Instruction as a systemic process (models of instruction) Strategies, methods and techniques Key contexts of teaching Teaching as Art and science

1. Instruction as a Systematic Process

3. Teaching is not simply standing
in front of a class and talking.
The best teachers contemplate
the manner in which they will
present a topic and have a wide
variety of instructional models
at their disposal.

4. Models of
Instruction

5. What is an
instructional model?

6. Think of it as a broad, overarching descriptor
that encompasses several different concepts.
For example, when teaching astronomy, the
solar system is a model with the sun at the
center and all the planets orbiting around it. A
few of the concepts associated with the solar
model are gravity, orbits, heliocentricity,
satellites, and eclipses. You can use this model
to picture the solar system in your mind’s eye.

7. An instructional model acts as a blueprint for
teaching. However, just as blueprints do not dictate all
actions of engineers, instructional models are not
intended to dictate actions of teachers. Teachers must
select the appropriate model in order to achieve a
specified goal, just as engineers select appropriate
designs or methods based on desired outcomes.
Models differ from general teaching strategies because
they are designed to reach specific goals. In fact,
instructional models generally include a variety of
instructional strategies. (Eggen & Kauchak, 2001) The
sample instructional models outlined below, designed
to help students learn content and develop thinking
skills, include many high-yield instructional strategies
identified by Robert Marzano (2001) and his
colleagues.

8. What type of instructional
models do teachers embrace?

9. As critical as planning and management
are to performing competently as a
professional educator, quality instruction
is absolutely necessary if students are to
be successful in learning required
content and skills.
There are a variety of ways to define
quality instruction. Remember that
instructional quality means that the
desired goals and objectives have been
obtained.

10. learning psychology models
Concepts associated with the learning
psychology model can be described as
behaviorist, cognitive, constructivist,
and developmental.

11. Behaviorism is primarily concerned with
observable behavior, as opposed to internal
events like thinking and emotion.
Observable (i.e. external) behavior can be
objectively and scientifically measured.
Internal events, such as thinking should be
explained through behavioral terms (or
eliminated altogether).
* People have no free will – a person’s
environment determines their behavior
* When born our mind is 'tabula rasa' (a
blank slate).

12. Cognitive model revolves around
the notion that if we want to know
what makes people tick then we
need to understand the internal
processes of their mind. Cognition
literally means “knowing”. In
other words, cognitive psychology
refers to the study of human
mental processes and their role in
thinking, feeling, and behaving.

13. Cognitive psychology focuses on the
way humans process information, looking
at how we treat information that comes in
to the person (what behaviorists would
call stimuli), and how this treatment leads
to responses. In other words, they are
interested in the variables that mediate
between stimulus/input and
response/output. Cognitive psychologists
study internal processes including
perception, attention, language,
memory and thinking

14. CONSTRUCTIVISM
As is the case with many of the current/popular paradigms, you're
probably already using the constructivist approach to some degree.
Constructivist teachers pose questions and problems, then guide students
to help them find their own answers. They use many techniques in the
teaching process. For example, they may:
prompt students to formulate their own questions (inquiry)
allow multiple interpretations and expressions of learning (multiple
intelligences)
encourage group work and the use of peers as resources (collaborative
learning)
More information on the above processes is covered in other workshops
in this series. For now, it's important to realize that the constructivist
approach borrows from many other practices in the pursuit of its primary
goal: helping students learn HOW TO LEARN.

15. In a constructivist classroom, learning is . . .
Students are not blank slates upon which knowledge is etched. They come to
learning situations with already formulated knowledge, ideas, and
understandings. This previous knowledge is the raw material for the new
knowledge they will create.
Example: An elementary school teacher presents a class problem to measure
the length of the "Mayflower." Rather than starting the problem by
introducing the ruler, the teacher allows students to reflect and to construct
their own methods of measurement. One student offers the knowledge that a
doctor said he is four feet tall. Another says she knows horses are measured in
"hands." The students discuss these and other methods they have heard
about, and decide on one to apply to the problem.

