Introduction to Chapters 13-16:

So far, we’ve been looking at what psychology

tells us students are like and how students learn.
Now we shift focus to what is the teacher’s role
—what can we do, as educators, to create
effective learning experiences?

Interesting (?) website:

www.whatworks.ed.gov

What Works is an education research

clearinghouse presented by the Department of
Education. This site represents their attempt to
provide information about successful practices
in education.

Video on deep versus superficial learning—

use for discussing cognitive approaches,
motivation, instructional strategies,
assessment…
Teaching teaching and understanding
understanding:
http://www.daimi.au.dk/~brabrand/short-film/
What do students have to say about their own
experience of education?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=dGCJ46vyR9o

In-class activity: Jot down your thoughts about

this video. How much of your education is
“wasted”? Why?
What would make it better?

Instructional strategies

In your own experiences as a student, what

classroom activities were especially effective?
What aspects of those activities made them
effective?

Lectures
Group projects
Class discussions
Exams
Papers
Other assignments
What benefits do you get from discussing class
material with your classmates?

A student recently brought up a saying she

learned in the military: “we fight as we train.”
If students learn by doing, why do students in
school do so little?

What do we know are the key characteristics of

effective teachers and effective schools? (trans
13.1)
Why is planning so important? Consider this
(for fun):
A small story
with a big
moral about
the importance
of planning…
How to eat an
Elephant
Step one: find the elephant.
Step Two: catch the elephant.
Step Three: heat up a nice, big, pot.
Step four: chop up some carrots, celery, onions,
potatoes, mushrooms, and lots and lots of garlic.
Step five: put everything into the pot and bring
to a boil.
Step six: go get the elephant.
Step seven: get mad at yourself for not
remembering to tie up the elephant!!
Step eight: return to step one, find the elephant…
In planning instruction, where do we begin? (top of trans
13.2)
 Begin at the end
 Bloom’s taxonomy

Why is it easier for teachers to assess student achievement

when instructional objectives have been made explicit?
Try this: Which of the following reflect observable
behaviors? Which do not?

Know Identify
Remember Choose
Appreciate Explain
Understand Recite
Recognize Write
Do

Name at least five other behaviors that are observable and

therefore appropriate for instructional objectives.

Name, Apply, Analyze, Evaluate, Create, Show, Perform,

Demonstrate, Select…

If you can observe the behavior, you can know without a

doubt that your students have accomplished the objectives.
If you can’t observe it, you can’t know anything about what
your students have or have not learned.
Specific approaches (bottom of trans 13.2)
1. Effective expository instruction
1. Advance organizers
2. Prior knowledge activation—analogies
3. Coherent organization
4. Signals
5. Visual aids
6. Pacing
7. Summaries
 Review
 Signals
 Organization
Common textbook weaknesses
Typically, textbooks do not:
 begin with what students already know
 relate new information to experiences and interests
 provide a clear organizational scheme
 differentiate between important vs unimportant details
 present general principles and skills
 describe cause-effect rels
 address misconceptions
 discuss implications
2. Discovery learning
Why use discovery learning?

A. Guidelines for using discovery learning

1. make sure students have necessary prior
knowledge
2. show puzzling results to arouse curiosity
3. have students record their findings
4. structure the experience so students proceed
logically toward their “discoveries”
Example:
1. formulate a research question (perhaps with
considerable teacher scaffolding)
2. make a prediction
3. test prediction
4. analyze and describe findings—explain in
terms of a theoretical model
5. apply model to new situations

B. Research findings regarding discovery

learning are mixed—why?
1. “discovery learning” means different things
to different people
2. may be more appropriate for some students
than for others (which ones??)
3. Cooperative learning
Judging from your own experiences, what are the
advantages and disadvantages of cooperative learning?
Benefits:
Interpersonal skills
Peer-tutoring
Friendships—community atmosphere
A.Features of effective cooperative groups
1. small, heterogeneous
2. clear goals
3. varying roles and interdependence
4. training and/or structure that facilitates
effective interaction skills
5. teacher as monitor and resource
6. individual accountability
7. rewards for group success
8. varying duration
9. self-evaluation
B.Effectiveness of cooperative learning (trans 13.9)

