches to the study of government. Despite differences among them, the ultimate political legacy of Ancient Greece to the West includes the concept of loyalty to the state above all other loyalties, the concept of the state as the mediator of culture, and the concept of the primacy of the individual in all affairs. [But does THIS solution---decrease inter-group conflict by having a stronger state---prose the same old problem of tyranny?]





1.

2.

3.

4.

The Problem of Factions (Noted above regarding the Greeks)

Federalist Papers---10.



AMONG the numerous advantages promised by a well constructed Union, none deserves to be more accurately developed than its tendency to break and control the violence of faction. … The instability, injustice, and confusion introduced into the public councils, have, in truth, been the mortal diseases under which popular governments have everywhere perished…. The valuable improvements made by the American constitutions [representatives on congress rather than mass voting; three branches for a balance of power; term limitations; rules; punishments for violating rules (impeachment)] on the popular models, both ancient and modern, cannot certainly be too much admired; but it would be an unwarrantable partiality, to contend that they have as effectually obviated the danger on this side, as was wished and expected. Complaints are everywhere heard from our most considerate and virtuous citizens… that our governments are too unstable, that the public good is disregarded in the conflicts of rival parties, and that measures are too often decided, not according to the rules of justice and the rights of the minor party, but by the superior force of an interested and overbearing majority.

John Adams.

Democracy... while it lasts is more bloody than either aristocracy or monarchy. Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There is never a democracy that did not commit suicide.

But Athens never was free, according to our author’s plan of successive assemblies. Athens never had assemblies of representatives. The collective assemblies of the people were made sovereigns, in all cases whatsoever, by Solon. But they never practised it till Aristides began and Pericles completed the plan; and as soon as it existed, it began to render property, liberty, and life insecure. Yet the ordinary administration was never conducted in these assemblies; the senate and the Areopagus and the ten other courts conducted them. Yet with all these checks, ask Demosthenes and Phocion, and Miltiades and Aristides, how the sovereign people behaved.



Representative democracy



John Locke



6. Examine the materials---both in the textbook and the supplementary

materials (above).

Look at small sections in a chapter or internet document.

What are the main KINDS of things (information) you want students to learn regarding the different strands—persons, places, etc.?

Information/knowledge of:

Facts

Lists

Concepts/vocabulary

Rules: statements of how things are related, connected, caused.

Models (diagrams) and theories (a set of rules in a sequence) that explain something. [These are routines---routines for accomplishing a task. Each connection in a diagram or each statement in a theory is a STEP.]

In a history course, you want students to be able to tell a captivating and edifying story.

Underline the information in the materials and/or take notes. Label them as to type of knowledge, so that you know HOW to teach each one.

7. Think of one or more objectives for the information in each chunk. What do you want students to DO after the information is presented? [Note that when you ask students to RESPOND to the information that you just gave them from the chunk, or the information that they just read, it is the TEST/CHECK portion of instruction.] Here are examples of objectives for a chunk. Students will:

a. Define….

b. State three problems of ……

c. Compare and contrast….

d. Summarize the….

8. Arrange the materials (paragraphs, sections, chapters) in the textbook and/or supplements in a logical sequence.

You don’t have to follow the sequence in a textbook. Some sections might be better if they came earlier or later.

Nor do you have to cover everything.

Cover DEEPLY Acquisition of new knowledge, generalization to new examples, fluent use of knowledge, retention) with the most important information.

The less and the deeper, the more students will acquire, use, and retain.

9. Add scaffolding.

Check this…



a. Make a syllabus for the whole course.

Week/topic/tests



b. Make weekly chart, with column for each day: topic, vocabulary/big ideas with objectives, activities/projects, tests. Review each day to prepare class.



c. Make glossary that accompanies weekly chart. Hand out right before use; e.g., when reading chart for the day or week.



d. Make guided notes that accompany daily column on weekly chart.



e. Make handouts that list what to review. State WHAT to know for each item; that is, objectives.



f. Teach students to make the format for, and to use Cornell note taking.







g. Powerpoint presentations



10. Introduce each section by having students read the guided notes with you. Call on individuals to read SOME of the chunks/objectives to get them involved. [This does not apply as much to math texts with naïve students.]