16. The student is the person who creates new understanding for him/herself. The
teacher coaches, moderates, suggests, but allows the students room to
experiment, ask questions, try things that don't work. Learning activities require
the students' full participation (like hands-on experiments). An important part of
the learning process is that students reflect on, and talk about, their activities.
Students also help set their own goals and means of assessment.
Examples: A middle-school language arts teacher sets aside time each week for a
writing lab. The emphasis is on content and getting ideas down rather than
memorizing grammatical rules, though one of the teacher's concerns is the ability
of his students to express themselves well through written language. The teacher
provides opportunities for students to examine the finished and earlier drafts of
various authors. He allows students to select and create projects within the
general requirement of building a portfolio 1. Students serve as peer editors
who value originality and uniqueness rather than the best way to fulfill an
assignment.

17. organizational models
Concepts included in these models
are large groups, small groups,
cooperative learning groups,
learning
communities, and individualized
instruction.

20. classroom management models
There are at least two major ones: self-
discipline and imposed discipline. Concepts
included within the self-discipline model are
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, moral
reasoning, character development, and reality
therapy. The imposed discipline model
includes desist strategies, assertive discipline,
and behavior modification.

21. Strategies,
Methods,
and
Techniques

22. Embedded within any model is a set of accompanying
procedures—a series of steps to accomplish
something—by which a specific aspect of the model is
employed. For example, Chapter 7 is devoted entirely
to a model for questioning. We could argue that “wait
time” is a model with a series of specific procedures or
steps used by teachers when conducting recitations.
The questioning model is based on a psychological
concept that attempts to raise the attention level of all
in the class, rather than just one individual, prior to
calling on a student.

23. In this text, we use the terms technique
and procedure as synonyms to signify a
series of steps that one takes to employ
any general model being used in the
classroom. When we use the term
method, it implies some orderly way of
doing something. The term strategy
implies thoughtful planning to do
something. Each of these aspects emanate
from a broader and more encompassing
model.

24.  As you progress through the ten chapters in this text, you
will observe a wide variety of strategies being brought
into play to embody an overarching model. While each
chapter explores a single topic or set of models, together
they form a collective whole—a gestalt, as it were—that
will become apparent in the final reading. Our intended
goal is to illustrate as many workable and trustworthy
teaching/instructional methods as is practical so that
when you begin to teach you, too, will have an array of
models and strategies from which to choose, and of
critical importance, you’ll know how to employ each and
know why you are using that technique at any given
moment of the lesson.


25.  The lesson is the essence of the act of schooling. Each
lesson has a structure, just as a carpenter uses blueprints
in building a house. In short, reading this book will give
you a holistic view of schooling. Keep in mind that we are
providing a manageable sample of the total instructional
spectrum. As you gain classroom experiences, you will
learn about other models and strategies. The operational
term is experience! With experience you can sort out
strategies that work well for specific topics and student
groups. At this point in your pre-service career, your
experiential framework is limited. We understand this,
having passed through those same moments. But
remember, the best teachers are lifelong learners as well.

26. Key Contexts of Teaching

27. The profession of teaching takes place
in a number of contexts that will place
demands on your work. Some of these
demands reinforce one another, while
others are sometimes in conflict.

28. The Social Context

29. A sign in the Singapore International Airport reads
“Welcome to Singapore: Where Our Only National
Resource Is Our People.” That sign sums up what our
schools should be all about.
Institutions are made up of people. Schools consist of
systems and subsystems of individuals who collectively
conduct the business of schooling. The human
interactions among administrators, teachers, parents,
and learners forge bonds of trust and mutual support.

30.  As teachers, our goal is to enhance human potential for every person associated
with the school. The process of education takes place, for the most part, in structured
and well-organized schools. This is true even for parents who home-school their
children.
 Schooling, to be effective, has a group orientation about it. The entire process is
very social—that is, highly dependent on personal interactions. One of the first things
that a child learns in school is that the individual must make accommodations to the
group. Within this cultural and social milieu, behaviors are changed, learning takes
place, and individuals change. Schools provide a social resource that might be missing
for individuals learning on their own.

