What structure do we need in our instruction? Applying Instructional Design Techniques
"Imagine embarking on a road trip across the United States to a specified, but unknown to you destination. To further complicate the situation, you are forbidden to take a map or to stop to ask for directions. Obviously, the frustration would quickly become overwhelming and the anxiety of “it all” could cause you to give-up before you really got started.
Students feel the same overwhelming frustration and anxiety when teachers fail to provide objectives, the roadmap, if you will, at the beginning of the class session."
By M. Susie Whittington, 2005 Agriculture Education Magazine
Key instructional design techniques such as objectives and proper assessments for those objectives give students the structure needed to learn. Additionally, simply including these items in your lesson plan is not enough.
You Must:
- Fabricate quality objectives based on what you want the students to accomplish
- Develop proper scaffolding in the lesson plan to achieve this goal
- Create an effective assessment that gauges how well students met your goals and objectives.
- It is critical to assess the objective, be sure to match the level of Bloom's taxonomy that the objective is on, to the assessment.
Speaking of Bloom's Taxonomy:
How does Bloom’s Taxonomy impact instructional design?Your lesson is centered around the daily objectives, Bloom's taxonomy ranks these objectives on different levels on comprehensions. Well designed units and courses ask students to "level up" with their understanding of the content as they continue to work with the information.
How can Group Teaching Techniques be Effective?
Working in small groups allows learners to develop a wide range of social skills such as listening to others, taking turns, contributing ideas, explaining oneself clearly, and encouraging others. These social skills are equally critical to learning and development for career readiness. Unfortunately, most objectives are set to meet state standards, which don't account for these soft skills beyond elementary levels.
Thanks for sharing Lisa!
ReplyDeleteLisa, I never thought about the fact that standards do not often address soft skills! Thankful that utilization of the three-circle model allows us to do so :)
ReplyDeleteSmall groups are a great way to focus on the soft skills (also recently heard them called professional skills) and to check on student understanding in a manageable way since you don't have to visit each student individually to get a read on them. They are, however, difficult to put in place initially. Group work needs to be taught and is often a weakness for high school students. There is a good chance that the break in the standards and the shift through middle school for students has an impact. Be prepared to teach students exactly how you want them to work in a group and perhaps design some initial assignments that are focused more on developing those skills than on the content.
ReplyDeleteHello Lisa -- I enjoy your perspective and thought processes! Keep up the great work... I would like to get together during the National FFA Convention if you are available. Let me know if you have any unscheduled time during the convention... Thursday is pretty hectic with the proficiency awards selection process, but Wednesday and Friday have some flexibility. Keep up the good work!! -- Kevin
ReplyDeleteI'd certainly love to meet up! I'll run my availability past Mrs. Ranck since I will be attending with her and contact you back!
DeleteLisa, I really enjoyed reading the points you made throughout your blog post. I especially liked your connections between soft skills and standards!
ReplyDeleteLisa,
ReplyDeleteI really like the fact that you started with a direct quote, it really hooked me in as a reader. I also think you summarized what we had to read in a very short and concise way.
My philosophy in forming objectives and making learning deep, higher level, and meaningful is to shape objectives based on 1.) Real-world need and 2.) Real-world scenario
ReplyDelete