Practice Makes Perfect: Direct Instruction Presentations

Last week's class was dedicated to group presentations on direct instruction.  The class divided into six groups and each became experts on one section of a lesson.  We could chose between 1) methods for attention anticipatory set, 2)methods of presentation, demo, modeling, 3)guided practice, check for understanding, 4)drill and practice methods, 5)independent practice, homework, 6)methods for closure and evaluation.  I felt that each group did an outstanding job.  Each was unique and creative.  It was very interesting to see the different techniques that groups chose to implement the content.

On a broad scale, these presentations demonstrated a microcosm of the world of teaching.  Every teacher is different and works in a different way to convey information to students.  A prospective teacher should not try and copy another more experienced teacher.  Instead, one must find what works best for them and  independently define themselves as a teacher.

I learned a lot from each presentation. Creating anticipatory sets has always been a bit of a challenge for me.  Group 1 did a great group of defining and demonstrating anticipatory sets.  The class was given a topic and asked to make an anticipatory set.  This guided practice portion of direct instruction was very effective.  I collaborated with other members of the class and came up with some good ideas together.  I have to remember that during an AS you are not asking students questions about the content that they are about to learn, but merely setting the tone, grabbing their attention, and diagnostically assessing their prior knowledge.  For example dressing up in a themed costume that reflects what the students are about to learn, decorating the classroom, playing a song, showing a picture are all possible anticipatory sets. I was also introduced to a learning tool called a voki, which I plan on using in future lesson plans.

Each part of the lesson is intertwined with one another and in order for a teacher to have a strong lesson every section must be well constructed.

I worked on methods for closure and evaluation and had a very positive experience with my group.  We each brought a different strength to the presentation.  Googledocs allowed us to collaborate efficiently  and effectively in light of our very different schedules.  Involving the class as much as possible and creating a highly interactive lesson yields the strongest results.  It is also important to try to use direct medias in the presentation such as a video, song, demonstration etc.
It was really great to get some experience in front of the classroom and put the direct instruction strategy to the test.  Collaboration with fellow teacher is also very important and this project allowed me to do just this.
I was very impressed with my classmates and look forward to creating and watching future presentations.

Last ,but certainly not least, I would like to include the video that my group incorporated into our presentation.  It shows a clear example of formative assessment in direct instruction.  Note how the students are actively engaged and give each other constant feedback.  Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxfvCtmiDhI