- Provides a written overview of topic or unit.
- Organizes and arranges materials to be presented.
- Simplifies ideas to present a bigger picture.
Lecture
- Presenter should be knowledgeable, engaging, motivating, and stimulating.
- Students should be engaged, have their curiosity stimulated, and begin to build inquiry.
- Be cautious that students may have limited attention spans and information may not be retained for long amounts of time
Explicit Teaching
- Useful for introducing topics and skills.
- Focuses on producing specific learning outcomes.
- Directs students attention through the use of a highly structured environment.
- Information is broken down into small parts and taught individually.
- Guidance and structure framework is provided and material is presented in a logical order, directed by the teacher.
- Skills, behaviors, and thinking is modeled by the teacher.
Drill and Practice
- Promotes the acquisition of skills through repeated practice.
- Uses small tasks that are needed for the building of larger skill sets.
- Helps learners to master materials in their own time.
- Used as a reinforcement tool.
Compare and Contrast
- Can be used with indirect instruction as well as direct instruction.
- Allow students to compare two or more categories.
- Most often presented in a written manner--text, graphic organizer, etc.
Didactic Questions
- Teachers can use this to structure the learning process.
- Questions that tend to have factual answers are used—begin with “who,” “what,” “where,” “when,” “why,” and “how.”
- Used mostly for recall and comprehension.
- Used to provide practice and review of material.
Do you have any personal experience with any of these methods? Please share with us how you implemented the method and whether it was successful.
ReplyDeleteI have used the lecture format but with a twist - audience participation. I presented a four hour workshop for beginning EMIS coordinators. I broke the four hours into chunks and used audience participation to keep everyone engaged. The follow-up survey provided feedback that this was effective.
ReplyDeleteJennifer Schmidt
I have also used the lecture format to begin many new units in high schools classes. I think the problem is definitely that students have limited attention spans. I have found that when lectures involve the engagement of students in the content, either participating or working with the material, they are more successful.
ReplyDelete-Anna
I have used the lecture and the dreaded "drill and practice" methods. I have used the drill and practice as an opener for my classroom before to help students refresh what they should know or what they are currently working with.
ReplyDeleteJosh Earls
Jennifer, thats an interesting twist to a lecture that would surely help keep the students attention. I know I hold my attention more when asked to complete group activities throughout a lecture. However, that might be hard to do in an online setting. Maybe utilizing something like Skype or The Palace would work? Any suggestions on how to make student participation work more effectively in an online setting?
ReplyDeleteJosh although many students hate the "drill and practice" sometimes it is necessary to gain an accurate understanding of what students know and what areas they need additional work on before the concepts planned can be taught.
ReplyDeleteI have used elicit teaching in my high school classroom to introduce a topic. I will typically use some sort of structured discovery activity where the students know some of the background information, but through their own discovery will find out new information. I try to use as many hands-on activities as possible and being a science teacher makes this easier. Those short attention spans are always something to consider, but having a variety of ways for the students to learn information can help curb this.
ReplyDeleteHands-on are great things to use for students with short attention spans. This is hard to recreate in an online environment, however there are many different activities--such as websites and games that students can use to help keep them focused.
ReplyDeleteBasically a math class involves lecture, explicit lessons and drill and practice. The student can participate in the lesson by asking or answering questions. This method works for most students but some like one to one instruction.
ReplyDeleteI usually use my overhead projector and have students follow along with me when introducing software. For example, one of the chapters in the business computer application book shows how to make a flyer with Word 2007. I have everyone follow along with the chapter as I work through it on the screen. They are suppose to make a flyer with me. When teaching the same course online, they obviously can't follow along with me. I still assign the work in the chapter because it takes them through each step. Assigning the chapter forces them to work through it. I found if I do not assign it, the students will go straight to the labs and get hung up on simple things that they would not have problems with if they tried the example in the text first. I assign labs that focus on skills learned in each chapter. It gives the students hands on practice.
ReplyDeleteStephanie that is a really great method. I like that you "walk" them through the process while they do it with you on their own computer. I also really think its great when Direct instruction lessons are in face-to-face classes because it allows for mistakes to be turned into an additional learning opportunity.
ReplyDeleteMary if you create the math lecture beginning from the simplest of tasks to the most complex, you might be able to then differentiate the lessons based on students abilities. Just a suggestion.
ReplyDeleteMost of my experience is with lecture, but I think more active methods are necessary in an online environment. I took an online class once (I hate to admit) that I just printed off the lecture, skimmed it (wasn't interested at all), and then used them to complete the assessments and get the course over with. At that time, that was all the motivation I could muster. I see this being pretty common - by requiring students to engage with the material online, this can be avoided, at least partially. ~CS
ReplyDeleteI agree that sometimes it is necessary to do more than simply lecture in the online environment. I, too, am guilty of printing out the lecture and simply skimming it. I learn much more when I am forced to interact with the material.
ReplyDeleteI am in the process of building a web site to supplement my in-class instruction. I want to provide alternative forms of information (YouTube videos, animations, etc.) with short quizzes that give immediate feedback.
ReplyDeleteMy objective is to provide a resource for slower learners and learners that need more practice so they can get the reinforcement they need and we don't have to spend so much time in class reviewing.
I hope it will be a success, but I won't know for several months.
Chris that is a great idea. It will not only help the lower level learners, but also students who are auditory and visual learners. Utilize the types of tools which you stated will surely help more than your intended audience. I really think you will see success with the integration of these.
ReplyDelete