31.  Embedded within the social context of the school is the concept of social capital.
 Social capital is the sum of interpersonal relationships that provide support or
encouragement. Sources of social capital include families,communities, public institutions,
and ethnic groups. Emanating from these sources come social trust, norms,
communication, and collaborative networks, to list only a few outcomes.
 The school is an especially critical source of social capital for its clientele. It provides
the physical and social framework for teachers, students, and parents/caregivers to work
toward a common good, or to extend the acculturation process of children or
adolescents. Norms (unwritten rules of behavior for specifi c groups) and normative
pressures are part of the school’s culture and its vast resource of social capital

32.  As a teacher, you help to create social capital for all students, especially those whose
social capital, for whatever reason, has a near-zero balance.
 . These students may include children growing up in poverty and new arrivals to the
United States. You provide information that helps students become a part of social
networks. By knowing your students personally, you help them gain experiences with
things they don’t know. You show the students how to employ all the school’s
resources—counselors, coaches, sponsors of extracurricular or club activities, the music
director, or the school newspaper advisor.

33.  By your own actions, you demonstrate that you are in your students’ corner. These
methods of supporting students socially are all aspects of meeting our professional
obligation. Collectively, these social elements of schooling aid in the acculturation
processes Teachers create social capital. that prepare students to be successful in our
society.
 Elements of Social Capital
 _ Families
 _ Personal relationships
 _ Public institutions
 _ Churches
 _ Communities
 _ Clubs
 _ Ethnic groups

34.  Now add to these interactions the phenomenon we call pluralism, and you can
appreciate the social interactions and conflicts that can be predicted to take place in the
schools.
 The term pluralism refers to the fact that our society and our schools are
composed of many different types of people, creating a mixture of nationalities, races,
classes, religions, occupational groupings, philosophies, value systems, and economic
beliefs. Given this broad social spectrum, it is inevitable that you will observe
contradictory points of view as a teacher (see Livingston & Wirt 2004). You will
observe intrapersonal conflicts, in which an individual tries to reconcile conflicts
within his or her own value structure.

35.  You will also observe interpersonal conflicts, in which the values of different
individuals or groups openly clash. These kinds of conflicts generate considerable
energy. Sometimes the energy is positive and leads to common problem solving and
beneficial activities. In other cases, the energy leads to disharmony. As a teacher, one of
your major roles will be to foster positive social interactions and relationships.

36. The Emotional
Context

37.  As we said before, the educational enterprise is a
helping profession. People who enter teaching tend to
do so for altruistic, moral, or ethical reasons. If
education is to help all persons achieve their maximum
potential, then its practitioners must develop an
organization that cares about all individuals in it.
 The close interactions among teachers and students
forge bonds of trust and mutual support, especially for
children who have trouble meeting expectations for
achievement (see Noddings 2002). Additionally,
caringness is part of the social capital of the school
organization.

38.  This trait makes it a bit easier to help students of all
ages to develop moral and ethical values.
Do not be alarmed about the last sentence.
 Yes, the schools have an obligation to teach those
values, and virtually all parents or guardians will
strongly endorse them because they fall under the
umbrella of becoming a good or virtuous citizen
(see Comte-Sponville 2001).

39.  Closely related to these values is a concept called
emotional intelligence. The term may show up in
the literature of teaching. In brief, it means being
aware of how you as a teacher feel as you scan a
class of students with whom you are engaged. How
do you react (feel) toward a specifi c student? Do
you show any biases in your verbal or nonverbal
cues? How does a student or group of students
react (feel) to some situation? These are aspects of
the term.

40. The Curricular Context

41. O Just what composes the overall curricular context of
our schools? This is a tough question to answer, for it
depends on your own educational philosophy. Over
the years, the schools have either inherited or subtly
adopted a social philosophy aimed at
accommodating many social, emotional, and familial
needs in addition to educational ones. Yes, the
schools still teach the basics. But “the basics” now
extend to many topics that were once considered
extras. To be sure, reading and writing,
communicating, mathematics, science, history, and
geography still form the core academic disciplines,
but the schools now also teach health and life skills,
HIV/AIDS prevention, driving, and a host of other
skills, both social and behavioral. This is the
complicated montage we call the curriculum today.

42. The Collegial
Context

43. O Over the academic year, principals or
supervisors might spend a total of one or
two hours observing and evaluating a
teacher, with greater time for a novice and
less for a veteran; but the vast amount of
service that any teacher performs goes
uncritiqued or unnoticed by fellow
professionals.

44. O . When teachers develop personal teaching
styles that are not especially beneficial to
student learning, it often results from working
in seclusion. Working in isolation is one
aspect of many school cultures that tends to
perpetuate the “batch processing” of
students—that is, using large classes and
large-class techniques. This is especially
noticeable in self-contained elementary school
classrooms and
O subject-centered high schools.