“Gordon. Number 6, please.”

11. Initially, teach students HOW to find, state, and respond to (i.e., perform the objective)---using, model-lead-test/check/verification.

a. Read an objective from the guided notes and show them how to find the relevant chunk of information in the text.

b. Read the chunk in the text (or in the web materials that you project on the screen or that you’ve handed out); or have students read a chunk. Emphasize the information relevant to the objective. Remind students to take notes on cards. THIS IS ESSENTIALLY THE MODEL PART OF INSTRUCTION.

If you think it will help, have them read it with you. LEAD.

Then IMMEDIATE ACQUISITION TEST----consistent with objectives.

“Define direct democracy.”

“So what are three problems of democracy?”

“How does representation, in theory, increase legitimacy over, say,

absolute monarchy?”

[Correct any errors using simple error correction format. Basically, model---test---retest later.]

c. Repeat with the next chunks.

d. After four or five chunks, and at the end of the section, review and test EVERYTHING YOU COVERED.

[Delayed acquisition test.]

12. When it seems that students get the routine (# 11 above), have THEM do the reading and YOU test after each chunk, and later after a series of chunks. [delayed acquisition test]

T. “What’s the next objective on our guided notes?”

S. “Identify main features of the Battle at Marathon, page 176.”

T. “Everybody, read page 176. Jane, you read out loud. I’ll ask

questions and you all take notes on the answers. Jane, go.”

J. “”In September of 490 BC a Persian armada of 600 ships disgorged

an invasion force of approximately 20,000 infantry and

cavalry on Greek soil just north of Athens.

T. “Everybody. What was the date?”

S. “September, 490 BC.”

T. “Write it.”

T. “An armada is a fleet of ships. How many Persian infantry and

cavalry?”

S. “20,000.”

T. “Correct, 20,000.”

T. “Everybody. Where did they land?”

S. “Just north of Athens.”

J. “Their mission was to crush the Greek states for supporting the

Ionian Greeks to the east, who had revolted against Persian rule.”

T. [Show Ionian colonies on map.] “What had the Ionian Greeks

done?”

S. “Revolted against Persian rule?”

T. “Why did the Persians invade?”

S. “Because the Greeks helped the Ionians.”

“To crush them as punishment.”

J. “Athens mobilized 10,000 hoplite warriors to defend their

territory. The two armies met on the Plain of

Marathon twenty-six miles north of Athens. The flat battlefield

surrounded by hills and sea was ideal for the Persian cavalry.

Surveying the advantage that the terrain and size of their force

gave to the Persians, the Greek generals hesitated.

J. “One of the Greek generals - Miltiades - made a passionate plea

for boldness and convinced his fellow generals to attack the

Persians. Miltiades ordered the Greek hoplites to form a line

equal in length to that of the Persians. Then - in an act that his

enemy believed to be complete madness - he ordered his Greek warriors to attack the Persian line at a dead run. In the ensuing

melee, the middle of the Greek line weakened and gave way, but

the flanks were able to engulf and slaughter the trapped Persians.

An estimated 6,400 Persians were slaughtered while only 192

Greeks were killed. [Show slide of battle.]

Then give a review/delayed acquisition test of everything you taught and tested above.

You can also ask generalization and probe questions.

“What might have happened if the Greeks lost at Marathon?”

“Why do you think the Greeks won so easily?” [This leads to later chunks on weapons and armor, phalanx combat, Greek virtues, and Greek independence.]





13. Later still, students can both read, ask questions, and do Powerpoint presentations.

14. Make sure to cover not just acquisition of new knowledge, but also fluency, generalization, and retention.

a. Fluency. Fast question and answer on facts and definitions.

Fast worksheets. Teacher-class, peers.

b. Generalization. Have students apply concepts and rule and theories/models to other situations.

“How are the Spartans like the Marines?”

“How does the Greek panoply compare with the modern infantry

panoply?”

“Compare the reaction of many Americans to the attack on 9/11

to the invasion of Greece by Darius I.”

c. Retention. Cumulative review (weekly at least) of what was

covered earlier, with emphasis on more recent information.

15. Make sure to have discussion and to develop assignments that strategically integrate much of the information learned.

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