Time to Teach!

First Day Teaching!

 

Monday was my first day teaching! I was very nervous to get up in front of the class and teach for the first time, but once I was finished I was excited bout doing it again. My group had the topic of goods and services in your community. This lesson was a direct instruction. It was more teacher based and we were just looking to see what the students knew about the topic and what we needed to tell them more about. The class seemed to have some background knowledge on goods and services, which was great!

 

For our less we started by asking students to share what they knew about goods and services. Then we went to our PowerPoint, this is where we had definitions and examples. We had three different activities that followed the PowerPoint. 

Activity 1

We had students tell us the definitions of goods and services in silly voices. 
 

Activity 2 

We allowed students to get more involved. Using the SMARTBoard, students took turns sorting the different images into goods and services. We then asked the rest of the class if they agreed or disagreed with the choice made. 

Activity 3 

We had students work on a T-chart activity. This was were they would have several pictures and they would have to sort them into goods or services and then glue them to the chart. 
 

Then we closed the lesson by asking students "what did you learn today?".  Student were eager to share what they learned! This is also when we assigned the students a homework assignment. This was a Social Studies journal. They had to write what they learned in class. This was our way of assessing what they had learned individually.



 Overall I felt like lesson one went very smoothly. Students were focused and engaged in the lesson. One thing I would have changed was the T-chart activity, I feel like it might have worked better as an independent assignment to test what they learned. To make activity two more interactive, we could have had the students work in groups. 

When to use different instructions

All About Classroom Instruction

During class this week we are preparing our lessons and we spent a lot of time discussing the three different types of instruction that are used in the class room. These three types of instruction are listed below. 

Direct Instruction

The Direct instruction strategy is highly teacher-directed and is among the most commonly used. This strategy is effective for providing information or developing step-by-step skills. It also works well for introducing other teaching methods, or actively involving students in knowledge construction.

Below is a model of direct Instruction broken down.

Indirect Instruction 

In contrast to the direct instruction strategy, indirect instruction is mainly student-centered, although the two strategies can complement each other.

Indirect instruction seeks a high level of student involvement in observing, investigating, drawing inferences from data, or forming hypotheses. It takes advantage of students' interest and curiosity, often encouraging them to generate alternatives or solve problems.

In indirect instruction, the role of the teacher shifts from lecturer/director to that of facilitator, supporter, and resource person. The teacher arranges the learning environment, provides opportunity for student involvement, and, when appropriate, provides feedback to students while they conduct the inquiry (Martin, 1983).

Below is a model of direct Instruction broken down.

Cooperative Learning

Cooperative learning may be broadly defined as any classroom learning situation in which students of all levels of performance work together in structured groups toward a shared or common goal. 

According to Johnson, Johnson and Holubc, (1994): "Cooperative learning is the instructional use of small groups through which students work together to maximize their own and each others learning. " In classrooms where collaboration is practiced, students pursue learning in groups of varying size: negotiating, initiating, planning and evaluating together. Rather than working as individuals in competition with every other individual in the classroom, students are given the responsibility of creating a learning community where all students Participate in significant and meaningful ways. Cooperative learning requires that students work together to achieve goals which they could not achieve individually.

Below is a model of direct Instruction broken down.

Here are the links where I found my information and where you can learn more about these different types of instruction. 

Click here

Click here