45. The physical isolation keeps new ideas from spreading. If you do not have
opportunities to observe your colleagues, you may miss out on some great
ideas (see Woolfolk-Hoy & Hoy 2003). Even though you may often work in
seclusion, you can use the Internet to facilitate participation in the professional
community by linking with professional associations’ websites. All state
departments of education also have extensive
websites. We highlight some useful tips to expand your learning in the
Technology Insight boxes found throughout the book, and conclude each
chapter with a few select sites for your consideration. You may be fortunate
enough to be working in a school where the culture maintains a learning
community

46.  In these instances, you will seldom be alone, as
there is a greater emphasis on teacher-student-
administrator collaboration and planning. You
will also find teachers conducting research and
self-reflecting on their practices. The learning
community culture encourages continued
studies or professional staff development, and
even encourages teaching professionals to seek
a National Board Certifi cation. A foot to
reconfigure schools into smaller, cohesive units
through the creation of “schools within a
school,” “core groupings,” and even discrete
learning groups.

47.  The goal of these techniques is to improve professional
interactions and provide an environment conducive to
student achievement. Schools tend to develop their own
independent school culture apart from those of other
schools in the same district. Their norms and values may
be generated from the inside. As a result, subtle or even
intentional pressures may be placed on teachers to
conform. The outcome can be positive if the school
culture includes healthy values, innovative teaching
styles, and respectful communication patterns. If,
however, the school culture includes less desirable
qualities, this unfortunate tendency to encourage
teachers to conform may undermine

48.  the profession. Education, like all professions, is rooted in the
development of its practitioners’ individual expertise. And, indeed,
novice teachers have at their disposal a broad range of teaching
strategies. This book is designed to help develop the best teachers
possible. As you study, keep thinking of ways to influence your
environment in a positive way instead of becoming a victim to its
negative characteristics. If you take this approach, your school ethos
can evolve, encompassing new norms that stress problem solving,
active teaching, and positive student expectations. We advocate
entering into professional discussions and collaborating with other
teachers in your school. Share books and journals with one another.
This is one way to shape the intellectual and Each school has its own
culture. instructional dimensions of your school’s culture.


49.  Contexts of Schooling
 _ Social
 _ Emotional
 _ Curricular
 _ Collegial (professional)
 As you begin your journey in teaching you will be
exposed to many different ideas, values, and theoretical
models. In this section, we want to provide you with a
series of perspectives so that you may be fully informed
when you make instructional decisions.

50. Teaching as
Art and
Science

51.  Professional-level teaching is both an art and a science (see Eisner
2003). Like an artist, a good teacher makes decisions from both a
technical and a creative perspective. Great artists display a mastery
of technical skills—painting, glass blowing, sculpting—that includes
a grasp of the science behind how these techniques work. They also
know when and in what way to apply their technical skills. They
make decisions. That part is the art. Similarly, teachers develop
their science by using carefully planned, fine-tuned lessons that
reflect an understanding of many different teaching techniques.
They apply each technique skillfully to gain the desired intellectual,
social, affective, or kinesthetic result. They develop artistry by being
aware of what they are doing and how their actions affect their
learners. They are constantly aware that the choices they make
affect the intellectual, attitudinal, and psychomotor skills of their
students. Above all, they make decisions.

52. Importance of Research-Based Teaching
Methods

53.  Nearly all of the instructional techniques presented in this book
have an extensive body of research supporting them. You will be a
consumer of research and may even contribute to that literature; as
you progress through your teacher education program, you may
encounter advocates of some golden technique. Ask for empirically
derived data—that is, longitudinal experimental and control group
results that have been replicated. The educational fads that abound
usually have no such data to back them up. Understanding and
interpreting research is part of the science of teaching. Using that
knowledge appropriately, making the right decisions, is the artistry.
One last point on this topic: Robert Marzano (2007) provides
research based evidence that teachers who have a strong
professional pedagogical competence also have students who show
greater academic achievement. Yes, there is a very powerful link
between your instructional knowledge and how well your students
will do in the school setting. Having a diverse set of teaching
methods gives you an opportunity to blend the art and science of
teaching.