Week 5 General Methods

We are deep into learning about direct instruction and all of its methods of presentation. In 6 groups we all presented a micro-teaching on each element of a DI lesson.
The elements of a DI lesson are:
the anticipatory set (hook, pre-assess knowledge, advanced organizer to inform students as to what is coming next);
the development section which can include explanations, demonstrations, and modeling or some or all of those methods;
checking for understanding to occur frequently throughout the lesson to ensure that the students are all understanding the concepts being taught and if some are not, the teacher will readjust the pace or re-teach;
guided practice- once the information is conveyed by the teacher (I do it) then it is the "we do it" segment where students work on the learning the information with the teacher's constant supervision, assistance, and checking for understanding;
then the teacher does drill and practice exercises with the students to ultimately get the information into the students' long-term memories (again with more checking for understanding);
then the students apply what they have learned on their own under the "you do it" segment, typically without the teacher's assistance at all and at the students' own pace;
the last elements are closure and reflection- the teacher and/or the students sum up what was covered during the lesson and connects it back to what they knew before the lesson and what the lesson is going to lead to next;
teacher and student reflections are important ways to correct and improve the lesson for the future or to comment on what went well about the lesson.
Very intense but very exciting information.
Wendy