The fundamentals of teaching: Let's review direct, inquiry, and cooperative instruction!

 The fundamentals of teaching: Let's review direct, inquiry, and cooperative instruction!

Explore part 2 

Let's talk about the effects of direct instruction article. 

After reading the article, I feel I understand what direct instruction is a little bit more. My favorite part about this article was the diagram used. After reading the article, I think I know what direct instruction is a little bit more. My favorite part about this article was the diagram used to show the stages of direct instruction. By looking at the diagram, I was able to review what each stage entailed. There was one part of the article that stood out to me. This part was when the author stated, "This aspect of the program has major, major implications. Scripting lessons take away from teacher creativity or autonomy." before the author made this statement, he explained that direct instruction was extremely scripted and made teachers robots. I was surprised when he mentioned this because, from fieldwork, I saw teachers who have a scripted but creative direct instruction lesson plan. I was also surprised when the author stated this: "The data collection process is both arduous on the teacher and awesome in its scope. A copious amount of data is collected each week by each teacher. " I was surprised with this comment that was made because as a teacher candidate, I know that to make my students succeed, I have to work hard, and to work hard, you have to put in a lot of work. Direct instruction is one of my favorite lessons to plan, and I hope that in the future, I will be able to make something scripted but at the same time creative as well. 

Let's review the Learning to Teach Social Studies: Inquiry-based Lessons video 

I liked how the video mentioned that an "inquiry lesson is a way for children to learn adult roles." I also liked how the video said the stages of problem-solving. The video states the steps of problem-solving in order. the video states these steps are:

1. presenting students with questions for a problem

2. grouping up students for inquiry lessons 

3. having the teacher help students when necessary

4. presenting final results in a variety of formats

The video explains that for step one, "students should use real-life situations. But that these problems should have simple answers." When completing an inquiry lesson, the steps that the teacher wants his or her class to complete should be stated clearly to avoid confusion. The video also explains that a teacher can put students into groups in whatever way they want. When I have my own classroom, I might group students on where they are sitting, but I will not know how I will group students until I am in that moment as an educator. Overall I enjoyed watching this video and how it let me brush up on how a teacher should complete an inquiry lesson in a classroom. Here is an article about the inquiry that helped me understand how to teach it even more.

Let's review the Learning to Teach Social Studies: Cooperative Learning video 

I liked this video. Before watching this video, I did not understand what cooperative learning was or what it entailed. I was very nervous about how to teach it and did not know what to expect. My favorite part of the video was when it mentioned that "students develop intellectually by interacting with others in social settings." I also liked how the video mentioned that a "key feature of cooperative learning is working in groups." Students should be grouped in various ways to play on multiple student's strengths when doing cooperative learning. Overall I thought the video was fascinating and gave an excellent overview of cooperative learning.