Thursday, October 14, 2010

Direct Instruction

Hey kids!

So it's been a while since the last blog posting.  I've been a little busy with other classes and I hate to say it but I've been slacking on the Methods end.  At least I'm being honest.  Anyway, since the last blog posting, we have learned a lot about Direct instruction.  We have broken into groups into each of the categories of driect instruction.

My group was Homework.  We talked about the pros and cons of homework which I have to say, were pretty good points.  I never liked homework in school, much as I don't like it now.  It's because I'm lazy but hey, again I'm just being honest.  So about this homework deal.. some cons are that sometimes the parents "help" or do the students work for them and although for the student thats totally awesome, they don't learn anything.  Some pros are that it prolongs the experience in the classroom.  Which is fun, yes who doesn't love spending 7 hours in a classroom then going home to do MORE work that has to do with the classroom.  Oh boy.  But anyway, thats a pro.  They would continue the learning process and therefore never forget what they have been learning.

We learned about the other sections of direct instruction too.  These would be the Anticipatory Set, Guided Practice, Drill and Practice, Independant Practice, and Closure.  Each of these play an important role in Direct Instruction.  The anticipatory set is the best part.  Here is where you get to flick the lights, or clap a whole bunch of times in the classroom.  Then you introduce what you're going to be teaching. For instance if you are teaching how to tell time, you can use a clock to maybe ask the students if they know what the hands on the clock mean. Guided practice is when you guide the students through the lesson. DUH. Self explanatory, but it enables the students to practice with the help of the teacher. Drill and Practice is when you teach to make students memorize then you practice it.  Independant practice I went over.  It's the whole fun homework thing.  And Closure is how you end it. What more can I say.

So we have this whole WebQuest thing to do.  I don't know when I'm getting it done.  But I will surely post the link foe you lovely people when I get the chance.