C.Unresolved issues related to cooperative learning

1. makes ability differences obvious
2. misconceptions may be shared
3. social or cognitive loafing
4. reluctance to ask for help
5. lack of ability to help
6. high ability students take over
7. high ability students held back
8. value placed on group work
Chapter 14: Classroom management

Write your name on a piece of paper (and sorting number

and date) and jot down your answers to these questions:

1. What does a well-managed classroom look like?

2. What are your greatest challenges/concerns
regarding classroom management?
Most of what we need to know about classroom
management involves PREVENTION. When it comes to
creating an environment that will facilitate learning we can
consider:
 Arranging the classroom
 Creating an effective classroom climate
 Setting limits
 Planning activities that keep students on task
 Monitoring what students are doing
 Modifying instructional strategies when necessary

Kounin’s strategies of effective teachers:

1. withitness
2. overlapping—multi-tasking
3. smoothness and momentum
4. group alerting
Strategies for dealing with student misbehavior
1. Ignoring
a. If behavior is unlikely to be repeated
b. And unlikely to spread
c. Triggered by unusual circumstances
d. Does not seriously interfere with learning

2. Cueing
a. Minor infraction, but does interfere with learning
b. Likely to change with a subtle reminder
3. Private discussion
a. Cueing has been ineffective
b. Reasons for behavior might suggest strategies for
change

4. Promoting self-regulation
a. If student has strong desire to improve behavior
5. Behaviorist approaches
a. Behavior has continued over time and
significantly interferes with learning
b. Student unwilling or unable to self-regulate
6. Parent conference
a. Source of problem may be outside of school
b. Parents probably willing to collaborate
Kounin’s strategies
1. withitness
2. overlapping
3. smoothness and momentum
4. group alerting
What about having kids make their own rules in the classroom? A
brief article that addresses this topic might be interesting to you:

DeVries, R., & Zan, B. (2003). When children make rules.

Educational Leadership, 61(1), 64-67.

Another article that specifically outlines an approach to handling

oppositional and defiant behavior in the classroom is this one:

Colvin, G., Ainge, D., & Nelson, R. (1997). How to defuse

defiance, threats, challenges, confrontations. Teaching
Exceptional Children, 29(6), 47-51.
Consider this:
In one study, only five or six teachers at a particular school were
the source of 75-80% of the students who were referred to the
principal’s office for disciplinary action. In another study, only 5%
of the teachers at a particular school were responsible for 90% of
all office referrals.
What can we conclude from these findings?
Of course, no teacher would deliberately follow any of these rules
(in the first column), but many follow some of them without
realizing it. Many discipline problems are caused and sustained by
teachers who inadvertently use self-defeating discipline strategies.

How to create discipline What we really mean:

problems:
1. Expect the worst from 1. Expect the best from
kids. kids.
2. Never tell students 2. Make the implicit
what is expected of explicit.
them.
3. Punish and criticize 3. Rewards, yes!
often. Punishments, no!
4. Punish the whole 4. Let the punishment fit
class when one the crime.
student misbehaves.
5. Never give students 5. If you must punish,
privileges. remove privileges.
6. Punish every 6. Ignorance is bliss.*
misbehavior you see.
7. Threaten and warn 7. Consistency is the
kids often. best policy.
8. Use the same 8. Know each student
punishment for every well.
student.
9. Use school work as a 9. Use school work as
punishment. rewards.
10. Maintain personal 10. Treat students with
distance from love and respect.
students.

*What must we NEVER

ignore?
Of course, no teacher would deliberately follow any of these rules,
but many follow some of them without realizing it. Many
discipline problems are caused and sustained by teachers who
inadvertently use self-defeating discipline strategies.

Power struggle—when a student wants to play tug-of-war with

you, don’t pick up the rope!
Humanists on classroom climate
Be honest with students
Communicate acceptance
Be empathic
Talk less, listen more
Ask fewer questions with “right” answers, ask more
open-ended questions
Downplay your evaluative role